Tonight’s performance by the Vienna Boys’ Choir has been cancelled and rescheduled for October. All tickets will remain valid for the October date. More information will be released as soon as possible.
LANTERNS!, Arkansas’ only deep-winter outdoor festival, lights up the night in Little Rock for a seventh year of family fun and illuminating entertainment. From Asia to the Moon, LANTERNS! is a magical evening designed to delight children and adults alike.
Held during the first full moon of the new lunar year, LANTERNS! entices visitors to stroll through the park’s woodlands along paved pathways lit by fire pits and luminaries. Lighted vistas representing six cultures from around the globe await visitors as they explore areas among Wildwood’s 105 acres. This year’s festival includes Asia, Austria, Ireland, Mexico, 1950’s America, and Shakespeare’s England. Cultural performances, games, and culinary options span the Park’s performing arts center, arboretum, gardens, and lakeside performance spaces. Last year, more than 6,600 people were welcomed through the Park gates during the weekend.
Wildwood’s performance complex, including art galleries and the newly rededicated 625-seat Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre, will be transformed into an international spectacle, meant to transport festival-goers to the Alps of Austria as the world famous Vienna Boys’ Choir performs in the theatre on the day prior to the festival, Thursday, March 5.
The festival opens each night at 6pm and ends at 10pm on Friday and Saturday and at 9pm on Sunday. Tickets are available here and are $8 for adults, $4 for children ages 6 -12 and free for children 5 and younger. At the festival gate, admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 6 – 12 and free for children ages 5 and younger.
Click here to learn more about all of the exciting events at this year’s festival.
The world-renowned Vienna Boys’ Choir will perform on March 5 at 7pm at Wildwood Park for the Arts. The choir, based in Vienna, Austria, was founded as performers for the imperial court of Austria in the 15th century. Today, the choir consists of four touring choirs, each of 24 boys ages 10 to 14.
The choir is famous for its best-selling albums featuring the music of great composers such as Mozart and Schubert. Their choir has also recorded well-reviewed albums of Christmas music and albums of contemporary hits that range from tunes by Sting and Madonna to Pharrell’s Happy.
The concert will be the first to be held in the newly rededicated Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre, and a pre-concert reception will celebrate and recognize the longstanding contributions the Cabe family has made to Wildwood. The Cabe Foundation and family members granted $358,000 this year for upgrades to the 625-seat auditorium named in Lucy Lockett Cabe’s honor when Wildwood was founded in the 1980’s.
The concert also coincides with Wildwood’s annual LANTERNS! Festival, which begins the following night. LANTERNS! is held during the first full moon of the lunar new year, and celebrates various cultures from around the world through food, music, arts and children’s activities. Austria will be a featured vista during the festival, and concertgoers will have the first taste of the festival’s Austrian fare. LANTERNS! begins at 6pm nightly March 6 – 8.
The Vienna Boys’ Choir will take the stage at 7pm on Thursday, March 5. Tickets are $35 for reserved seating and $75 for VIP tickets, which include prime seating, access to the VIP lounge, reserved parking, and an invitation to the pre-concert reception honoring the Cabe Foundation. Proceeds benefit the Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts. Tickets are available at here or by calling 501 – 821 – 7275.
The popular House Concert Series continues with American Guitar Masters Peter Janson and Steve Davison on Oct. 24 at 7pm.
Acoustic guitarists Peter Janson, from Boston, MA, and Steve Davison, from Little Rock, AR, will perform a House Concert in Wildwood Park’s Pavilion in the Asian Woodland Garden on October 24, 2014, at 7pm. If weather is inclement, the concert will be held indoors.
Guitarists Janson and Davison perform Celtic tunes, American Roots, Delta blues, folk-songs, solos and duets. Both guitarists have won numerous awards including “Solo Competition Winner” (Arkansas Acoustic Music Festival), “Best Album” and “Best Acoustic Album” (ZMR Music Awards). They are experienced independent performers having played across the US and Canada – from Berkley, CA, to the Montreal International Jazz Festival, to Boston, MA.
Wildwood’s House Concert Series is an intimate opportunity to hear great music of diverse genres in a relaxed atmosphere. There is a suggested minimum donation of $15 per person, and refreshments will be available for purchase.
Grammy, Oscar, and Pulitzer winning composer John Corigliano will be at Wildwood Park on Saturday, November 8 for a workshop. The workshop will feature students from the Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts, the String Quartet from the University of Central Arkansas, and the Little Rock Central High School band, and the Conway High School chamber orchestra.
The workshop will begin at 10am in Wildwood’s Cabe Festival Theatre. It is free of charge and the public is invited to attend to listen to Mr. Corigliano conduct and talk about his work.
You can learn more about Mr. Corigliano at his website.
Wildwood Park will be hosting hayrides, story telling, and more at its Hay Day celebrations in October. Hay Days is open to the public on Saturdays in October from 12pm until 4pm. Admission is $5.
Hays is also available for school field trips from October 21 – 31. Each field trip includes an old-fashioned, tractor-drawn hayride through the autumn woods, story time featuring American Tall Tales & Native American Folklore, and a lil’ pumpkin to take home.
For non-Hay Days participants, the Park will still open at its regular Saturday hours at not charge.
For more information and to schedule a field trip, please call Angela at 501 – 821 – 7275.
Wildwood Park for the Arts announces its newest program: Art in the Park. Art in the Park is an opportunity for local artists to use the lobby space of Wildwood’s theatre complex as exhibition space. Art in the Park is a collaboration with artists, galleries and universities in central Arkansas to provide revolving exhibits throughout the year.
The public is invited to a reception on Thursday, October 16, 2014 from 6 to 8 pm, for artists participating in Wildwood’s first Art in the Park installation. The works will be on display beginning October 16th through November 16th.
Following the reception, the art may be viewed weekdays between 10 am and 4 pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 pm.
Art in the Park is an initiative to provide additional encounters with art and culture for daily Park visitors who are most familiar with Wildwood as a public outdoor space.
The following artists are featured through mid-November: Vicki Kovaleski, Emily Moll Wood, Tom Tull, Robin Tucker, Gary Wayne Golden, Tim Jacob, W. Michael Spain, Mark Johnson.
Wildwood Park’s annual Wine Reserve Dinner is November 7, 2014. Held for the first time at Chenal Country Club, the event pairs the incredible foods of Diamond Chef-winning Dan Capello, and carefully paired with fine wine by sommelier Jonathan Looney. Between dinner and dessert, guests will enjoy live entertainment and a short, select live auction.
Proceeds from the Wine Reserve Dinner will support the Wildwood Academy of Music and the Arts, which launched in summer 2014. This six-week, music-intensive academy provides music training for students 6-18 with all levels of experience. Students also participate in elective arts courses, including visual arts, culinary arts, theatre, master classes and more. The park’s scenic backdrop provides the opportunity for students to enjoy daily nature hikes with master naturalists. This unique educational experience provides underserved students with opportunities to create and perform art, learning alongside a world-renowned faculty.
For more information on the Wine Reserve Dinner and purchase a table or individual table, please click here.
Seven-time Grammy nominee James Cotton will perform in concert at Wildwood Park’s Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre on October 9 at 7pm.
Cotton is considered the greatest living harmonica player and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1996. Cotton’s collaborators include Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, B.B. King, Otis Reading, and Carlos Santana. You can learn more about James Cotton here.
Tickets for the October 9 concert are $35 for General Admission and $75 VIP tickets, which include a post-show reception and preferred seating. Student and group discounts are also available. Tickets are available here.