On this program, we honor the 200th anniversary of the world premiere of perhaps THE most famous piece of orchestral music ever written: Beethoven’s towering Ninth Symphony – the first symphony ever to feature vocalists and a chorus. It was judged to be the greatest symphony ever when it was composed in 1824 – so great, in fact, that Brahms famously avoided writing his first symphony for decades, scared to death of the comparison with Beethoven’s masterpiece. The sung text is taken from the German poet Schiller’s “Ode to Joy,” a paean to what used to be referred to as the “Brotherhood of Man”, but which is now better understood as the vast interconnectedness of the entire human species. Lofty ideas and unforgettable music. The spirit of the work truly is an ‘ode to joy’ and will leave listeners feeling uplifted, connected, and awed by the ability for music to highlight the best aspects of our shared humanity.

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Ode to Joy: Beethoven’s Ninth

Walton Arts Center

Despite the piece’s name, Milhaud’s Le boeuf is not about a cow on a roof – it’s the music written for Jean Cocteau’s farcical pantomime about a non-existent speakeasy in America during Prohibition, performed for the first time in Paris in 1919. Milhaud’s score is kaleidoscopic in color, with multiple keys and tonalities jostling with each other for supremacy – and it’s just plain fun, featuring incredibly virtuosic passages for the entire orchestra, all the way through. Winona Fifield, SoNA’s esteemed concertmaster will perform Max Bruch’s beloved and romantic Violin Concerto in G Minor, a piece that was a hit success despite being written early in Bruch’s career. To close out this program, we feature what is potentially the greatest piece of music you’ve never heard: Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3. This work — and the rest of Farrenc’s output — was lost to us until recently due to the music world often ignoring and dismissing female composers, but now its time has come! We are thrilled to be able to bring this outstanding and passionate music to you, some 177 years after she wrote it in 1847. Each of these pieces defy expectations in their own way – from Milhaud’s eclectic and wonderfully unpredictable style, to Bruch’s early success, to Farrenc’s bold persistence and assurance in her powerful voice despite many barriers to success. Great music pushes beyond barriers and expectations!

Defying Expectations

Whether it’s unjustly neglected through history or fresh ink on the page, great music deserves to be heard! In this concert, we walk through some of each. The now world-famous Samuel Barber — who wrote the iconic Adagio for Strings — also penned his rarely-heard but unforgettable Symphony No. 1 around the same time in 1936. Barber was a widely-admired and well-supported young composer, having just graduated from one of the most prestigious conservatories in the world. William Dawson wrote his Negro Folk Symphony just two years earlier in 1934, at the age of 35, without any of those advantages, yet it is just as commanding. This symphony — based on themes from Black spirituals — was the only one he ever wrote, tragically. His stirring and heartfelt music powerfully and surely lifts the soul. SoNA is especially proud to announce that this concert will feature the world premiere of multi-genre composer Aldo López-Gavilán’s Oceans to Cross, written for and performed by the inimitable Lara Downes. So, jump in to the great unknown and discover sounds that you may have never heard before, but that will surely make their mark once brought to life.

The Great Unknown

A mix of sacred and secular holiday favorites with local guest soloists, The SoNA Singers and collegiate choruses.

Celebrating the beauty and magic of the season with a mix of holiday favorites, featuring local guest soloists, the SoNA Singers under the direction of Terry Hicks, collegiate choruses, and other guests.

A Very SoNA Christmas

Holiday music for children of all ages and a special screening of the runaway hit film, The Snowman, with live orchestral soundtrack.

The Snowman: A Family Concert

A spooky mix of thrilling music celebrating the scariest holiday of them all.

Prepare your best, no, spookiest attire for this chillingly fun Halloween concert experience with guest conductor Lawrence Loh! We’ll play iconic Halloween tunes, evoke jarring but incredible sounds from the orchestra, and jolt everyone into a celebration of the season. We’re not kidding, the best costume will be crowned, so come dressed for a haunting (but family friendly) evening of music. Guest conductor Loh has extensively collaborated with orchestras across the United States and Canada, and has a particular talent and love of accessible and engaging programming that allows a wide range of music-lovers to engage with symphonic music.

