Preview of Israeli-Palestinian piano duo in Portland Piano International concert

 My preview of the upcoming Portland Piano International recital, featuring Duo Amal is now published in Oregonlive here. It will be in the print edition of The Oregonian this coming Friday.

Today's Birthdays

Bernhard Crusell (1775-1838)
Zdeněk Fibich (1850-1900)
Dag Wirén (1905-1985)
Harold Blumenfeld (1923-2014)
Karl Richter (1926-1981)
Barry McGuire (1935)
Suzanne Murphy (1941)
Peter Phillips (1953)

and

Virgil (70 B.C.E.- 19 B.C.E.)
Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)
Friedrich Nietzsche, (1844-1900
P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975)
Varian Fry (1907-1967)
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006)
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (1917-2007)
Italo Calvino (1923-1985)
Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

Review: Portland Opera's "Shizue" - a heartfelt journey of perseverance of Japanese Americans during WWII

Final scene of "Shizue" with Jietong Fu, Chihiro Asano, Edward Tavalin, and Lindsey Nakatani. |Photo credit: Chris Kim 

The plight of Japanese American who were incarcerated during WWII was conveyed with intensity and dignity in the world premiere of “Shizue: An American Story.” What could have been an evening accusation and resentment was instead an educational and uplifting experience based on the true story of Shizue Iwatsuki, who with her husband ran an orchard in Hood River. With music by Kenji Oh and a libretto by Dmae Lo Roberts, Portland Opera’s one-hour production (October 4) at the Brunish Theatre offered a story of perseverance and hope that prevailed over despair.

Shizue was nineteen years old when she married Kamegoro and moved to Hood River, Oregon in 1916. Life was tough, but the Iwatsukis grew apples and strawberries, experiencing modest success before losing everything after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941 when the U.S. government enacted laws to incarcerate all Japanese Americans. With just two suitcases each, Shizue and Kamegoro were transported by train to a sequence of three different camps that were situated in the barren, desert landscapes in California and Idaho. They signed loyalty oaths twice but were not released until after the war ended. Despite hostility from Oregonians, they returned to Hood River and started again with another orchard. After Kamegoro became paralyzed from a farming accident, Shizue stepped up to run the business, became a local leader in the community, taught Japanese flower arranging, and wrote poetry. In 1954, her poems won a prestigious award in Japan, besting 32,000 other entries, and Hood River honored her as woman of the year. A huge granite boulder at the Japanese-American Memorial Plaza in Portland and a marble column at the Hood River Museum are etched with her poems.

The role of Shizue was divided between soprano Lindsey Nakatani as Young Shizue and mezzo-soprano Chihiro Asano as the Elder Shizue. Both conveyed the emotional resilience of Shizue with terrific conviction. Tenor Jietong Fu passionately expressed the hopeful idealism of Kamegoro. Baritone Edward Tavalin was all business and to the letter of the law as an American soldier and other people who were against the Japanese.

Inspired by Japanese folk songs and children’s songs, Oh exercised a light, yet very expressive touch in his score, accompanying the singers with piano and prepared cello. The arias, duets, and ensemble pieces were poignant, and the accompaniment (pianist Gyan Singh and cellist Casey Johnson) never overwhelmed the singers. There was some spoken text, which functioned as recitative to move the passage of time along more efficiently. All-in-all, the opera was quite a remarkable achievement for Oh, who has only one other opera, “The Emissary,” to his credit.

Jon Kashiwabara and rhiza A+D created evocative scenery with four large, colorful banners that depicted Mt. Hood, orchards, and the Columbia River. The banners were turned to reveal in muted black and white the internment camps. Another large banner displayed Executive Order 9066, which ordered the imprisonment of Japanese Americans. A huge suitcase opened to become an interior room. Straightforward choreography by Michelle Fujii and Toru Watanabe kept the story at a steady pace. The only confusing part was distinguishing between the Young Shizue and Elder Shizue because Asano didn’t look all that much older than Nakatani and both of their characters wove in and out of the storyline. Fortunately, Roberts’ libretto presented the events in a direct fashion that was easy to follow. The text had poetic moments and the concept of gaman (perseverance in the face of many troubles) and hope for a peaceful future as Americans acquired depth that added to the satisfying ending.

“Shizue” will receive 50 performances at high schools, community centers, and other venues around the state as part of Portland Opera to Go. So, the portability of the production is a key factor, because the singers will have to set up the production at each performance. One of the beauties of POGO is that small towns and remote areas of Oregon will experience real opera. That takes grit and gaman. “Shizue” presents a awful slice of Oregon history that a lot of us would rather ignore. It is also a heartfelt reminder of the injustices endured by immigrants who are often vilified. Its message will help us to understand our neighbors and our community.

Today's Birthdays

Alexander Zimlinsky (1871-1942) Gary Graffman (1928) Rafael Puyana (1931-2013) Enrico di Giuseppe (1932-2005) La Monte (Thorton) Young (1935) Sir Cliff Richard (1940) Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023) and Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) E. E. Cummings (1894-1962) Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) Katha Pollitt (1949)

Deanna Tham takes over artistic reigns of the Portland Chamber Orchestra

 

Congratulations to Deanna Tham upon her new appointment with the Portland Chamber Orchestra. She has done terrific work on the podium with the Oregon Symphony, OrpheusPDX, and the Siletz Bay Music Festival. Here's a note from the PCO website:

Powerfully compelling, Deanna Tham delivers unrestrained, visceral performances that infuse the classical cannon with modern vibrancy. With a penchant for embracing the gritty and earthly sides of music in addition to its sublime beauty, Tham’s style reflects a tenacious and free-spirited approach, both on and off the podium. 

