ASO for the holidays

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents Happy Holidays, the second concert of the ACXIOM Pops Live! Series, on December 16 and 17 at 8 p.m. and December 18 at 3 p.m. at the Robinson Center Music Hall. This concert is sponsored in part by Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Arkansas BlueCross BlueShield.

Music Director Philip Mann and the ASO perform with children from the former Cathedral School choruses, Ballet Arkansas Professional Company, O’Donovan School of Irish Dance, The Episcopal School Steel Drum Band, baritone Darren Drone, and the Winter Pops Chorus.

Enjoy the Holiday Children’s Fair at 2 p.m. on Sunday in the Robinson Center Music Hall main lobby. Touch and play string, woodwind and brass instruments at the Instrument Petting Zoo, visit with Santa and join in on arts and crafts.

Children, kindergarten through 12th grade, can attend our Sunday matinee performances for free (with the purchase of an adult ticket) using the Entergy Kids Ticket – available for download at www.ArkansasSymphony.org. Adult single tickets range from $14-$52 and can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org or over the phone at (501) 666-1761. Student and military tickets are $10.

Program Details

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Friday, December 16 at 8 p.m., Saturday, December 17 at 8 p.m., Sunday, December 18 at 3 p.m.
Robinson Center Music Hall
Featuring
Children from the former Cathedral School choruses
Ballet Arkansas Professional Company
O’Donovan School of Irish Dance
The Episcopal School Steel Drum Band
Bob Hupp, narratorDarren Drone, baritone
Winter Pops Chorus
Philip Mann, conductor
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

Program:
TYZIK / The Skater’s Overture
STYNE / Let it Snow, O’Donovan School of Irish Dance
ANDERSON / Sleigh Ride
VIVALDI / The Four Seasons: WinterKiril Laskarov, violin, Ballet Arkansas Professional Company
GABRIELI / Canzon
RIMSKY KORSAKOV / Christmas Eve Suite: Polonaise, Ballet Arkansas Professional Company
RICHMAN / Holiday Cheer, Winter Pops Chorus
BIEGEL / Hanukkah Fantasy, Winter Pops Chorus

INTERMISSION

TCHAIKOVSKY / Nutcracker Selections, The Episcopal School Steel Drum Band
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (narration, accompanied by The Episcopal School Steel Drum Band)
RIMSKY KORSAKOV / Snow Maiden Suite: Dance of the Clowns, O’Donovan School of Irish Dance
TYZIK / Ave Maria, Winter Pops Chorus
RICHMAN / The Wonderful World of Christmas/Silver Bells, Darren Drone, baritoneSanta Claus
FINNEGIN / Christmas Sing-along, Children from the former Cathedral School choruses

Philip Mann, Music Director

Hailed by the BBC as a "talent to watch out for, who conveys a mature command of his forces," American conductor Philip Mann is quickly gaining a reputation as an "expressively graceful yet passionate" artist on three continents. Newly appointed as music director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, he also serves as the San Diego Symphony's Associate Conductor and formerly an American Conducting Fellow/assistant conductor, where he has conducted over 200 performances of Jacobs Subscription Masterworks, Symphony Exposed, family, young people's concerts, Kinder Konzert, pops, and other special programs.

His most recent subscription appearance was described by the San Diego Union Tribune, "Mann was masterful. a skilled musical architect, designing and executing a beautifully paced interpretation, which seemed to spring from somewhere deep within the music rather than superimposed upon it." The winner of the Vienna Philharmonic's Karajan Fellowship at the Salzburg Festival, he has served as cover conductor for the Cleveland Orchestra and as the Schmidt Conducting Fellow of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Mann has worked with leading artists such as Joshua Bell, Sharon Isbin, Marvin Hamlisch and given world premiers of major composers including John Corigliano. He maintains a lively schedule as a guest conductor having conducted at New York's Avery Fischer Hall and London's Barbican Center. Active in symphonic, operatic, and new music repertories, he has served as music director of the Oxford City Opera and Oxford Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra.

Elected a Rhodes Scholar, Mann studied and taught at Oxford, and won the annual competition to become principal conductor of the Oxford University Philharmonia. Under his leadership, the Philharmonia's performances and tours received international press and acclaim. Mann studied with Alan Hazeldine of London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Colin Metters at the Royal Academy of Music, and Marios Papadopolous of the Oxford Philomusica. He worked with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center.s National Conducting Institute and Michael Tilson Thomas at the New World Symphony. Mentorship with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jorma Panula followed at the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Conducting Masterclasses. He has also worked under Imre Pallo, David Effron, John Poole, and Thomas Baldner at Indiana University where he was appointed visiting lecturer in orchestral conducting, and worked as assistant conductor at the IU Opera Theater. Additional studies came under the Bolshoi Theater's music director, Alexander Vedernikov at the Moscow State Conservatory, Gustav Meir, Kenneth Keisler, and with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Robert Ward.

Trained as a violinist, Mann has appeared as a soloist, concertmaster, and chamber player in the USA and abroad. He is the recipient of numerous awards including commendations from several cities, and the state of California.

Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 46th season in 2011-2012 under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and performs more than thirty concerts each year through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series and River Rhapsodies Chamber Series, in addition to serving central Arkansas through numerous community outreach programs and bringing live symphonic music education to over 20,000 school children and over 200 schools.