Two deaths in the Portland music community.
Tenor and opera company founder Jason Ogan recently committed suicide. I sang with Jason in the Portland Symphonic Choir for a year or so, and I wrote about him and his fledgling Oregon Lyric Opera Association for PSU magazine in 2004. Ogan had a beautiful tenor voice. I heard him in PSU operas and in a special PSU orchestra concert of Beethoven's 9th in which he was featured in the solo parts with other professional PSU alumns: Kelly Nassief, Angela Niederloh, and Clayton Brainerd. I also saw Ogan perform very well as an actor a couple of years ago in a production of "Our Town" in Gresham.
Stephen Marc Beaudoin in his blog writes a fine tribute to Ogan here. Memorial service information is at the end of the posting.
David Stabler writes about Ogan in his blog here. In that posting, Stabler also tells of the death of Ralph Wells, professional baritone and founder of Willamette Concert Opera. Wells died because of a brain tumor and stroke.
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