SoNA plans two holiday concerts Dec. 13-14

If all you want for Christmas is a trip to the symphony, your holiday wishes could come true this month.

Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA) is planning two holiday concerts at Walton Arts Center in December, with their annual concert set for Dec. 13, and a family-oriented show titled The Snowman: A Family Concert on Dec. 14.

A Very SoNA Christmas features a handful of “sacred and secular” songs for the holidays, and will feature vocal performances by the SoNA Singers choral group, the Bentonville High School Chamber Choir, and the Har-Ber High School Camerata Singers. Master trumpeter Jeff D. Shadley, tenor Jose Ortega, and local violin prodigy Mary Moreo will also perform with the symphony.

“This is for many reasons my favorite concert of the year,” said SoNA conductor Paul Haas. “It’s become a Northwest Arkansas tradition in a very short time, and I think the reason is that we bring together so many different parts of the community, celebrating through music this joyous season.”

The Snowman: A Family Concert is part concert, part film screening, combined with a showing of holiday film The Snowman while the orchestra scores the film live.

“(The Snowman) captures so poignantly and poetically the beauty and powerful imagination of youth,” Haas said. “My two young daughters have adopted this film as their holiday favorite, and my wife and I often find ourselves drawn into the experience, stopping whatever we’re doing to watch it with them.”

The Snowman will also feature the 17-year-old soloist Mary Moreno, and a guest performance by soprano Mallorie Spielmaker, 14, of Fayetteville, who has played the piano since age 8 and sings with the University of Arkansas Children’s Choir.

Single tickets for A Very SoNA Christmas are $28-$50, with special student/group pricing also available. Ticket prices for The Snowman start at $25.

To purchase tickets to either show, call Walton Arts Center’s box office at (479) 443-5600 or buy online at waltonartscenter.org.