ASO's Ode to Joy Hollywood connection

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra joins forces with actor and activist George Takei, 2012 Celebrity Apprentice participant and Mr. Sulu of Star Trek fame, and over 400 chorus members to celebrate the human spirit. Ode to Joy will be performed on Saturday, February 25 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 26 at 3 p.m. at the Robinson Center Music Hall. This concert is the fifth Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Concert and is sponsored by Windstream.

Takei, whose appearance is underwritten by the Stella Boyle Smith Trust, will take the stage as narrator during Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw. The narration that accompanies this piece depicts the story of a concentration camp survivor from the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. Takei, a Japanese American who as a child was interned at an internment camp in Rohwer, Arkansas during World War II, is a supporter of human right issues and community activist. Takei is chairman emeritus and a trustee of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles and was appointed to the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission by former President Clinton.

Just after Schoenberg’s moving piece, Maestro Philip Mann and the ASO musicians will be joined by over 400 voices from the state of Arkansas for Beethoven’s prayer for hope and peace, Symphony No. 9, Ode to Joy. “This is perhaps the most recognizable work in the history of classical music, and for good reason,” said Mann. “Its message of triumph and victory through a shared brotherhood between peoples is an enduring, timeless, and transcendent declaration. Seen as a watershed movement in music history, the work has gained such significance and is now synonymous with important moments in world history—like its performance marking the re-unification of Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

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 http://www.arkansassymphony.org/. Adult single tickets range from $14-$52 and can be purchased online at http://www.arkansassymphony.org/ or over the phone at (501) 666-1761. Student and military tickets are $10.

Program Details
ODE TO JOY
Saturday, February 25 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, February 26 at 3 p.m.
Robinson Center Music Hall
Featuring
George Takei, narrator
Schoenberg Chorus
River City Men’s Chorus
Beethoven Chorus
Arkansas State University
Harding University
Hendrix College
Lyon College
Ouachita Baptist University
Philander Smith College
Southern Arkansas University at Magnolia
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
University of Arkansas at Monticello
Members of River City Men’s Chorus
Philip Mann, conductor
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

Program:
SCHOENBERG A Survivor from Warsaw
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9, “Ode to Joy”

George Takei, narrator

With a career spanning five decades, actor George Takei is best known for his founding role in the acclaimed television series Star Trek, in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise. Takei starred in three seasons of Star Trek and later reprised his iconic role in six movies.

Widely recognized for his vocal talents, Takei has been a guest narrator with numerous symphony orchestras. He narrated "Sci-Fi Spectacular" with the Naples (Florida) Philharmonic Orchestra in January 2011, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in July 2010, Cleveland Orchestra in August 2009, Ottawa Symphony Orchestra in April 2009, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in January 2009, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in January 2008, and Seattle Symphony in September 2007. All seven concerts were conducted by Jack Everly. Takei narrated "Look to the Future" with the San Francisco Symphony in July 2009. In February 2008, he hosted "To Boldly Go" with the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Sarah Hatsuko Hicks.

In November 2004, Takei narrated Copeland's Lincoln Portrait with the Honolulu Symphony conducted by Samuel Wong. He has narrated Johan de Meij's Symphony No. 1: The Lord of the Rings with the Springfield, Mass., Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kevin Rhodes as well as with the Long Island Philharmonic, Denver Symphony Orchestra, Orange County California Wind Orchestra, and the Imperial Symphony Orchestra of Lakeland, Florida, all conducted by David Warble.

Takei is a member of the cast of Nickelodeon's live-action comedy series, Supah Ninjas. He starred in the film Larry Crowne opposite Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, released in July 2011 from Universal Pictures. Takei has also lent his voiceover talent to hundreds of characters in film, television, video games and commercials including Mulan, Mulan II, The Simpsons, Scooby-Do and the Samurai Sword, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Smurfs and George Lucas' Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Adding to his body of work, He has also provided narration on many projects including the 2009 PBS series The National Parks: America's Best Idea, the 2006 Peabody Award-winning radio documentary, Crossing East, centered on the history of Asian American immigration to the United States and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (cassette), which garnered Takei a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Spoken Word category.

Takei was born in Los Angeles, California. With the outbreak of World War II, he and his family together with 120,000 other Japanese Americans were placed behind the barbed-wire enclosures of United States internment camps. George spent most of his childhood at Camp Rohwer in the swamps of Arkansas and at wind-swept Camp Tule Lake in northern California.