SoNA Announces 2022-23 “SoNA Beyond” Music Series
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. (Sept. 9, 2022) – The Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA) proudly announces its second annual SoNA Beyond music series, with 14+ community performances including organizational partnerships, special pop-up appearances, innovative artistic experiences, educational events, and more set to take place between September 2022 and June 2023.
Supported by the Walmart Foundation and other generous donors, this series moves beyond the SoNA mainstage season and showcases the vast spectrum of possibilities for classical music. SoNA Beyond rethinks the boundaries of what a symphony can do to innovate the artform, include new voices, and increasingly immerse SoNA throughout the Northwest Arkansas community.
“It is imperative that we move beyond the traditional boundaries of what a symphony can do, with the ultimate aim of being a force for good in our community,” says D. Riley Nicholson, SoNA Executive Director. “As a leader in the NWA arts sector, SoNA has a responsibility to break the mold and dismantle perceptions that an orchestra only exists to serve an elite few.”
The 2022-23 SoNA Beyond series kicks off with a reprise of its inaugural SoNA Beyond concert Voces Latinas at the Fayetteville Public Library (FPL) on September 18 at 2pm. Co-presented by SoNA and FPL, curator and SoNA musician Raul Munguia leads a free concert that celebrates the vital impact Latinx artists have in culture and our community through a musical program that honors Hispanic Heritage Month. Audiences will be taken on a musical journey from Mexico through the Andes, highlighting the richness and diversity of classical and traditional repertoire written by Latin-American composers. Featuring SoNA musicians Duo Capriccioso, South American performing artist and composer Amado Espinoza, and others, Voces Latinas will include treasured time-honored classics as well as contemporary Latinx voices of today.
After Voces Latinas, the SoNA Beyond series continues with a myriad of concerts, special appearances, educational events, and more. “It’s hard to draw a neat throughline between all we have to offer through SoNA Beyond, because by design these events are built to be flexible and respond to community needs and opportunities,” Nicholson explains. “Being nimble allows us to reach across Northwest Arkansas and show up for our community however we can.”
In the spirit of flexibility and innovation, more events and appearances will be announced on an ongoing basis, but SoNA already has an extraordinary lineup planned, including:
• An ongoing partnership with Highlands Oncology Group: On September 12, 28, October 10, 25, and more dates TBA, SoNA will provide a solo violinist for free performances at Highlands Oncology’s Springdale clinic. SoNA aims to uplift the spirits of patients and healthcare workers by providing free performances in the infusion room and lobby. Highlands Oncology is a longtime corporate partner of SoNA, and now the organizations are thrilled to collaborate further to provide a therapeutic and uplifting experience for cancer patients.
• On October 1 at 3pm at Murphy Park, SoNA Beyond and the Springdale Public Library celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a special performance by Duo Capriccioso and salsa band Son Sin Gnero. This event is free and open to the public.
• On November 6 at 3pm at the Fayetteville Public Library, SoNA Beyond and FPL co-present the classic symphonic fairy tale for children, Peter & The Wolf / Pedro y el lobo, which introduces listeners to the colorful instruments of the orchestra with a story that highlights vigilance, bravery, and resourcefulness. This will be a bi-lingual performance of the classic children’s tale set to the timeless music of Sergei Prokofiev. This performance provides an opportunity for young people to experience this familiar tale and iconic music with narration in English and Spanish. Free and open to the public.
• On November 12, SoNA Beyond will make a special appearance at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art during the Interform Fashion event celebrating the museum’s “Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour” exhibition. SoNA’s special musical appearance will connect with the themes in Crystal Bridges’ exhibition dedicated to fashion, exploring American fashion as a powerful emblem of global visual culture, amplified by movies, television, red carpets, and social media.
• On November 19, SoNA Beyond presents Latin Traces at 214 CACHE in Springdale. Curated by Fernando Valencia, this concert will explore the cultural elements that shape “Latin American sound.” The program celebrates Latin music and its particular “Latin sound” as a positive and unifying element amidst the clash of cultures during colonization. This concert will include a world premiere by Carolina Noguera and is supported by the CACHE Creative Exchange Fund. This event is free and open to the public, with donations encouraged.
• On January 14, 2023, SoNA Beyond will have a special appearance at the Northwest Arkansas Martin Luther King Council Banquet, performing the string quartet music of Florence Price. Time and tickets for this event TBA.
• On March 15, 2023, at 4pm, SoNA Beyond collaborates with the Ra-Ve Cultural Foundation at the Fayetteville Public Library. SoNA, Ra-Ve, and FPL co-present a youth-centered interactive and educational experience – part book reading, part performance, and part demonstration. Featuring a classic Indian story alongside a presentation between symphony and Ra-Ve musicians traversing the boundaries between western and Indian musical styles, this event is free and open to the public.
• On May 7, 2023, at 2pm, SoNA Beyond: Transcending Words will feature the SoNA Singers in celebration of Poetry Month at the Fayetteville Public Library. SoNA Singers, a chorus of 60 beautiful voices, will sing powerful poems, and spoken word artists will share poems inspired by the music and poetry of the event. Through this program we celebrate the transcendent ability of the written word, as well as the ability of music to transcend words by providing color, context, and emotion. This event is free and open to the public.
• On June 30, 2023, SoNA continues its partnership with Crystal Bridges to co-present a concert in the museum’s Great Hall. Inspired by the temporary visual art exhibition titled Diego Rivera’s America, SoNA will collaborate with Crystal Bridges curators to explore themes in the visual exhibit to create a musical program that sonically brings the artwork to life and deepens cultural connections across artforms, identities, and geographies. SoNA’s appearance at Crystal Bridges is supported by Greenwood Gearhart Investments. Ticketing details and event time TBA.
• SoNA Beyond will also present its annual Cooper Chapel concert in the summer of 2023, sponsored by the North Arkansas Symphony Guild and made possible by a gift from the late Elin J. Stene. This event will be free and open to the public; event date and time TBA.
To learn more about the SoNA Beyond music series, including programming dates and details as they are announced, click here.
To learn about SoNA’s 2022-23 mainstage season spanning Oct. 29 through April 29, 2023 at Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, click here or call the WAC box office at (479) 443-5600.