In Tuesday’s (3/19) Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock; subscription required), Eric E. Harrison writes, “Little Rock’s Robinson Center Music Hall is due for a major makeover in a little more than a year. The Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission has hired a team of architects (Little Rock’s Polk Stanley Wilcox firm will partner with Ennead Architects of New York) to design it. … Robinson is the home of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, which plays all of its Masterworks and pops concerts there (a total of 22 each season), plus at least one children’s concert a year. … There’s been a considerable amount of planning, consultation, even a little scurrying to come up with alternative venues for concerts, plays and ballets for the two years the space won’t be available. … ‘Our goal is to continue to serve our community,’ says Christina Littlejohn, executive director of the Arkansas Symphony. That means, she says, continuing to put on concert seasons even if the alternative venues aren’t entirely perfect.” The symphony is looking to test a number of spaces with open rehearsals and “run out” concerts over the coming months.
Posted March 20, 2013