ASO String Academy

Views from our Spring Recital 🌸

We are SO proud of our students’ progress this term. Such beautiful sounds were heard around Morgan Hall!

Next up: the String Academy Summer Strings camp! Reach out to us here with any questions.

It’s showtime!

Join us in Morgan Hall at the A*O’s Stella Boyle Smith Music Center for our spring solo recitals -

Happening NOW May 1st at 5PM & another chance to hear our wonderful students this Sunday May 3rd at 12PM

Join us this summer for a two-week musical adventure!

Contact us for more information 🎶🎻

Check out what we’ve been up to this spring! 🎻🌸♥️

Last weekend was our Spring Gala concert featuring performances from beginning, intermediate, and advanced group classes as well as soloists from each studio.

Would your child be interested in something like this? Don’t hesitate to reach out and become part of our family at the A*O String Academy!

Showcasing our amazing A*O String Academy Faculty 🥰🎶🤩

Meet Joanna Klett:

Joanna Klett began her music studies on piano at the age of 6. Studies on the cello began a few years later through the University of Northern Iowa Suzuki School. Upon graduating from high school, she pursued a piano performance degree at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Through a partnership with a neighboring school, Calvin College, Joanna was also able to perform in the Calvin College Orchestra cello section under the direction of John Varineau. She later transferred to Western Michigan University to focus on cello performance.

Joanna earned her Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from Western Michigan University with a Minor in Philosophy. She continued her studies and earned a Master of Music in Cello Performance at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In addition to her collegiate studies, she attended several summer music festivals, including Encore School for Strings (Cleveland Institute of Music), Meadowmount School of Music, and the National Orchestral Institute (University of Maryland). Her principal cello teachers include Jonathan Chenoweth, Bruce Uchimura, Owen Carmen, and Pansy Chang.

Upon completing her Masters, Joanna began teaching cello and piano in both Cincinnati, Ohio and Oxford, Ohio. In Cincinnati, she developed and maintained an active studio of over fifty cello and piano students at West Chester Academy for 10 years, which included group piano classes and an adult cello performance class. In Oxford, Ohio, Joanna was the cello instructor for Miami University’s Young Musicians’ Program for 9 years, teaching private lessons, group classes, and summer cello camps.

In 2018, Joanna moved to Little Rock, Arkansas and joined the staff of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra as Education Coordinator. In 2019, she became the Cello Instructor for the A*O’s String Academy.

Showcasing our amazing A*O String Academy Faculty 🎻✨🔥

Meet Geronimo Oyenard:

Dr. Geronimo Oyenard is a violinist, educator, arranger, independent scholar, and orchestra librarian, currently affiliated with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Originally from Uruguay, Dr. Oyenard holds degrees in performance and music history from the College of Charleston, the North Carolina School of the Arts, and the University of Oklahoma. His DMA document, Issues in Late Classical Violin Concerto Literature culminated in a lecture recital with performances of Mozart’s apocryphal and seldom-heard Violin Concerto in E-Flat, K. 268, and Beethoven’s early and unfinished Konzertsätz in C Major, WoO 5.

Dr. Oyenard has performed as soloist, orchestral, and chamber musician in four continents and has been invited to festivals in Brazil, Canada, France, Spain, and Austria. He currently directs and plays in Camerata Little Rock, a dynamic and unconducted string ensemble specializing in 18th century repertoire. He frequently lectures on film music and his arrangements of popular film, television, and video game music have been performed around the world.

Showcasing our amazing A*O String Academy Faculty ✨🎻💞

Meet Katherine Williamson:

'American violinist Katherine Williamson joined the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in 2013 and assumed the Assistant Concertmaster post in the fall of 2019. Williamson started her tenure with the Orchestra as an Arts Partner with the Rockefeller String Quartet. A passionate educator, she has been the Director of the A*O String Academy since 2019 and also serves on the faculty for the Faulkner Chamber Music Festival. Named “Classical Innovator” by the Arkansas Times in 2018, she believes that all Arkansans should have access to inspiration through the power of world-class classical music.
Music has taken Ms. Williamson from the rolling hills of the Meadowmount School of Music in New York, to the mountains of Breckenridge, and to the Konzerthaus stage in Berlin, Germany. She has played as a semifinalist with the New World Symphony, been an associate member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, and an extra with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. A native of Saint Paul,
Minnesota, she still maintains musical connections to her home state as a freelance violinist with the Minnesota Orchestra and, until 2019, as a section violinist for the Mill City Summer Opera.
Williamson earned a Bachelor of Music with Distinction from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in 2012. She currently resides in Little Rock with her rescue dog, Billie.'

Please join us for our upcoming spring events!

Sunday, March 22nd 2:00 PM - Lobby Performance before A*O’s Masterworks Series
address: Robinson Performance Hall - 426 W. Markham St., Little Rock, AR

Saturday, April 18th, 2026 3:30 PM - Spring String Gala! 🌺 ✨ 🎻
address: A*O Music Center - 1101 E. 3rd St., Little Rock, AR

These performances will showcase our students’ hard work so far during this term in both solo and group settings. Please come and hear what music education in Central Arkansas has to offer - We would love to see you there!

Have you been to our new building?

Check out this interview about when we opened our fabulous space! We have regular business hours for you to come ask questions, explore our building, and get some concert tickets!

Arkansas Symphony Orchestra is about to open its new state-of-the-art facility Classical music is a hit in Arkansas, where the symphony orchestra will have a new $12 million home. The Stella Boyle Smith Music Center is the symphony's first permanent home in its 58-year history.

Save this for your next practice session ✨🎻💪