The Symphony of Northwest Arkansas will be back on stage next month.
SoNA will perform a new show titled Defying Expectations on the main stage a Walton Arts Center Feb. 17.
The orchestra, under the baton of SoNA Music Director Paul Haas, will perform Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3., Darius Milhaud’s Le Boeuf sur le toit, and Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G Minor as part of the February performance.
Farrenc’s work has been called “potentially the greatest piece of music you’ve never heard” due to much of the composer’s work being lost to many until recently, as SoNA says, “due to the music world often ignoring and dismissing female composers.”
“We are thrilled to be able to bring this outstanding and passionate music to you, some 177 years after Farrenc wrote it,” Haas said. “I honestly can’t believe it fell out of the repertoire, as she is a phenomenal composer. We at SoNA can’t wait to share it with our audience.”
Despite its name, Le Boeuf sur le toit is not about a cow or an ox on a roof. The work, performed for the first time in Paris in 1919, was created as part of Jean Cocteau’s farcical pantomime about a nonexistent speakeasy in America during Prohibition.
To round out the show, Violin Concerto in G Minor will be performed by SoNA concert master Winona Fifield.
“It’s a rare treat to hear our esteemed concertmaster play a concerto,” Haas said. “Winona is one of those rare musicians who grips your heart with her playing — she’s so musical — and I know everyone in the audience is going to feel like they’ve witnessed something truly extraordinary.”
Tickets to the show range from $36 to $61, and are on sale now at sonamusic.org.
