Several local bars and coffee shops in downtown Fayetteville will get a little Artosphere Festival Orchestra pop-up action, thanks to this year's "Off the Grid" this Thursday, June 27. “It’s not that concert hall, tuxedo formal at all,” AFO violist Carl Larson said. “It’s just a great raw, raw way to listen to music and clink a beer.” This annual classical pub crawl, along Dickson and Block, concludes at Smoke and Barrel when AFO conductor Corrado Rovaris joins the musicians to perform, perhaps, an entire movement of a symphony. Click the streaming link above to listen to the full interview with Of Note’s Katy Henriksen.

Musical and cinematic storytelling collide in "The Moon," Artosphere Festival Orchestra's finale concert this Saturday, June 29, at Walton Arts Center . The concert, featuring music from Richard Strauss, John Williams, Debussy and more, pairs live classical music and narration with the George Melies' 1902 silent film “A Trip to the Moon.” Artistic director Francesco Micheli’s vision for "The Moon" project was born from his passion to explain music in other ways. “We try to build a journey by means of the music. We can say that we are on the Artosphere airlines, able to make an incredible journey between the starts and on the moon,” he said. Click on the streaming link above to listen to hear Micheli's full interview with Of Note’s Katy Henriksen.

The Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA) gets the rockstar treatment in their upcoming 4th of July concert at the Walmart AMP . With more than 5,000 people in attendance, it's definitely the biggest concert they perform each year. "We don't often have the experience of a jumbotron on either side of us and fantastic lighting and a huge sound system," explains Paul Haas, SoNA's Music Director. "It's a real thrill for us." The symphony's patriotic performance of "greatest hits" from the likes of John Williams to Aaron Copland begins at 7:30 p.m. The night concludes with a brilliant fireworks show at 9:15. More information is available here . Listen to the full conversation between Haas and Of Note's Katy Henriksen by clicking on the streaming link above.

For his latest effort, Amit Peled tackled "the Bible" of cello repertoire by recording the Bach cello suites using Pablo Casal's cello-- the very same cello he originally heard the suites performed on as a child. "I waited for this jewel for so long because I wanted to make sure that the cello allows me to bring out who I am, and not what I have in my mind or in my ear," Peled said. Despite history repeating itself with the same repertoire on the same instrument, Peled's own interpretation continues to embody who he is as a musician. As a world-renowned Israeli-American cellist and professor at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, Peled's recording of the Bach cello suites will go down in history along with his legacy. Hear the full conversation with Of Note's Katy Henriksen in the streaming link above.

Composer Reiko Futing redefines contemporary composition with the incorporation of early music. In Futing's newest international portrait album "distantSong," he draws on music of the past to reflect on the art and culture of today. Futing was inspired by a professor at the Hochschule fur Musik in Dresden to incorporate early music into his own compositions. Futing says this led him to produce a subtle, yet noticeable, marriage of past and present musical languages for something completely new, yet familiar. Listen to the full interview with Of Note's Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.

A new recording from Philippe Quint and Marta Aznavoorian proves Charlie Chaplin is as relevant today as he was in his heyday. His legacy in visionary musical genius continues to be celebrated with "Chaplin's Smile," a collection of Chaplin's songs arranged for violin and piano. "He has a very amazing spin on a melody," says Aznavoorian, who was inspired by Chaplin's emotional and character-driven compositional style. "There's an incredible dichotomy of happiness and sadness in his melodies, and that is mirrored by what's happening in his films." Listen to the full interview between Quint, Aznavoorian and Of Note's Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.

Pianist Roman Rabinovich's deep dive into the Haydn sonatas brought him revelations. Because Haydn's life bridged both the Baroque and Classical periods, his compositions reflect how the technology of the piano constantly progressed. "Instruments really changed like computers today, at that pace," Rabinovich said. Uzbeki-born, Israeli-trained Rabinovich continues to reflect Haydn's compositional invention since the Haydn project's debut at the Lincoln Center by performing the sonatas internationally. To listen to the full interview with Of Note's Katy Henriksen, click on the streaming link above.

Voces8 has once again found a way to represent the world's magnificence by using their voices-- and nothing else. The a capella group's latest album, "Enchanted Isle," pays homage to some of the members' inspirational European homelands. "Many of my formative musical memories come from my town there," says Barnaby Smith, the ensemble's music director. "A lot of the first music I heard as a child came as I was looking at that vista." Listen to the full interview between Barnaby Smith and Of Note's Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.

