MUSIC
‘Virtuosic Violin’
Violinist Kiril Laskarov and pianist Carl Anthony team up for a “Festival of the Senses” program titled “The Virtuosic Violin,” 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 4106 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock. The program: the Violin Sonata No. 18 in G major, K. 301, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. and the Violin Concerto No. 3 by Camille Saint-Saëns. Admission is free. A meet-the-performers reception follows in the church’s Parish Hall. Call (501) 753-3578, email baxternan@aol.com or visit stlukeepiscopal.org.
Percussion duo
University of Arkansas at Little Rock faculty member Justin Bunting, along with musician Cassie Bunting, will offer a percussion showcase, “Blue Line Duo,” 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, Fine Arts Building, UALR, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. Admission is free. Call (501) 916-3291.
Soprano Camille Ortiz sings Spanish music by composers from Venezuela, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Cuba Tuesday at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
Soprano sings in Spanish
Soprano Camille Ortiz, assistant professor of voice at the School of Music and Dance at the University of Oregon, will kick off the Arkansas State University Lecture-Concert Series with a recital of Spanish music by composers from Venezuela, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Cuba, with pianists and A-State faculty members Alison Hsieh and Qianyu Chen, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the recital hall of the university’s Fine Arts Center, 2412 Quapaw Way, Jonesboro. The recital is in conjunction with September being National Hispanic Heritage Month. Admission is free. Call (870) 972-3841 or visit AState.edu/Lecture-Concert.
ETC.
Mid Mod tour
Preserve Arkansas, in partnership with architectural historian Mason Toms, will hold its next “Mid Mod Arkansas” tour Friday-Saturday, highlighting the work of architect I. Granger McDaniel.
A reception at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, 659 Ouachita Ave., Hot Springs, originally a McDaniel-designed bank, will feature light hors d’oeuvres and beverages; Diana McDaniel Hampo, the architect’s daughter, will speak about her father’s life and career. (McDaniel, a prisoner of war during World War II — his experiences inspired a Hollywood film — designed many post-war buildings in the Spa City.)
At 10 a.m. Saturday, attendees will gather at the Congregation House of Israel, 300 Quapaw Ave., for the tour. (Parking is available in the lot behind the building and along nearby streets.) A trolley bus will ferry attendees to the Dr. Will and Helen Jackson House, First United Methodist Church Chapel, Hot Springs City Hall and Weyerhaeuser Building and back to the Congregation Hall at about 1 p.m.
Tickets for the Friday evening reception are $35; for the Saturday tour, $75; for both, $100. Space is limited. Call (501) 372-4757 or visit PreserveArkansas.org.
ASU-Beebe series
A free performance by the band Runaway Planet, 7 p.m. Thursday in The Grove on the Arkansas State University-Beebe campus, 1000 W. Iowa St., Beebe, kicks off the university’s 2024-25 Performing Arts Season and the ASU-Beebe Lecture-Concert Series. Guests are encouraged to take lawn chairs and enjoy free food provided by Great Western Dining.
The rest of the Lecture-Concert Series lineup (except as noted, all events at 7 p.m.):
◼️ “Advent Horizon,” Oct. 15 in the Owen Center theater, 1102 W. College St.
◼️ “Ghosts of the Natural State,” hosted by Unexplained Arkansas, the Podcast, 12:30 p.m. Oct. 29 in the Science Building Lecture Hall, 300 Peach St.
◼️ Temple Grandin, March 3, Owen Center theater.
◼️ “7 Bridges: The Ultimate Eagles Experience,” April 1, Owen Center theater.
Lecture-Concert Series tickets are $10, $5 for educators, military personnel, K-12 students and senior citizens 60-plus. Call (501) 882-8855 or visit asub.ticketleap.com.
Toni Jensen is the recipient of this year’s Porter Prize. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Eva Becker)
Porter Prize recipient
Arkansas author Toni Jensen is the recipient of the 2024 Porter Fund Literary Prize, presented annually to an Arkansas writer with a substantial and impressive body of work that merits enhanced recognition. The prize carries a $5,000 cash award, making it one of the state’s most lucrative as well as prestigious literary honors.
Jensen is the author of “Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land,” a Dayton Peace Prize finalist and a New York Times Editors’ Choice book, and the story collection “From the Hilltop.” She directs the master of fine arts program in creative writing and translation at the University of Arkansas and teaches at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
She will be honored at a special award ceremony Oct. 10. To attend, email Phil McMath at phillip@mcmathlaw.com.
Novelist Jack Butler and novelist and lawyer McMath founded the prize in 1984 to honor Ben Kimpel, professor of English at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; at Kimpel’s request, the prize is named in honor of Kimpel’s mother, Gladys Crane Kimpel Porter.
The annual prize has gone to 38 poets, novelists, nonfiction writers and playwrights, including Mara Leveritt, Morris Arnold, Kevin Brockmeier and the former Arkansas Poet Laureate Jo McDougall.
AUDITIONS
Royal Sondheim
Benton’s Royal Players hold auditions for “Into the Woods” (music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine) for performers 16-99, 2-6 p.m. Nov. 3 in the Black Box at Bryant Junior High, 301 Hill Farm Road, Bryant. (Enter through the double doors marked “GYM” on the side of the building by the track. Drive to the top of the hill and turn right to enter the parking lot.)
Fill out both sign-up forms, tinyurl.com/IntotheWoodsSignUp and tinyurl.com/IntotheWoodsGoogleForm); select the principal character for which you are auditioning and music will be sent to you via email. There will also be a cold reading from the script and a basic choreography/movement audition between every seven to eight auditioners — wear appropriate attire and shoes. Production dates are March 6-9 and 13-16. Rehearsals begin Jan. 27. Bob Bidewell is the director/music director; Edgar Hall is the choreographer.
