Profile of LeaAnne DenBeste

I published a profile of LeaAnne DenBeste, one of Portland's best sopranos and voice teachers, in the Hollywood Star newspaper. Although the Star is unavailable online, you can pick it up gratis at many locations in NE Portland. The Star publishes about 25,000 copies for each monthly issue, so it's considered one of the larger neighborhood newspapers.

DenBeste will be singing with Cappella Romana in its next concert on January 11th. The program consists of Finnish Orthodox music, most of which has probably been rarely performed outside of Finland. So, if you want to hear some really unusual vocal music, check out this concert.

The picture shows LeaAnne with Clare Marie.

New scribblings in two publications

I've recently published a couple of articles on outstanding local musicians. One article is a profile of pianist Susan Chan, who also teaches at PSU. She performs a very diverse repertoire on concert stages (including Carnegie Hall) and performs much of the same pieces for retirement homes and hospitals. The article, "Generous Performer," appears in the fall issue of PSU Magazine, which is sent to all PSU alumni.

The other article describes conductor Ralph Nelson and his Bach Cantata Choir. Ralph is the founder of this 45-voice ensemble, which will sing all of Bach religious and secular cantatas over the next 20 years. That's because there's over 200 of these works to perform. The article - with a cheesy title - "Bach to the future!" appears in the Hollywood Star newspaper.

Both articles, I'm sorry to say, are not available on the web (although the PSU Magazine will post the Susan Chan story at a later date.

In the meantime, I'm happy to note that Ralph will be the director of the choir at First Immanuel Lutheran (Northwest 19th and Irving) where I sing. So, if you'd like to see what Ralph can do, stop by some Sunday at 11 am.