Harpist Yolanda Kondonassis’ newest album “dreams, soars and levitates” through an intricately flowing compositional architecture with the inclusion of a newly commissioned harp concerto by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon . “The idea was the interplay and the precociousness, and the childlike wonder,” Kondonassis elaborates on how Higdon encompassed her emotions in the composition. “She really impressed upon us that this is fluid and full of wonder, rather than the somnambulant kind of experience.” Kondonassis’ album “American Rapture” expands upon how North American compositions have developed through three generations and features the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by Ward Stare. Listen to the full interview between Kondonassis, Stare and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.

The Symphony of Northwest Arkansas ’ upcoming season promises to be their best yet, honoring Beethoven’s 250 th birthday with “bucket list pieces” such as “Carmina Burana” and “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Paul Hass, SoNA's music director, credits the orchestra’s success to its familial atmosphere. “It’s so exciting to be a part of something like this that’s constantly growing,” Haas says. “It really is like a family—we all care about each other. This is something special; not every community has this.” SoNA’s upcoming season will feature multiple collaborations including the SoNA singers for “Carmina Burana” and violinist Jennifer Frautschi for “Beethoven’s Violin Concerto”. SoNA will also perform a premiere of Haas’ new composition, Angelique . Listen to the full interview between Haas and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.

On a journey of musical and personal self-discovery, violinist Janet Sung dove into vulnerability to produce her latest album “Edge of Youth,” which represents who she is as an artist through personal expression. “In order to really convey what all of the works were really offering, I would have to really look deeply and be utterly convinced of the thing that I was trying to communicate,” Sung explains about her individual interpretation. “It really starts to become something that comes from within yourself.” The album also features Missy Mazzoli’s Dissolve, O my Heart , which spins off of Bach’s Partita in D Minor to build and unravel, breaking with the recognized Bach tradition to further Sung’s unique expression. Listen to the full interview between Sung and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.

The Fort Smith Symphony’s upcoming season promises film scores and more, but it’s not your average John Williams programming. Music Director John Jeter picked film scores of Hans Zimmer and Bernard Herrmann to take center stage. “Now, there is a whole series of composers who have kind of taken over that mantel, and we wanted to kind of celebrate that different approach to film scoring,” Jeter says. All but the more traditionally programmed opening concert will include 20 th century music, most of which presents itself as film scores for movies such as Interstellar , Avatar and Pirates of the Caribbean . The Fort Smith Symphony’s opening concert will feature pianist Drew Petersen on Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 . For their closing concert, the symphony will accompany a showing of the movie North by Northwest with a performance of the full film score by Bernard Herrmann. Listen to the full interview between Jeter and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.

The possibilities of artistic expression are limitless with every piece of music, but composer and pianist Craig Swanson took it to another level with the release of his album “The French Suite Kit.” Swanson was inspired by pianist Glenn Gould to create multiple unique variations of Bach’s French Suite No. 4 in Eb Major , giving listeners more control over how they prefer to hear Bach expressed. “Part of the joy of music is its improvisatory nature, and trying to find all of the potential expressions that are worthwhile in your music,” Swanson says. “It seemed to me that there was a wealth of possibility not limiting yourself to one particular way or one particular approach.” Listen to the full interview between Swanson and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.

Violinist Itamar Zorman navigated exotic Israeli scales and modes to release his newest album “Evocation,” which highlights distinctive works by German-born Israeli composer Paul Ben-Haim. “There is a really delicate but wonderful balance between the emotional content and the technical form of the piece, and the analytical part of it,” Zorman explains about reflecting Ben-Haim’s multi-cultural influenced compositions. Listen to the full interview between Zorman and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.

The University of Arkansas recently welcomed Gerry Snyder as the School of Art's first ever executive director. He will play an instrumental role in cultivating the newly minted School of Art's role at the university and beyond following the $120 million gift from the the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation and $40 million gift from the Windgate Foundation to develop an art and design district. “The fact that [this gift] has been given to education, and specifically to art, is visionary in my mind,” Snyder says. “If you look at life, even in its most challenging circumstances, creativity is important. Art is central to almost any civilization or culture.” Snyder hopes to create a strategic plan in this upcoming year for how to use the gift to represent the UA and the local community, while foremost furthering art education. Listen to the full interview between Snyder and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.

Women composers and performers united to create art from the human condition with pianist Lara Downes’ latest album “Holes in the Sky,” named for a poem by Georgia O’Keeffe. In addition to representing women in music, “Holes in the Sky” also served to support human welfare efforts, including PLAN International to support impoverished children. “These are stories about the power of the expressive urge, the creative urge, to come forward,” Downes says about the potential of music. “It will come forward, despite anything else trying to constrain it.” Downes will represent women’s contributions to the past, present and future of American music by performing music from “Holes in the Sky” 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art as part of the Van Cliburn Concert Series . Listen to the full interview between Downes and Of Note’s Katy Henriksen with the streaming link above.

