ASO children's concert

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will perform “American Odyssey” on Friday, October 5 at 10 a.m. at Robinson Center Music Hall. Under the baton of ASO Associate Conductor Geoffrey Robson, come experience the full 72-piece Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in concert playing American classics. This concert will explore music from the "Beginnings of America" through the "Growth of Black Culture in America," to the "Influence of Hispanic Migration to America."

This one-hour educational concert, sponsored by Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Guild and the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, will provide teachers and students with supplemental materials full of hands-on activities to enhance the live concert experience. This concert is a "not to be missed" opportunity for 4th through 8th grade students.

Tickets for school groups are $3 per student. For more information and to reserve tickets, contact Jo Sears-Harkins at 501-425-8964 by September 28th.

Program Details

CHILDREN’S CONCERT
American Odyssey
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

Geoffrey Robson, conductor

Friday, October 5, at 10 a.m.

Robinson Center Music Hall

Program:

Copland                        Hoedown from Rodeo

Joplin                            Maple Leaf Rag

Grofé                            Grand Canyon Suite V. Cloudburst

Dvořák                         Symphony No. 9 “New World”

Tyzik                            Fantasy on American Themes

Lay Rodriguez               Piñata  

Gould                            Tap Dance Concerto

Sousa                           Stars and Stripes Forever

GEOFFREY ROBSON has been the Associate Conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra since 2008. He has designed and conducted many of the orchestra’s subscription series concerts, as well as its children’s concerts and special events. As conductor, last season he worked with guest artists such as the Beach Boys, Lawrence Hamilton, Timothy Jones, Henrietta Davis, Christiane Noll, Doug LaBrecque, and Calvin Lee. He also performs as a violinist, frequently appearing in the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s popular River Rhapsodies chamber series and directing educational outreach to schoolchildren across the state. In addition, Robson writes and produces At the Symphony, a concert preview radio series on KLRE Classical 90.5 in Little Rock. 

Robson studied orchestral conducting at the Mannes College of Music in New York City under the tutelage of David Hayes. He has twice attended the London Conducting Workshop, an annual course at the Royal College of Music in London, and has guest-led several chamber orchestras in the New York area. In 2006, he became a founding member of the Chelsea Symphony, a bold experiment in the structuring of an arts organization, based in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Robson conducted in the inaugural concert of the Chelsea Symphony, and has since conducted numerous other concerts with the ensemble, including world premieres of two works by composer Ryan Chase. 

Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 46^th 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 24,000 school children and over 200 schools.