The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents People’s Choice, the fourth concert of the ACXIOM Pops Live! Series, on March 17 at 8 p.m. and March 18 at 3 p.m. at the Robinson Center Music Hall. This concert is sponsored in part by theUniversityofArkansasfor Medical Sciences and JPMS Cox.
Music Director, Philip Mann, conducts this concert where the audience chooses the program. Patrons can cast their votes at www.ArkansasSymphony.org/vote or at the ASO Box Office and the winning pieces will be announced and played at the performance – just like an awards ceremony. KTHV anchors Craig O’Neill and Dawn Scott will serve as emcees for this event. Dr. Richard Wheeler, Professor of Medicine and Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Medicine at UAMS will be guest conducting a piece on the program through the Maestro’s Baton live auction item from this year’s Opus Ball.
Kids kindergarten through 12th grade can attend our Sunday matinee performances for free (with the purchase of an adult ticket) using the Entergy Kids Ticket – available for download at www.ArkansasSymphony.org. Adult single tickets range from $20-$65 and can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org or over the phone at (501) 666-1761. Student and military tickets are $10.
Program Details
PEOPLE’S CHOICE
Saturday, March 17 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 18 at 3 p.m.
RobinsonCenterMusic Hall
Featuring
Craig O’Neill, emcee
Dawn Scott, emcee
Dr. Richard Wheeler, guest conductor – Opus Ball Maestro’s Baton Winner
Philip Mann, conductor
ArkansasSymphony Orchestra
Program will feature one winning piece in each of the following categories:
Best Television Show
Hawaii5-0
The Young and The Restless
MissionImpossible
Bonanza
Best Sci-Fi Soundtrack
Back to the Future
Star Trek
Star Wars
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
Best Classical Composer
Vivaldi – The Four Seasons
Gershwin – Summertime
Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, First Movement
Mozart – Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet Overture
Kid’s Pick
Mary Poppins
The Little Mermaid
Peanuts
Cinderella
Anastasia
Best Contemporary Film Score (post 1970)
Titanic
Harry Potter
Pirates of theCaribbean
The Godfather
Gladiator
INTERMISSION
Best Animated Television Show
Looney Tunes
The Flintstones
The Jetsons
The Simpsons
Best Broadway Score
The Sound of Music
West SideStory
Les Miserables
The Phantom of the Opera
Best Video Game Soundtrack
Civilization
Halo
World of Warcraft
Mario Brothers
Legend of Zelda
Best Classic Film Score (pre 1970)
James Bond
Pink Panther
LawrenceofArabia
Wizard of Oz
Dr. Richard Wheeler, guest conductor
Richard Wheeler, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansasfor Medical Sciences (UAMS) is fromFayetteville, Arkansas. Dr. Wheeler received a BA degree in Psychology from the University of Arkansasat Fayetteville and an MD degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine. He completed residency training in Internal Medicine and Nephrology, and is board certified in both specialties. While a resident in Medicine, Dr. Wheeler became interested in medical education. He was in charge of the student and resident training programs in the Department of Internal Medicine for several years. He practiced medicine and also served as the Medical Director of Dialysis for UAMS. He joined the College of Medicine Dean’s office in 1987. Dr Wheeler’s office is in charge of all aspects of education in the College of Medicine. He is a “Fellow” of the American College of Physicians and recently served as the National Chair of the Group on Student Affairs for the Association of American Medical Colleges. His interest in music began in grade school when he started playing saxophone, and he continued playing all the way through the Razorback Band in college. He is married to Elizabeth Lyon Wheeler, the Principal English Horn for the Arkansas Symphony, and they are the proud “parents” of two ragdoll cats, Simon and JB. Dr. Wheeler is the Vice-Chair for Development of the ASO Board. This is the third time Dr. Wheeler has conducted the ASO.
Philip Mann, Music Director
Hailed by the BBC as a “talent to watch out for, who conveys a mature command of his forces,” American conductor Philip Mann is quickly gaining a reputation as an “expressively graceful yet passionate” artist on three continents. Newly appointed as music director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, he also serves as the San Diego Symphony’s Associate Conductor and formerly an American Conducting Fellow/assistant conductor, where he has conducted over 200 performances of Jacobs Subscription Masterworks, Symphony Exposed, family, young people’s concerts, Kinder Konzert, pops, and other special programs.
His most recent subscription appearance was described by the San Diego Union Tribune, “Mann was masterful. A skilled musical architect, designing and executing a beautifully paced interpretation, which seemed to spring from somewhere deep within the music rather than superimposed upon it.” The winner of the Vienna Philharmonic’s Karajan Fellowship at the Salzburg Festival, he has served as cover conductor for the Cleveland Orchestra and as the Schmidt Conducting Fellow of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Mann has worked with leading artists such as Joshua Bell, Sharon Isbin, Marvin Hamlisch and given world premiers of major composers including John Corigliano. He maintains a lively schedule as a guest conductor having conducted at New York’s Avery Fischer Hall and London’s Barbican Center. Active in symphonic, operatic, and new music repertories, he has served as music director of the Oxford City Opera and Oxford Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra.
Elected a Rhodes Scholar, Mann studied and taught at Oxford, and won the annual competition to become principal conductor of the Oxford University Philharmonia. Under his leadership, the Philharmonia’s performances and tours received international press and acclaim. Mann studied with Alan Hazeldine of London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Colin Metters at the Royal Academy of Music, and Marios Papadopolous of the Oxford Philomusica. He worked with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center.s National Conducting Institute and Michael Tilson Thomas at the New World Symphony. Mentorship with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jorma Panula followed at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Conducting Masterclasses. He has also worked under Imre Pallo, David Effron, John Poole, and Thomas Baldner at Indiana University where he was appointed visiting lecturer in orchestral conducting, and worked as assistant conductor at the IU Opera Theater. Additional studies came under the Bolshoi Theater’s music director, Alexander Vedernikov at the Moscow State Conservatory, Gustav Meir, Kenneth Keisler, and with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Robert Ward.
Trained as a violinist, Mann has appeared as a soloist, concertmaster, and chamber player in theUSA and abroad. He is the recipient of numerous awards including commendations from several cities, and the state of California.