GBX DJ George Bowie will perform from the balcony of his Glasgow home via Facebook live tomorrow afternoon in aid of Children's Hospice Across Scotland (CHAS).

Fatima, now 17, was eating dinner with her family in Nigeria two years ago when she heard the gunshots. "Unknown to us, the village had been surrounded and was being invaded," she says. "We covered ourselves with [a] mattress and cried for help to no avail." Fatima and her mother fled into the bush, where they were separated; they didn't see each other again for 18 months. Fatima – and other women in conflict zones – are often perceived as victims. They may be in many cases, but they also hold multiple and sometimes conflicting identities: as fighters, breadwinners and leaders. Photographer Robin Hammond sought to capture the many roles they play in his series of portraits, "Making the Invisible Visible," which had its first public showing this past week at the Women Deliver 2019 Global Conference in Vancouver, Canada. Noraisa Macud, 52, fled the fighting between Philippine military forces and Islamic militants in Marawi, a predominantly Muslim city, in 2017. Hundreds of thousands of

Updated at 8:45 p.m. ET President Trump says he might accept dirt from another country on his potential Democratic rivals if offered, raising new questions and concerns about foreign influence on American elections. "It's not an interference, they have information — I think I'd take it," Trump said. "If I thought there was something wrong, I'd go maybe to the FBI — if I thought there was something wrong." Trump made the comments in an Oval Office interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos , after being pressed about the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 with Russians and Trump officials. Ahead of that meeting, which former special counsel Robert Mueller probed , the Trump campaign was offered damaging information on Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Updated at 6:55 p.m. ET President Trump announced Thursday he would sign an executive order to obtain data about the U.S. citizenship and noncitizenship status of everyone living in the United States. In a Rose Garden ceremony, Trump said he would drop efforts to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Instead, his executive order will direct all U.S. agencies to provide the Department of Commerce all information they have on U.S. citizenship, noncitizenship and immigration status. "We have great knowledge in many of our agencies," Trump said, flanked by Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. "We will leave no stone unturned." The executive order marks the administration's latest effort to obtain the information despite a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that bars the administration from including the question on the 2020 census for now. In backing down from the legal fight, Trump appears to be doing what the Census Bureau encouraged over a year

When President Trump tweeted his racist remarks Sunday, asking why certain Democratic congresswomen don't just "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came," he did not just take aim at the four women of color — three of whom were born in the U.S. He did so using a taunt that has long, deeply entrenched roots in American history: Why don't you just go back where you came from? The question doesn't always appear in those precise words, nor does it always surface in the same situations. And it doesn't always get directed at the same groups of people — far from it, in fact. But more often than not, it conveys the same sentiment: You — and others like you — are not welcome here. "There have been different phrases that have been used," says Michael Cornfield , a scholar of rhetoric at George Washington University , "but the idea that we don't have any more room for people, or those people don't look like us, this is a long, ugly strain in American

President Donald Trump wants the Catholic vote. Recently, Trump was on a conference call with several hundred Catholic educators — and many prominent bishops. Trump reportedly described himself as the “best [president] in the history of the Catholic Church.”  In reality, though, there’s a growing rift within the church on support for the president. A number of prominent Catholics are criticizing Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic — and many have been vocal on Twitter. Related:  Coronavirus postponed Russia’s Victory Day. That could be a problem for Putin. Rev. Robert Ballecer, an American priest stationed in the Vatican, has been particularly outspoken. Before he moved to Rome, Ballecer had been living at St. Ignatius College Prep , a Jesuit high school in San Francisco. The Jesuits allowed Ballecer to pursue his Catholic ministry as a host at “ TWiT ,” a podcast network focused on technology . It seemed like a good fit, as Ballecer is a self-described mechanic, engineer and

Magician and animal trainer Roy Horn, of the legendary Las Vegas duo Siegfied and Roy, died Friday from complications related to COVID-19. Horn tested positive last week. He was 75. "The world has lost one of the greats of magic, but I have lost my best friend," Siegfried Fischbacher said of his partner in a statement. "Roy was a fighter his whole life including during these final days. I give my heartfelt appreciation to the team of doctors, nurses and staff at Mountain View Hospital who worked heroically against this insidious virus that ultimately took Roy's life." Roy Horn was born in Germany in 1944. He and Siegfried began their act in Las Vegas in 1967. In 1989 they began a 14-year run at the Mirage Resort performing illusions with exotic animals, making tigers, lions, even elephants vanish and reappear. In October of 2003, Roy Horn was performing with a 400-pound white tiger named Mantecore when the great cat grabbed him by the throat before a stunned audience and dragged him

