LITTLE ROCK — Elsewhere in entertainment and the arts this weekend:
MUSIC
Four B’s
German cellist Birgit Erichson and pianist Naoki Hakutani will give the U.S. premiere of Swiss composer-conductor Turiung Bram’s Six Pieces for Cello and Piano as part of a recital titled “The Four B’s: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Bram,” at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, Fine Arts Building,at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. The program will include an arrangement of J.S. Bach preludes and cello sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. Admission is free. Sponsors are the German Missions in the United States and Think Transatlantic. Call (501) 569-8038 or e-mail smwagner1@ualr.edu.
ASO on the road
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, conductor Philip Mann and mezzo-soprano Diane Kesling will play three “run-out” concerts this weekend:
7 p.m. Friday in the VadaSheid Community Development Center, Arkansas State University-Mountain Home, 1600 S. College St., Mountain Home. Tickets are $35, $17.50 for students, plus handling fees. Call (870) 508-6280 or (800) 514-3849, e-mail info@vadasheidcdc.com or visit thesheid.com.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Woodlands Auditorium, Ponce de Leon Center, DeSoto Boulevard and Balboa Drive, Hot Springs Village, under the auspices of the Hot Springs/ Hot Springs Village Symphony Guild. Tickets are $25. Call (501) 922-0036 or visit hsvwoodlands.com.
3 p.m. Sunday, Riceland Auditorium, Grand Prairie Center, Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas, 2709 U.S. 165 South, Stuttgart. A post-concert dessert reception will honor University of Arkansas System President Donald Bobbitt. Tickets are $39, $30, $25 and $20. Call (870) 673-4201, Extension 1895 or visit pcccua.edu.
Program for the Mountain Home and Stuttgart performances: Rocket Sleigh by Devlyn Case; “Peanut Brittle Brigade” (March) from Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite; an arrangement of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”; three movements from the Concerto Grosso in g minor, op.6 No. 8, “Christmas Concerto,” by Arcangelo Corelli; A Canadian Brass Christmas, arranged by Luther Henderson and adapted by Calvin Custer; Jingle Bell Fantasie by Carmen Dragon; and Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson. Kesling will sing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Christmas Eve In My Hometown” and “O Holy Night.” Hershy Kay’s arrangement of “Pat-A-Pan” will feature a solo dancer.
The Hot Springs Village performance will add the Hot Springs Village Chorale for “How Great Our Joy” by Craig Courtney and “I Wish You Christmas” by John Rutter and subtract A Canadian Brass Christmas.
Celtic Christmas
Celtic group Cherish the Ladies joins the South Arkansas Symphony for A Celtic Christmas, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the El Dorado Municipal Auditorium, 100 W. Eighth St., El Dorado. Tickets are $20, $15 for senior citizens, teachers and college students, $5 for K-12 children. Call (870) 862-0521 or visit southarkansassymphony.org.
Choral jubilee
The Hot Springs Music Festival Chorus will present a concert titled “What Sweeter Music!” at 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 228 Spring St., Hot Springs. The focus will be on music of English composers (2012 is the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II), including music for royal occasions by Rutter, George Frideric Handel, Ralph Vaughn Williams and Charles Hubert H. Parry. Lynn Payette conducts. Tickets are $10, $5 for students. Call (501) 623-4763.
THEATER
Speed the Plow
The Lantern Theatre will stage Speed the Plow by David Mamet at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday at the LanternTheatre, 1021 Van Ronkle St., Conway. The theater recommends the play only for adult audiences. Admission is $10. Call (501) 428-0475 or visit. conwayarts.org.
Christmas Belles
Three dysfunctional south Texas sisters try to put on a Christmas pageant in Christmas Belles by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Dec. 7-8 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 9 at the Ouachita Little Theatre, 610 Mena St., Mena. Tickets are $8, $5 for students, and senior citizens 60 and older; “Dinner and the Theater” tickets, which includes dinner at the Branding Iron, 1110 U.S. 71,Mena, are $15. Call (479) 243-0186 or visit oltmena.com.
FESTIVITIES
OBU festival
Ouachita Baptist University will offer its 20th anniversary Festival of Christmas, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday in Jones Performing Arts Center, Arkadelphia. The Concert Choir, Ouachita Singers, Ouachita Sounds, Women’s Chorus and the Ouachita Pit Band, featuring members of the OBU Wind Ensemble, will perform. Gary Gerber is the musical director. Tickets are $10, free for OBU students. Call (870) 245-5555 or visit obu.edu/boxoffice.
Weekend, Pages 35 on 11/29/2012