This week in Arkansas entertainment, events and the arts:
'Carpenters Christmas'
Singer/playwright Lisa Rock and her six-piece band, including Arkansas' own Drew Jansen on piano, are bringing their national tour of "A Carpenters Christmas" to Little Rock, onstage 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave. The show features songs from the duo's two holiday albums and their Christmas variety shows, including originals like "Merry Christmas, Darling," and arrangements, including their jazzy version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." Presenter is the Acansa Arts Festival. Masks and proof of covid-19 vaccination are required. Tickets are $35. Visit Acansa.org.
'SoNA Christmas'
The Symphony of Northwest Arkansas celebrates the season with two holiday concerts in Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St.:
The Symphony of Northwest Arkansas sets its "Very SoNA Christmas" concert Saturday and its annual "Snowman" concert Dec. 12 at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
◼️ Its annual Christmas Pops performance, "A Very SoNA Christmas," 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, is a program of "sacred and secular holiday favorites."
The SoNA Singers, under the direction of Terry Hicks, will perform John Rutter's arrangement of "O Come, All Ye Faithful" and Rutter's "Rejoice and Sing"; Andrea Ramsey's "In the Bleak Midwinter"; the "Hallelujah" chorus from George Frideric Handel's "Messiah"; Craig Courtney's "A Musicological Journey Through the 12 Days of Christmas"; "Silent Night"; and "Joy to the World."
The orchestral selections include Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride"; dances from Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" ("Trepak" and "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy") and jazzy adaptations thereof by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, arranged by Jeff Tyzik ("Toot Toot Tootie Toot" and "Dance of the Floreadores"); two movements from Morton Gould's "Serenade of Carols"; Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's "Christmas Overture"; "Troika" from "Lieutenant Kije" by Sergei Prokofiev; and the "Winter" concerto from "The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi, with violin soloist Zsolt Eder.
Music Director Paul Haas conducts. Tickets are $35-$57.
◼️ The return of "The Snowman: A Family Concert," 2 p.m. Dec. 12, with the orchestra providing accompaniment to the animated film "The Snowman," about a young boy who builds a snowman that comes to life and takes him on an adventure to the North Pole. The program also includes seasonal music for children. Tickets are $10.
Call (479) 443-5600 or visit sonamusic.org. Current covid-19 safety protocols are at sonamusic.org/covid-safety.
Jazz grantee
Samara Joy joins the Pasquale Grasso Trio Friday at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center. Joy is one of 31 jazz performers to receive a grant from South Arts' Jazz Road Tours program. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Shervin Lainez)
Samara Joy and the Pasquale Grasso Trio perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Starr Theater at Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center, part of the center's Starrlight Jazz Club series. Tickets are $33 and $53 (plus applicable fees). Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org.
Joy is the recipient of a $15,000 Jazz Road Tours grant from Atlanta-based South Arts, one of 31 performers to receive recent awards. Joy's tour also includes a performance Thursday at Blue Strawberry in St. Louis; Dec. 16 at Jazz Vivace in Cincinnati; Dec. 17 at the Bop Stop in Cleveland; and Dec. 18 at Cliff Bell's in Detroit.