For the first time in its 231-year history, the Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments remotely by phone and made the audio available live. The new setup went off largely without difficulties, but produced some memorable moments, including one justice forgetting to unmute and an ill-timed bathroom break. Here are the top five can't-miss moments from this week's history-making oral arguments. A second week of arguments begin on Monday at 10 a.m. ET. Here's a rundown of the cases and how to listen. 1. Justice Clarence Thomas speaks ... a lot Supreme Court oral arguments are verbal jousting matches. The justices pepper the lawyers with questions, interrupting counsel repeatedly and sometimes even interrupting each other. Justice Clarence Thomas, who has sat on the bench for nearly 30 years, has made his dislike of the chaotic process well known, at one point not asking a question for a full decade. But with no line of sight, the telephone arguments have to be rigidly organized, and

As the COVID-19 pandemic began to pick up in Alaska, Dr. Anne Zink, the state's chief medical officer, faced a difficult choice. Should she continue in-person meetings and nightly briefings with Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy? Or should she opt for a more socially distant form of engagement? Zink chose the latter, saying she wanted to model the behavior that she has been appealing to residents to follow. She now appears at Dunleavy's briefings by video. And over the past two months, she has become a trusted voice as she urges Alaskans to follow the strict social distancing and other public health guidelines adopted by the state administration — which doctors groups have credited with keeping the state's COVID-19 numbers among the lowest in the country. Zink, who has a Facebook fan club and a #ThinkLikeZink hashtag , isn't the only public health official to acquire a cultlike following during the pandemic: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal infectious disease expert, has inspired a Saturday

Very briefly, at the end of 2019 and the start of 2020, there were slightly more women on American nonfarm payrolls than men. That's no longer true. The historically disastrous April jobs report shows that the brunt of job losses fell on women. Women now account for around just under half — 49% — of American workers, and they accounted for 55% of the increase in job losses last month. One way of looking at why that matters that is to look at the gap that opened up between women's and men's unemployment last month. The below chart shows women's unemployment rate minus men's unemployment rate since 2007. Usually, the line bumps around near or just below zero — meaning men's unemployment is usually near or slightly higher than women's. But that spike on the far right shows how women's unemployment leapt to be 2.7 points higher than men's in April. Women had an unemployment rate of 16.2% to men's 13.5% last month. That's uncommon for a recession. The below chart is a longer view, and the

Updated at 9:44 a.m. ET As a young woman growing up in a poor farming community in Virginia in the 1940 and '50s, with little information about sex or contraception, sexuality was a frightening thing for Carole Cato and her female friends. "We lived in constant fear, I mean all of us," she said. "It was like a tightrope. always wondering, is this going to be the time [I get pregnant]?" Cato, 78, now lives in Columbia, S.C. She grew up in the years before the birth control pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on May 9, 1960. She said teenage girls in her community were told very little about how their bodies worked. "I was very fortunate; I did not get pregnant, but a lot of my friends did. And of course, they just got married and went into their little farmhouses," she said. "But I just felt I just had to get out." At 23, Cato married a widower who already had seven children. They decided seven was enough. By that time, Cato said, the pill allowed the couple to

Updated at 2:24 p.m. ET Little Richard, the self-described "king and queen" of rock and roll and an outsize influence on everyone from David Bowie to Prince, died Saturday in Tullahoma, Tenn. He was 87 years old. Bill Sobel, a lawyer for Little Richard, tells NPR that the cause of death was bone cancer. Rolling Stone was the first to report on Little Richard's death. With his ferocious piano playing, growling and gospel-strong vocals, pancake makeup and outlandish costumes, Little Richard tore down barriers starting in the 1950s. That is no small feat for any artist — let alone a black, openly gay man who grew up in the South. He was a force of nature who outlived many of the musicians he inspired, from Otis Redding to the late Prince and Michael Jackson. His peers James Brown and Otis Redding idolized him. Jimi Hendrix, who once played in Little Richard's band, said he wanted his guitar to sound like Richard's voice. The late David Bowie was 9 years old when he first saw Little

Airlines and airport operators in the United Kingdom are not waiting for the British government to publicly confirm their fears. Already, the groups representing major players in the U.K.'s air travel industry are pushing back on a proposal that would require travelers to quarantine after arriving from outside the country. A spokesperson for Airlines UK — a trade body with British Airways, EasyJet and Ryanair as members — says the group understands from government officials that plans for a quarantine are in the works, but that details remain scarce at the moment. "We need to see the detail of what they are proposing. Public health must of course be the priority and we will continue to be guided by Sage advice," the group said in a statement emailed to NPR, noting that support measures will be necessary to ensure "that we still have a UK aviation sector once the quarantine period is lifted." "We will be asking for assurances that this decision has been led by the science and that

While schools are closed, we're creating a series of "Talk of Iowa" episodes that will be fun and educational for learners of all ages. Every Tuesday, we'll learn about Iowa wildlife, and every Thursday, we'll learn about Iowa history.

