In the news
February 23 - March 1, 2026
Sandwiching in History to tour Arkansas Post Museum, March 6
Join us Friday, March 6, at noon, for our Sandwiching in History tour on the topic of Arkansas Post, held at Arkansas Post Museum State Park. [NOTE: This is an updated location.]
Founded as a French trading post among the Quapaw in 1686, Arkansas Post was the first European settlement in what is now the state of Arkansas. It was the setting of the only Revolutionary War battle on the soil of our future state. The US acquired it with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Post became territorial Arkansas’ first seat of government from 1819 until Little Rock was made the capital in 1821. During the Civil War, it was the site of Fort Hindman, which fell to Federal troops in the 1863 Battle of Arkansas Post, and the post settlement faded into history. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
This tour is an Arkansas250 event in celebration of the U.S. Semiquincentennial. In conjunction with this event, a dedication ceremony for a special Arkansas250 historical marker for Arkansas Post will be held in the morning prior to the tour. Further details will be announced. Event Hosted By - Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
Starting - Mar 06, 12:00PM Ending - Mar 06, 01:00PM
Location - 5530 Hwy. 165 South, Gillett, Arkansas, US
Preservation Outreach Coordinator – Ashley Sides 501.324.9789
(Arkansas Heritage)
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra showcases Mussorgsky and Britten
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO) presents its fifth concert of the 2025-2026 Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks season, “Pictures at an Exhibition,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 21, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 22, at the Robinson Center.
The program opens with Tania León’s “Pasajes,” first commissioned and premiered by the ASO in 2022. Drawing on scenes from León’s early life in Cuba, the work pulses with Latin American melodies, carnival-inspired dances and vibrant Caribbean rhythms, offering a vivid, deeply personal musical portrait. Acclaimed violinist Julian Rhee then takes center stage for Benjamin Britten’s “Violin Concerto,” a work of profound emotional depth and intensity.
“Britten’s ‘Violin Concerto’ takes both performers and listeners on an overwhelmingly haunting, celestial and poignant journey,” Rhee said. “A reflection of the Spanish Civil War, the concerto toggles between seismic and raucous conflict and intimate and gorgeous unity. Britten captures this struggle between man (violin) and war (orchestra) in an unbelievably powerful way, and for me, it is one of the most heart-stopping concertos in all the repertoire.”
Closing the program is Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” heard in Maurice Ravel’s brilliant orchestration, a beloved orchestral showpiece that transforms visual art into music. Inspired by an exhibition of paintings by the composer’s friend Viktor Hartmann, the work unfolds as a musical promenade, moving from image to image through vivid contrasts of mood and color. Shifting from playful and grotesque scenes to moments of haunting stillness, the journey culminates in the triumphant grandeur of “The Great Gate of Kyiv,” one of the most thrilling finales in the orchestral repertoire.
“We are thrilled to welcome Julian Rhee to Arkansas,” ASO Music Director and Conductor Geoffrey Robson said. “He has a burgeoning career, and we are so lucky to be able to bring him to perform the masterful, yet lesser-known violin concerto by Benjamin Britten. We will also revisit a poignant work that the ASO helped bring into existence, ‘Pasajes,’ by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tania León. The marquee work on the program is ‘Pictures at an Exhibition,’ a well-known and beloved set of musical portraits that leaves every audience delighted.”
(Arkansas Symphony)
Photo Credit:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
