Documentary filmmaker Beth Harrington will discuss her forthcoming music history and performance documentary, The Winding Stream -- The Carters, The Cashes and The Course of Country Music, in her keynote address at the Delta Symposium XXI and Delta Flix Film and Media Festival, 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium of Arkansas State University's Carl R. Reng Student Union, 101 N. Caraway Road, Jonesboro.
The symposium and festival run Wednesday-Saturday at the university. The theme this year is "The South Goes to the Movies." Most events will take place in the student union's Mockingbird Room.
Friday's lineup concludes with a performance by folk musician John McCutcheon at 7:30 p.m. in Riceland Hall at the university's Fowler Center. Nationally known speakers and scholars will present research on the music and life of Bob Dylan at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
The symposium concludes at noon Saturday with the outdoor Delta Roots Music Festival at Jonesboro's City Water and Light Park, Culberhouse and Cherry streets. Performers include Zeke Johnson, Nathan Blake Lynn and Wilkinson James. Black Oak Arkansas takes the stage at 2 p.m., followed by Little Rock bluesman Lucious Spiller and country musician Jessie Charles Hammock. In case of rain, the show will move to the student union auditorium.
A schedule is available at altweb.astate.edu/blues/#schedule. Admission to all symposium and festival events is free. Call (870) 972-3043 or (870) 972-3070 or email ghansen@astate.edu or mbowman@astate.edu.
King John on screen
The Stratford Festival HD stage-to-screen event series will screen the festival's production of William Shakespeare's King John, starring Tom McCamus and Seana McKenna, captured live on stage Sept. 26 at the festival's Tom Patterson Theatre, at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Tinseltown in Benton and the Conway Cypress Point in Conway. Ticket information is available at stratfordfestivalHD.com.
Inaugural VoiceJam
Collegiate and community vocal groups will participate in a competition judged by professionals in the first VoiceJam a cappella festival, Friday-Saturday at Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St.
Nine groups -- from Tampa, Fla.; Memphis; Gaithersburg, Md.; Yorba Linda, Calif.; the University of Illinois; the University of Miami; Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.; Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo.; and Baylor University in Waco, Texas -- will compete at 8 p.m. Friday. The winner will have the chance to compete at VocalAsia Festival in Shanghai. Tickets are $15-$25.
The Red Carpet Showcase at 7 p.m. Saturday will highlight Friday's winner plus performances by award-winning professional a cappella quintets the House Jacks and Voco Novo and a screening of the movie Pitch Perfect 2, which is to arrive in theaters in May. Deke Sharon, producer of NBC's The Sing Off, will be the official host. Tickets are $30-$50.
Weekend festival passes are $70-$100. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org.
Met: Live season
The Met: Live in HD will kick off its 10th season at 11:55 a.m. Oct. 3 with Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore, with soprano Anna Netrebko as Leonora, at the Breckenridge Village 12 in Little Rock, the Tinseltown in Benton and the Razorback Cinema 16 in Fayetteville.
The rest of the lineup (except as noted, all cinecasts are at 11:55 a.m.):
• Oct. 17: Verdi's Otello
• Oct. 31: Richard Wagner's Tannhauser, 11 a.m.
• Nov. 21: Alban Berg's Lulu, 11:30 a.m.
• Jan. 16: Georges Bizet's Les Pecheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers)
• Jan. 30: Giacomo Puccini's Turandot
• March 5: Puccini's Manon Lescaut
• April 2: Puccini's Madame Butterfly
• April 16: Gaetano Donizetti's Roberto Devereux
• April 30: Richard Strauss' Elektra.
Season tickets go on sale July 24. Visit metopera.org.
Ozark opera
For the 65th year, Eureka Springs has welcomed musicians and music lovers alike to Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony, 16311 U.S. 62 W., Eureka Springs. This year's festival has been scheduled for June 19-July 17, with 22 performances of three operas, all fully staged with costumes and orchestra.
This season's lineup features Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata, Gioacchino Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella) and Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffman.
There will also be three special events:
• June 21: Family Day with backstage tours and chances to meet the artists.
• July 13: Chamber Music Concert.
• July 14: An Evening of Opera Scenes performed by the 2015 company.
Tickets, available early May, are $20, $25 and $27. Call (479) 253-8595 or visit opera.org.
Writers' retreat
The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center, 1021 W. Cherry St., Piggott, will hold its Summer 2015 Writers' Retreat, June 1-5 in the facility's educational center and the Hemingway barn-studio. Mentor is University of Central Arkansas creative writing teacher Garry Craig Powell. The interactive retreat will include group activities, private writing time and mentoring. Writers will contribute stories, poems and essays to be published on-site in a souvenir anthology. Registration fee, $200 by May 15, $225 thereafter, includes lunches and breaks. Teachers will have in-service opportunities. Call (870) 598-3487 or email adamlong@astate.edu.
Ballet auditions
Ballet Arkansas will hold auditions for the Summer Intensive classes, 10 a.m.-noon April 18 at Shuffles and Ballet II Studio, 1521 Merrill Drive, Little Rock. Students who can't attend the audition may submit a video audition with classical ballet barre and center floor work by April 18. The audition fee is $15 and registration is available at balletarkansas.org.
There are three weeks of classes:
• June 29-July 3, Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville with guest instructor Sara Webb of Houston Ballet
• July 6-10 and 13-17, Center for Performing Arts, University of Arkansas at Little Rock with Juan Carlos Claudio from the modern dance department at the University of Utah and Anthony Krutzkamp of Kansas City Ballet
Tuition is $325 per week or $550 for two weeks. Scholarships are available. Call (501) 223-5150 or email erin@balletarkansas.org or visit balletarkansas.org.
Style on 04/05/2015