Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts:
MUSIC: Artosphere festival
The Artosphere: Arkansas’ Arts + Nature Festival returns, full bore, to Northwest Arkansas, with outdoor performances, orchestral concerts and chamber music performances, starting with a show by Trout Fishing in America, 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, 4703 N. Crossover Road, Fayetteville. Admission is by free ticket. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit artospherefestival.org.
The festival, celebrating “art, music and nature,” according to a news release, runs through May 27 at venues across the area. The lineup of symphonic, opera and classical music performances (all ticket prices plus fees):
◼️ Opera Fayetteville stages “Second Nature,” a two-person chamber opera by Matthew Aucoin, 8 p.m. Saturday, Starr Theater, Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. $15-25
◼️ Dover Quartet and arx duo with Natalie Christa perform the world premiere of Steve Mackey’s “Memoir,” 7 p.m. May 18, Starr Theater, Walton Arts Center. $15-25
◼️ “Live from Crystal Bridges: Mozart in the Museum,” with pianist Benedetto Lupo, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, 7 p.m. May 19, Great Hall, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. $49
◼️ “Tango & Passion, Music of Piazzolla, Martucci, & Mendelssohn,” Artosphere Festival Orchestra, 10x10 Arts Series, with bandoneon soloist Hector del Curto, 7 p.m. March 23, Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center. $10
◼️ Seraph Brass, 6 p.m. May 24, Memorial Park Chautauqua Amphitheater, 317 S. Mt. Olive St., Siloam Springs. Free
◼️ “An Evening of Strauss & Stravinsky,” Artosphere Festival Orchestra, Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center. Richard Strauss: “Don Juan,” “Four Last Songs” (with soprano Tiffany Townsend); Igor Stravinsky: “Firebird” Suite. $15-$67
◼️ Artosphere Festival Orchestra Off the Grid, 7 p.m. May 26, locations and performers to be announced. Free
Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem perform Thursday in the Starr Theatre at Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center, part of the 2022 Artosphere Festival. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
Additional music (all ticket prices plus fees):
◼️ Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Starr Theatre, Walton Arts Center. $33
◼️ The Cate Brothers at Railyard Live, 8 p.m. Friday, Railyard Live, 101 E. Cherry St., Rogers. Free-$20. railyardlive.com
◼️ Funk Factory at Railyard Live, 8 p.m. Saturday, Railyard Live, Rogers. Free-$20. railyardlive.com
Additional events and exhibitions:
◼️ “Sol,” through May 31, Joy Pratt Markham Gallery, Walton Arts Center, exhibition celebrating “the themes of energy, light and sustainability,” including an Artosphere-theme sculpture made from recycled materials; five energy-inspired, large-format paintings created by local public schools and community groups; and two pieces designed and created by Walton Arts Center staff “that evoke visuals of sunlight in its various forms.” 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday and 60 minutes prior to performances and during intermission. Free
◼️ Trail Mix on the Frisco Trail, 5 p.m. Friday, focusing on downtown Fayetteville, with performers and activities stationed along the trail. Free
◼️ Indie Films Artosphere, 7 p.m. May 26, Starr Theater, Walton Arts Center. $15
IBLA musicians
Global Ties Arkansas is pairing with the IBLA Foundation, centered in Ragusa, Italy, to host a concert of winners and contestants — pianists, singers, instrumentalists and composers — in the 31st annual IBLA International Music Competition, 7 p.m. Monday at Temple B’Nai Israel, 3700 N Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock.
The lineup includes two guitarists — an Italian, Maria Criscione, who will perform works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Joaquin Rodrigo and a sonata by Leo Brouwer; and a Brazilian, Octavio Deluchi, who will play works by Rodrigo, Joao Luiz, Vicente Paschoal and Astor Piazzolla.
Also on the program: Japanese flutist Haruna Furukawa, playing works by Kazuo Fukushima, Toru Takemitsu, Franz Doppler and Bruce Stark’s arrangement of “Amazing Grace”; Italian accordion player Luigi Giordano, performing pieces by Franck Angelis, Cesar Franck, Anatoly Kusyakov and Johann Strauss Jr.; improvisatory American pianist Alexander Kato-Willis; two other pianists — Georgian Tamara Licheli, playing pieces by Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin and Sergei Prokofiev, and Italian Armando Sabbarese, playing pieces by Liszt, Henry Cowell, John Cage and George Crumb; and an American whistler, Michael Barimo, who will assay three opera selections: the “Queen of the Night” aria from “The Magic Flute” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; “Merce Dilette Amiche” from “I Vespri Siciliani” by Giuseppe Verdi; and “L’air des bijoux” from “Faust” by Charles Gounod.
Admission is free. The concert is dedicated to the people of Ukraine. A reception sponsored by Trio’s Restaurant and Capi Peck follows.
The Little Rock visit includes a morning performance Monday at Gibbs International Magnet Elementary School and master classes at Catholic High School for Boys.
Performances are also scheduled at 7 p.m. today at First United Methodist Church, 308 W. Main St., Jacksonville; at a time to be determined Tuesday at Lyons College in Batesville; at a time to be determined Wednesday at Harding College in Searcy; and at a time and venue in Hot Springs yet to be identified Saturday. Arkansas is a way station en route to Carnegie Hall, where the group will perform May 10.
Call (501) 940-9743 or visit Globaltiesark.org.
THEATER: ‘Revolutionary’ play
Arkansas Public Theatre stages “The Revolutionists” by Lauren Gunderson, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and May 12-14 and 2 p.m. May 15 at the Victory Theater, 116 S. Second St., Rogers. The play focuses on four women — a playwright, an assassin, former French queen (and fan of ribbons) Marie Antoinette and a Haitian rebel — during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. The play contains mature content and strong language. Tickets are $35-$40 for single cabaret seats, $70 per table of two. Balcony seats are $30, $35 for two, $20 for students. Call (479) 631-8988 or visit arkansaspublictheatre.org.
ART AND EXHIBITS: Civil War stories
“Civil War in Benton County: Untold Stories,” focusing on true stories of bushwhacker attacks, food shortages and other daily life-and-death challenges for civilians in war-torn Northwest Arkansas, opens Saturday in the Trammel Gallery of the Rogers Historical Museum, 313 S. Second St., Rogers. The exhibition, up through Nov. 12, shares personal accounts from letters, family histories and other documents, along with artifacts including clothing and a section of a family coverlet that survived the Battle of Pea Ridge. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Admission is free. Call (479) 621-1154 or visit rogershistoricalmuseum.org.