Haunted Harmonies: 
A Halloween Concert

Leonard Bernstein is arguably one of the most famous musicians of the 20th Century, and his musical West Side Story is a brash and daring retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet — a heart-on-your-sleeve display of bravado, love, lust, and untimely death — as well as a cry out on behalf of the Puerto Ricans and communities that were being bulldozed out of their homes and neighborhoods as Lincoln Center rose up in New York City in the 1960s. In a very different display of the idea of ‘romantics,’ we will also perform the quintessential Romantic composer Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2. Written in 1906, its bold and unabashed emotional music grips our hearts, minds, and bodies just as surely as it did over a century ago at its premiere. This emotionally gripping program is a wonderful way to commence our season and showcase our orchestra’s expressive power.

Great Romantics

Part of SoNA’s mission is to uncover music that has been historically and unjustifiably ignored by the classical music world. For this mainstage season closing concert, SoNA is excited to present a pulse-raising performance of Chickasaw Nation composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate’s Chokfi' (Rabbit) – a musical sketch of the Trickster character in Southeastern Native American folklore, scored for strings and percussion. Solo pianist Angela Cheng then joins SoNA musicians for Manuel de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain: a steamy, sultry, summery excursion into three different Spanish scenes, each popping with character, romance, and intrigue. Rounding out this eclectic program is Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3, often justifiably referred to as "the American symphony." Written at the end of World War II, its soaring melodies and jaunty rhythms pay homage to all the millions of anonymous men and women who contributed to the war effort – the final movement fittingly beginning with another of his most famous works, Fanfare for the Common Man.

Evoking Folklore

A collaboration with Fayetteville Jazz Collective.

SoNA is busy expanding the definition of what an orchestra is, so who’s to say we can’t go head-to-head with a venerable jazz band?! For this concert, we team up with the Fayetteville Jazz Collective for Battle of the Bands to create a hybrid orchestra + jazz band that is greater than the sum of its parts. We’ll alternate between pieces played by the jazz band, pieces played by the orchestra, and then pieces played together, for an evening of genre-defying music that will be enjoyed by a wide variety of music lovers. Also featuring guest vocalist Genine LaTrice Perez. Join us for this incredible collaboration and an evening of fun, engaging, and unexpected music.

Battle of the Bands

For the first time ever, SoNA is releasing a full-length album with groundbreaking new music that blends acoustic and electric sounds, as well as virtual and “in real life” performances by our orchestra and special guest soloists and ensembles from around the world. This album will include music by our very own Music Director Paul Haas, as well as the incredible violist/composer Trevor New. To celebrate and preview this upcoming release, we’re featuring these pieces in a live performance, with virtual tie-ins to multiple international locations. After the intermission, we'll raise the roof with the joyously beautiful Symphony No. 3 in F Major by Johannes Brahms – truly one of the most gorgeous pieces of music ever written. This concert shows SoNA’s commitment to the past, present, and future of music with “new canons" and beloved time-honored ones as well.

New Canons

Simply, but powerfully put, William Grant Still’s Mother and Child is one of the most beautiful pieces you’ve likely never heard. Dubbed the ‘Dean of African American Composers’ and the first African American composer to be performed by a major symphony orchestra, as more and more of Still’s music is discovered, the composer is posthumously getting the recognition he so richly deserved. The SoNA Singers join us in Chichester Psalms, perhaps Leonard Bernstein’s most popular choral work, and it’s absolutely "pure Lenny." Biting chords, pungent colors, awe-inspiring harmonies, and masterful orchestration make this music one-of-a-kind. And did you know that the best-selling contemporary classical album of all time is Henryk Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrows? It’s true! We will play this huge work that contains an entire world of human emotions: love, sorrow, sadness, loss, and an ecstatic enveloping beauty. In Górecki’s third symphony, award-winning soprano Miriam Khalil will join SoNA musicians to sing haunting Polish texts spanning centuries, giving perspectives from both a mother having lost her child, and a child separated from their parents.

Symphony of Northwest Arkansas

Apr 6, 2024

Ode to Joy: Beethoven’s Ninth

Feb 17, 2024

Defying Expectations

Jan 20, 2024

The Great Unknown

Dec 9, 2023

A Very SoNA Christmas

Dec 4, 2023

The Snowman: A Family Concert

Symphony of Northwest Arkansas

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