25 Nov 2024 Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s concert to showcase ‘Arkansas Talent’ winners
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s (ASO) first concert of the 2024-2025 First Orion Pops season, “Home For The Holidays,” will include the winners of its “Arkansas Talent” singing competition, Marcus Murphy and Kim Qualls.
ASO will perform “Home for the Holidays” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 20, and Saturday, Dec. 21, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 22, at the Robinson Center. Song selections include the concert suite from “The Polar Express,” Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas,” “The Prayer” by Céline Dion and Andrea Bocelli, among many others.
Murphy and Qualls will perform alongside the orchestra as headliners, and a 100-person choir made up of students from Little Rock Central School, Little Rock Parkview High School and Bryant High School.
“It is such a joy to celebrate the season with the ASO and more than 100 guest vocalists from around Central Arkansas,” ASO Music Director Geoffrey Robson said. “This concert truly shows off the astounding musical talent and ability that surrounds us!”
Murphy and Qualls won the ASO’s first-ever singing competition, “Arkansas Talent,” in May, outlasting more than 100 auditioners and 12 semifinalists.
“I love Christmas because, first, it is a celebration of the birth of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” said Murphy, a biomedical engineer at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences who has performed backing vocals for artists including Diane Reeves, Kenny Loggins and Phillip Bailey. “Second, in this day and age of social media, we have become more distant from each other than ever before. Christmas is a time we can get together with loved ones to create memories and to remember and/or establish traditions.”
The symphony will also feature an original song by Qualls called “Come and Behold.” Qualls, a vocal coach and worship leader at South City Church in Little Rock, has also worked with students of the Summer Musical Theatre Intensive program at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.
“What I love most about ‘Home for the Holidays’ concerts is how many of the classic songs we know and love all come together in such spectacular splendor,” she said. “Not only are ‘O Holy Night’ and ‘The First Noel’ two of my favorite Christmas songs, but this year I’m excited to perform one of my very own original songs that focuses on the birth of Jesus and how even today we are invited to come and behold Him, this Savior of the world!”
Pre-Concert Music in the Lobby
An hour before the Friday and Saturday shows, live holiday music will be played in the lobby of the Robinson Center. The Hornaments, a group of French Horn players from across the state, will perform on Friday, and the Academy Orchestra, one of the ASO’s youth ensembles, will perform on Saturday. Audiences are encouraged to wear festive holiday clothing, arrive early and get into the holiday spirit. These performances are free to all ticket holders.
Holiday Children’s Craft Fair
Children are invited to the Robinson Center’s lobby for a pre-concert Holiday Children’s Fair from 2-2:45 p.m. Sunday. The fair will include holiday-themed arts and crafts for all ages and live music from a student string quartet. This event is free to all ticket holders.“Home For The Holidays” tickets are $19, $30, $48, $77 or $93 (pricing subject to change), and active-duty military or college student tickets are $15. Tickets can be purchased online at ArkansasSymphony.org, at the Robinson Center street-level box office 90 minutes before the concert, or by phone at 501.666.1761, ext. 1. Currently, all Arkansas students are admitted free with the purchase of an adult ticket using the Entergy Kids Ticket. Learn more at arkansassymphony.org/concerts-events/free-kids-ticket-by-entergy/.