While schools are closed, we're creating a series of "Talk of Iowa" episodes that will be fun and educational for learners of all ages. Every Tuesday, we'll learn about Iowa wildlife, and every Thursday, we'll learn about Iowa history.

The Iowa high school class of 2020 is experiencing a very different senior year than any class that has come before it. In many cases, prom has already been canceled. Year books will go unsigned. There will be no final performances or competitions. Commencement ceremonies are canceled, postponed or will go virtual. During a time when so many people are sick or have died of COVID-19, it may seem trivial to focus on this loss, but for seniors who have spent 13 years of schooling building up to this moment, the loss is real and sad.

For the past 20 years, Iowa Public Radio’s Rob Dillard has been working hard to keep Iowans informed and share some of Iowa’s unique voices.

While schools are closed, we're creating a series of "Talk of Iowa" episodes that will be fun and educational for learners of all ages. Every Tuesday, we'll learn about Iowa wildlife, and every Thursday, we'll learn about Iowa history.

With over 300 mass shootings so far this year, you'd think we'd be having a new conversation about guns and gun control.

Can you find compassion in your heart for the haters in your life?

What's so monumental about turning 40 that women need their own Facebook group? Turns out--pretty much everything. Nina Collins has created an "environment that's a little like Vegas...our special place to talk about what's really going on in our lives..." But why don't real life friends fill that need? Collins turned what she learned from the group--and her own experience with hitting 40--into a book "What Would Virginia Woolf Do?" Hear it all this week on Inflection Point with Lauren Schiller.

Can an all-woman board move beyond empowerment, and get to actual power?

Organizational psychologist Dr. Barbara Adams says there is transformational power for everyone in diversity and inclusivity.

What does it actually take for women to win elections?

The Bay Area has a rich pro sports scene with distinctive voices who bring us all the action.

This auditory guessing game is part of Audiograph , a crowd-sourced collaborative radio project mapping the Bay Area’s sonic signature.

We played you this sound and asked you to guess what exactly it is and where exactly in the Bay Area we recorded it.

Jessie Beck, a biologist with Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge, is our captain on today ’ s inflatable boat commute to A ñ o Nuevo Island.

Here's the sound we played as a clue. We asked you to guess what exactly it is and where exactly in the Bay Area we recorded it.

Here's the sound we played as a clue. We asked you to guess what exactly it is and where exactly in the Bay Area we recorded it. Listen above for the full answer.

Corgi Con is a semi-annual celebration of short, sausage-shaped dogs called Corgis. Hundreds of dogs and their families descend on Ocean Beach for a day of events and festivities.

All week long, we played this sound and asked you to guess what exactly it was and where exactly in the Bay Area we recorded it.

It’s Friday night on the corner of 16th and Valencia in San Francisco’s Mission District. Shops are closing up and folks that live out here are settling into vacant doorways. The traffic on the street sounds frustrated; revving, waiting, and beeping as the last of the commuters surface from the BART station and breeze by. Most of them don’t even notice a man in a poofy red and white mushroom hat, sorting through a tangled web of colored wires and extension cords.

This story originally aired in 2015. All week long, we've been playing this sound , and asking you to guess what exactly it is and where exactly in the Bay Area we recorded it. This auditory guessing game is part of Audiograph , a crowd-sourced collaborative radio project mapping the Bay Area’s sonic signature. Audiograph tells the story of where you live, and the people who live there with you. Every Thursday, we tell you the story behind our weekly mystery sound on Crosscurrents , and here in weekly blog posts. Listen above for the full answer... SARAH CAHILL: “I heard some music coming from somewhere in the building, and I have to say it was a very sensuous experience wandering around thinking, 'oh its this way,' and making a turn and then encountering a little cage of love birds and a little fountain and a pool. I thought 'oh my god' what is this place?!" Congratulations to this week's winner, Joshua Raoul Brody ! Is there a sound from your life that should be featured on