ARTS & CULTURE
Text and photos courtesy of Symphony of Northwest Arkansas
SoNA Concludes 2024-25 MainStage Season April 19
Concert features acclaimed pianist Stewart Goodyear performing George Gershwin’s iconic “Rhapsody in Blue”
Following a bold kickoff to 2025 with a virtually sold-out crowd at its Jupiter Rising concert in February, which followed three sold-out performances in December and two packed houses earlier in the fall, the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas’ 2024-25 MainStage Season will conclude April 19 with American Voices: Rhapsody in Blue.
Featuring George Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue, played by internationally acclaimed pianist Stewart Goodyear, this concert is sure to a be SoNA fan favorite. Proclaimed “a phenomenon” by the Los Angeles Times and “one of the best pianists of his generation” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Goodyear is an accomplished concert pianist, improviser and composer. He has performed with and has been commissioned by many of the major orchestras and chamber music organizations around the world.
Also on the program for this season finale performance are works by two other American composers: Arkansas native Florence Price and William Grant Still, known to many as the “Dean of African American Composers,” who also has Arkansas roots.
Inside of eight short years during the 1920s and ‘30s, American composers produced three masterpieces — all of them in completely different styles and each written with distinctive voices. This concert celebrates this great American explosion by combining all three into one special evening.
The program’s centerpiece is Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Fun fact: The famous clarinet glissando at the beginning wasn’t written by Gershwin; it was a prank his clarinetist played on him at the first rehearsal, and it stuck! But first, the evening will open with Still’s Afro-American Symphony No. 1. Infused with both the blues and traditional spirituals, the tremendously emotional and satisfying work was written in 1930 and was the first symphony by a Black American ever performed by an established orchestra — the Rochester Philharmonic — in 1931. Two years later, Price became the second composer to achieve that status when her Symphony No. 1 was performed by the Chicago Symphony in 1933. This gloriously infectious piece will close out the evening’s program.
This concert will also mark the final SoNA performance under the baton of Music Director Paul Haas, who will be departing from the role at the conclusion of the season. A resident of upstate New York, Haas joined SoNA in 2010 and has served as music director for 15 seasons. SoNA’s Board of Directors is nearing the completion of a national search process for a new music director and will share updates soon as part of its 2025-26 season announcement later this spring.
Single ticket prices for American Voices: Rhapsody in Blue range from $37 to $62, based on seating preferences. Discount student tickets are also available with a student photo ID, and children under 18 are free with the purchase of an adult ticket (limited quantities). Concert sponsored by Highlands Oncology. Soloist Stewart Goodyear is sponsored by The Starr Foundation.
To purchase tickets, visit SoNA’s website, or call the Walton Arts Center box office at (479) 443-5600.