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SoNA Beyond and Crystal Bridges Present: I Paint What I See

Music/Performance
Great Hall
$30 ($75 for VIP tickets)
This event has passed
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art will be closed Monday, May 13, to prepare for the visit of Antiques Roadshow. We will return to normal hours of operation Wednesday, May 15.
Collage of conductor Felipe Tristan and SoNA orchestra musicians performing onstage in black-tie attire.

Inspired by our exhibition Diego Rivera’s America, the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA) is collaborating with Crystal Bridges to explore themes in the exhibition and create a musical program that sonically brings the artwork to life and deepens cultural connections across art forms, identities, and geographies.

Together, SoNA and Crystal Bridges will bring together the visionary voices of musical curator and guest conductor Felipe Tristán, a SoNA chamber orchestra, Music Director Paul Haas, and Crystal Bridges Acting Windgate Curator of Craft Jen Padgett. The collaboration will center Latinx composers and will focus on the exhibition’s key themes, using the arts to highlight the profound beauty of the working class and everyday life, especially as it relates to Mexico’s mestizo and Indigenous roots. The evening of music will include selections by Carlos Chávez, José Pablo Moncayo, Gabriela Ortiz, Silvestre Revueltas, Alejandro Basulto, and Javier Álvarez.

This musical performance will be part of the symphony’s concert series, SoNA Beyond, which explores new avenues for accessibility and focuses on music’s ability to provide insight and inspiration in unexpected ways. SoNA Beyond moves out of the symphonic mainstage and out into the community, partnering with powerful artistic forces like Crystal Bridges to highlight music’s versatile ability to move beyond traditional boundaries.

Tickets are $30 ($75 for VIP tickets), reserve your spot online through Eventbrite today.
VIP tickets include premium seating and a special champagne reception and curator talk in the galleries.

 

About the Artists

Conductor Felipe Tristán

Felipe Tristán

Award-winning Mexican conductor Felipe Tristán is known for bringing lively musical prowess to the podium. He has worked with orchestras around the world and currently serves as conductor with the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, Teatro Grattacielo, Manhattan School of Music Precollege, in New York. He also serves as Creative Partnerships Manager with the Grammy award-winning Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, where he brings together Afro Latin culture and classical arts through innovative projects.

Felipe is committed to promoting an inclusive performing arts industry and has collaborated with artists and producers from the NY Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Met Opera, and Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, among others, to create engaging programs for diverse audiences. Recently, he produced an album with members of the Met Orchestra and flutist Krzysztof Kaczka with works by Schubert, to be released in 2023 under the label Hänssler Classic. Also, he guest conducted in a CD recording with the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra with works by Reinecke and Penderecki. Visit felipetristan.com for more about Felipe.

 

SoNA Beyond logo

SoNA

SoNA Beyond 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 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.

 

About Diego Rivera’s America

Developed by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), Diego Rivera’s America examines a prolific time in the artist’s life through over 170 works, including his drawings, easel paintings, frescoes, and more. Between the early 1920s and the early 1940s, Rivera worked in both Mexico and the United States and found inspiration in the social and cultural life of the two countries. He imagined an America—broadly understood—that shared an Indigenous past and an industrial future, and where cooperation, rather than divisions, were paramount.

 

Sponsors

SoNA Beyond series sponsor

Walmart.org logo

Concert Sponsor

Greenwood Gearhart Investments logo