A dozen area children will join the professional dancers from the Moscow Ballet for four performances of The Great Russian Nutcracker, a touring production of Peter Tchaikovsky's ballet, 7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Dec. 21 in Baum Walker Hall at Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St.
The 12 youngsters, playing Party Children, Mice, Angels and frames for the second-act variations, are: Alizabeth Grace McGinnis, Anna Caroline Johnson, Avery McFadden, Brooklyn Bradley, Ella Grace Cotton, Gracie Hollis, Julia Ragon Watts, Lawson Hooker, Rylee Ann Adams, Sloane Pitts, Wryn Pitts and Zoe Hahn.
Tickets are $33-$47. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit the website, waltonartscenter.org.
'Messiah by Candlelight'
A 70-voice choir consisting of members of the Adult Choir of Second Presbyterian Church and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Concert Choir will perform the Christmas portion and "Hallelujah" chorus of George Frideric Handel's Messiah with orchestra for "Messiah by Candlelight," 7:30 p.m. Monday at the church, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock.
The performance will involve dramatic staging that combines movement, light and live orchestral music in the candlelit sanctuary. Soloists include Shannon Rookey, soprano; Kathryne Overturf, mezzo-soprano; Matthew Tatus, tenor; and Timothy Tucker, bass-baritone. Bevan Keating conducts. The Second Presbyterian handbell choir will play several short selections starting at 7:15.
Tickets are $10. Child care will be available for audience members with children 7 or younger. Call (501) 227-0000 or (501) 569-8993, email info@praeclara.org or visit the websites, praeclara.org or ualr.tix.com.
Waka, Waka
The ninth annual Waka Winter Classic will travel through 20 cities in 14 states, with stops Feb. 6 at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville, Feb. 7 at Minglewood Hall in Memphis and closing out Feb. 28 at Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack in Little Rock, in a search for the best musical talent to play at the 12th annual Wakarusa Music Festival, June 4-7 in Ozark.
Artists and musicians can sign up through the official Waka Winter Classic website -- deadline for Fayetteville is Jan. 16; for Little Rock, Feb. 6; up to five artists will perform in each city, chosen based on talent, musicianship, draw and marketability. The audience will choose the winner, who will receive cash prizes and the chance to play for more than 20,000 fans at the Wakarusa festival. Visit wakawinterclassic.com.
'Home' in Pine Bluff
The Pine Bluff Symphony Orchestra, conductor Charles Jones Evans and guests soprano Eleanor Pearl and violinist Alex Michael Small (both Pine Bluff natives) and dancers from the Arkansas Festival Ballet will come "Home for the Holidays: Music of the Season," 4 p.m. today in the auditorium of the Pine Bluff Convention Center, 500 E. Eighth Ave., Pine Bluff.
Pearl, who made her 2012 operatic debut as Angelica in George Frideric Handel's Orlando in Siena, Italy, and has sung at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall and with the New York Lyric Opera, will sing the aria "Rejoice greatly" from Handel's Messiah.
Small, a 17-year-old junior at Pine Bluff's Ridgway Christian High School, will be the soloist in the "Winter" Concerto from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi.
The Festival Ballet dancers will perform the "Shepherds' Dance" from Gian-Carlo Menotti's one-act Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors (the orchestra will also play the Introduction and March) and the Spanish Dance ("Chocolate"), the Dance of the Reed Flutes ("Mirlitons") and the Russian Dance ("Trepak") from The Nutcracker by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The program will also include the "Polonaise" from the opera, Christmas Eve by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" from Cantata No. 147 by Johann Sebastian Bach; "March of the Toys" from Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland; Fantasia on Greensleeves by Ralph Vaughan Williams; a collection of Hanukkah songs and a Christmas-carol singalong.
Tickets are $30, $12 K-12 students "Preferred," $25 and $8 general admission. Call (870) 536-7666 or visit the website, pinebluffsymphony.com.
Jazz travelers
The University of Arkansas at Monticello's Jazz Band I and Jazz Combo will perform on the final day of the 48th annual Elmhurst College Jazz Festival in Chicago, Feb. 20-22. It's the third time the ensembles have been invited to the festival since 2009. The festival brings together college jazz bands for three days of performances and critiques from jazz professionals. Call (870) 460-1060.
Style on 12/14/2014