By Glenda Rice Collins — Updated July 21, 2024.

Upcoming event July 23: A free SoNA Beyond Carnival of the Animals concert in Siloam Springs, Ark.

Bentonville, Ark. —  Themes of Creativity, Beauty in Nature, Music, Dance & Diversity mingle as record-breaking crowds of mesmerized attendees continue to experience the ongoing “Exquisite Creatures” exhibition at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, through July 29. The related transformative powers of music were masterfully expressed during the recent Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA) —SoNA Beyond “Exquisite Transformations” concert in the museum’s Great Hall.

July 23: SoNA Carnival of the Animals comes to Siloam Springs

SoNA Beyond series concerts, sponsored by Walmart, with additional support provided by Arkansas Community Foundation, continue with a free “Carnival of the Animals” concert Tuesday, July 23 at 10:30 a. m., at the Siloam Springs, Ark. public library.

According to SoNA’s website: “The animals are having a carnival, and everyone is invited! The unique personalities of a collection of animals (will be) brought to life with timeless musical themes as narration tells the story of a young student’s adventures on a school class trip to the Natural History Museum.

Kid-friendly music

SoNA invites the public “to hear a SoNA woodwind quintet perform a kid-friendly performance of Carnival of the Animals, with special storytelling and reading by Natalie Fernandez, SoNA education director. “Carnival of the Animals” is a humorous musical work by composer Camille Saint-Saëns. As the name suggests, the music depicts animals across the animal kingdom with frivolity and joy.

Performers include:
Ginny Hudson – flute
Andrew Baker – oboe
Orlando Scalia – clarinet
Richard Bobo – bassoon
Katy Luker – horn
Natalie Fernandez – narrator

As evidenced by the recent Exquisite Transformations SoNA Beyond concert at Crystal Bridges museum, inspired by Christopher Marley‘s Exquisite Creatures exhibition, currently mesmerizing crowds through July 29:

“The aesthetic of nature is the rhythm we move to, says Marley, per his artist statement. “In my mind, there is little separating art and life sciences. It’s like trying to extricate dance from music. Art’s purpose is to heighten our aesthetic sensibilities, to sharpen our ability to experience beauty, to empathize with those life systems we come into contact with, to derive pleasure or stimulation from our interaction with arranged elements, in whole or in part. How does nature differ? We dance with it and within it.”

About SoNA Beyond

According to the SoNA website: SoNA Beyond (“music beyond boundaries, within reach”) “showcases the vast spectrum of possibilities for classical music to reach audiences in new and innovative ways. SoNA Beyond presents a variety of concerts, programs, and other creative arts experiences that go beyond the symphony’s annual mainstage season of concerts. The new series features symphony musicians in creative ways, including chamber music performances, outdoor educational concerts, community partnerships, groundbreaking contemporary experiences, and more.

SoNA Beyond rethinks the boundaries of what a symphony can do to innovate the artform, include new voices, and immerse SoNA in the Northwest Arkansas community – to give audiences an expansive view of what classical music is and who it serves. For more details about upcoming SoNA concerts and events, and the SoNA Beyond series, visit: https://www.sonamusic.org/

Exquisite Transformations

In describing the curation process for the recent Exquisite Transformations SoNA Beyond concert’s program, co-presented by Crystal Bridges, SoNA executive director Ben Harris explained on-site how the music was selected to reflect the diversity of Christopher Marley’s Exquisite Creatures artistry, with creatures from the natural world transformed and repurposed, respectfully, into dazzling works of art.

Catalysts for Change

Eventually arriving at themes of “transformations from pre-existing materials” and “catalysts for transformations” (such as the creation of Crystal Bridges museum itself) Harris further detailed how composers such as Charles Ives and Igor Stravinsky drew inspiration from: “unusual distant musical sounds Ives heard while walking in the woods,” and “folk themes from Lithuania… Stravinsky used within his provocative Rite of Spring,” which were later incorporated into orchestrations. “The construction of Crystal Bridges museum (also) continues to serve as a catalyst for transformations,” said Harris, “…for those of us who remember what it was like before (without this venue).”

Music & Expansive Influence

Christopher Marley’s intricate and massive displays of artistically-arranged preserved creatures from the natural world inspired SoNA musical diversity by showcasing diverse composers and their expansive influences.

Under the baton of maestro Paul Haas, the June 28 SoNA Beyond concert at Crystal Bridges Great Hall featured a chamber orchestra who similarly breathed new life into classical music by borrowing from the past. Infusions of contemporary flair ranged from the timeless genius of Aaron Copland, and his Appalachian Spring to the modern voices of Christopher Ducasse and Mark O’Connor, defining the evolution of musical expression through borrowed motifs and inspired transformations.

The June 28 concert opened with an engaging and energetic composition, Lakay, by Haitian composer Christopher Ducasse, which according to Haas was “borrowing an incredible juxtaposition of rhythms… heard among indigenous music ensembles in Haiti.”

Lakay means Home in Haitian Creole, and the Haitian rhythm Yanvalou is sometimes linked to knowledge, patience, strength and healing, according to the projected visual details displayed during the concert, which paired an image of Christopher Marley’s 2020 “Convocation” of diverse lizards for consideration.

Maestro Paul Haas

SoNA music director Paul Haas: “In many (concert) pieces (we took) rhythms from other cultures that are really common someplace else…and brought them here…where we listen to Mozart.”

The Exquisite Transformations concert progressed to include the Symphony No. 10, mvmt. lll, by Alan Hovhaness, –an American composer of Armenian and Scottish descent –“known to be a spiritual man focused on spirituality and God…and our relationship to the planets,” said maestro Haas. The symphony features “themes of endless motifs — without variation…classical Indian music themes, ideas and structures…with other themes being woven in, (from other cultures across the globe) and spinning out, with a brief stint of brass… (producing) mass quantities of melodic variants, spun out of a few basic themes.” A related image of Christopher Marley’s Continuum II enhanced the projected visual details about the music.

Like Hovhaness, Christopher Marley is also a pensive artist of spiritual focus, as evidenced by his “Sempiternity” words:

For additional details about the ‘Exquisite Creatures’ exhibition at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, please visit https://crystalbridges.org/ or call (479) 657-2335. Admission to the museum is always free.

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