George Jones says adieu at Forrest City tour stop
Tickets, $35, are now on sale for a 7 p.m. Feb. 23 concert by country legend George Jones, part of his “George Jones Farewell Tour,” at East Arkansas Community College’s Fine Arts Center, 1700 Newcastle Road, Forrest City.
So far, it is Jones’ only tour stop in Arkansas. Jones, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, is one of country’s most influential singers, with hits such as “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “The Race Is On” and a string of duets with the late Tammy Wynette. Call (870) 633-4480, Extension 352, or visit the website, eacc.edu.
Fort Smith orchestra
Violinist Er-Gene Kahng, a faculty member at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and assistant concertmaster of the Fort Smith Symphony, will solo with the orchestra and conductor John Jeter in what Jeter says is the Arkansas premiere of Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in d minor, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Arkansas Best Corp. Performing Arts Center, Fort Smith Convention Center, 55 S. Seventh St., Fort Smith.
Mendelssohn wrote the concerto, unpublished in his lifetime, when he was 14; his famous e minor concerto, op.64, is the one played most often.
As part of a program titled “Evening Serenade,” Jeter will also conduct the Suite No. 2 in D major from the Water Music by George Frideric Handel and the Serenade No. 1 in D major, op. 11, by Johannes Brahms.
Tickets are $35 and $30, $20 and $15 for students. Call (479) 452-7575 or visit the website, fortsmithsymphony.org.
Fayetteville orchestra
Pianist Ching-Yun Hu will solo with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas and Music Director Paul Haas in Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in b-flat minor,
op.23, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Baum Walker Hall of Walton
Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville.
Haas will also conduct Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major; musicians from the Youth Symphony of the Ozarks ensemble (part of the Ozarks Philharmonic Youth Orchestra) will sit in to perform the “Farandole” from L’Arlesienne by George Bizet.
Haas will hold a “Creative Conversation” with the audience at 6:30 in the center’s Starr Theater. Sponsors are Highlands Oncology Group and Mark and Diane Simmons.
Tickets are $28, $38, $48, $10 for students with ID, $5 for children with a paying adult. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit the website, sonamusic.org.
Opera gala
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Opera Theater presents “Songs From the Heart,” a gala in support of the university’s vocal program, 6:30 p.m. Feb. 5 at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, 1800 Center St., Little Rock. Tickets are $75. Call (501) 569-3294.
Artists’ business
Recruiting begins in March for the Mid-America Arts Alliance’s “Artist INC” program, an eight-week training program that addresses specific business needs and challenges of artists of all disciplines, which the Argenta Arts Foundation will host Sept. 9-Oct. 28 at its Art Connection space, 204 E. Fourth St., North Little Rock.
The Kansas City, Mo.based program, limited to 25 participants, is open to any emerging or established artist of any discipline; the artists will gather weekly to learn business skills they can apply “cooperatively with their peers,” according to a news release. Visit the websites artistinc.com and maaa.org/ artistincfor more information. Call (501) 993-1234.