Of her Associate Conductor role with the Oregon Symphony during the 2023-24 season, Oregon ArtsWatch wrote: “Deanna Tham made a jaw-dropping, spectacular concert hall debut… It was as if she put her hands in a wall socket and electrified the hall!” In addition to her role with the Oregon Symphony, Tham is the Music Director of the Union Symphony Orchestra. She has recently appeared in Paris' prestigious La Maestra Conducting Competition (2024 semi-finalist), in Royal Albert Hall as part of The Proms, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and Seiji Ozawa Hall at the Tanglewood Music Center working with Maestros James Ross, Joseph Young, and Sir Antonio Pappano, as well as renowned artists Isobel Leonard and Joyce DiDonato. Her previous engagements include serving as the Assistant Conductor of the Omaha Symphony, Assistant Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony, Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta with Maestro Mei-Ann Chen, and Assistant Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra. Tham is a cover conductor for the San Francisco Symphony and has additionally appeared with the Victoria Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Ballet Idaho, Opera Idaho, Orpheus PDX, 45th Parallel Universe, and Present Music Milwaukee. Her work with the National Music Festival featured on National Public Radio as well as American Public Media. Tham holds a Professional Studies Certificate from the Cleveland Institute of Music in Orchestral Conducting studying with Maestro Carl Topilow; a Master of Music degree in conducting from Northwestern University studying with Dr. Mallory Thompson; and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in horn performance from Carnegie Mellon University.

Today's Birthdays

Art Tatum (1910-1956)
Hugo Weisgall (1912-1997)
Gustav Winckler (1925-1979)
Paul Simon (1941)
Leona Mitchell (1949)
Kristine Ciesinski (1950)
Melvyn Tan (1956)
Mark Applebaum (1967)

and

Conrad Richter (1890-1968)
Arna Bontemps (1902-1973)

James Shields and Emily Cole making radio waves at All Classical

 

Congratulations are in order for James Shields and Emily Cole with their new roles at All Classical Radio. The announcement was made earlier this week, and the press release follows below, but if you might want to read my profile of them in Oregon ArtsWatch here.

Portland, OR (October 7, 2024) — All Classical Radio has named violinist Emily Cole and clarinetist James Shields as its 2024/2025 Artists in Residence. The network’s Artists in Residence program, one of the first and only artist residencies created by a radio station in the USA, provides opportunities to established and emerging artists for career advancement, radio and community performances, and creative development. 

Cole and Shields are esteemed members of the Oregon Symphony and enjoy careers as chamber musicians. They will officially launch their All Classical Radio residency with a special appearance on All Classical Radio’s Thursdays @ Three, hosted by Christa Wessel, on October 10, 2024, at 3:00 PM PT.

“All Classical Radio is proud to be a megaphone for the vibrant artists of our communities," says Suzanne Nance, President and CEO of All Classical Radio. “Through our Artists in Residence program, the station is leveraging its unique resources to help support creatives, build portfolios, and advance careers. Emily Cole and James Shields are stellar ambassadors for the program as we begin our fifth decade of community-minded service, serving global audiences from the heart of Portland, Oregon.”

"For the first time since the program's launch in 2019, All Classical Radio is thrilled to invite two Artists in Residence for the coming year," says Kristina Becker, the station's Communications & Operations Manager, who oversees the program. "We are honored to celebrate and support Emily and James ̶ a dynamic husband-and-wife duo whose artistic achievements and commitment to music and education are beautifully aligned with All Classical's vision and values. "

Participants in All Classical Radio's Artists in Residence program enjoy access to the station's world-class studios, research database, digital music archives, and industry contacts and network. With these powerful tools at their fingertips, artists can develop their portfolios; share their work on All Classical Radio's wide-reaching radio and digital platforms; and deepen their engagement with audiences regionally and around the world. They have ample ability to record and produce in-studio, create digital content, and perform on the air and in the community. Artists also receive a financial award to support their creative and career development. 

“I feel deeply honored that All Classical would want me involved with the station community in this capacity," says Cole. "Being given the opportunity to collaborate with James on shared projects on behalf of the station is a dream!” 

In planning for a project he hopes to pursue during the residency, Shields adds: “I’d like to focus in part on activities that involve both Emily and me together, for instance, an ongoing composition project that I’ve been working on which focuses on expanding the repertoire for violin and clarinet.”

Earlier this year, All Classical Radio named 16-year-old composer, trombonist, and vocalist Elaina Stuppler as its 2024 Young Artist in Residence, and announced its 2024 Youth Artist Ambassadors: pianist and cellist Cyrus Ngan, 18; bassoonist and clarinetist Katelyn Nguyen, 17; French hornist and koto player Haruka Sakiyama, 17; and classical guitarist Anika Gupta, 16.

Previous Artists in Residence include pianist María García (2022/23), flutist Adam Eccleston (2020/21), and concert pianist Hunter Noack (2019). The station’s past Young Artists in Residence include violinist/pianist Amir Avsker (2023) and double bassist Maggie Carter (2022). For the complete list of past artists and to learn more about the AIR and YAIR program, visit allclassical.org/artists-in-residence or contact Kristina Becker.

About James Shields

Clarinetist James Shields joined the Oregon Symphony in 2016 after holding similar positions in the Canadian Opera Company and the New Mexico Philharmonic. A Juilliard graduate, he has appeared as soloist with the Oregon Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, and Music in the Mountains (CO), and has performed as guest principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Malaysian Philharmonic. 

A committed and dynamic performer of chamber music, Shields appears regularly with chamber music organizations throughout North America. He is a member of 45th Parallel and Fear No Music and has performed with numerous renowned organizations including Third Angle, Chamber Music Northwest, Serenata of Santa Fe, Taos Chamber Music Group, and Gather NYC. 

In addition to his performing activities, James holds a master’s degree in Composition and Music Theory from the University of New Mexico and composes regularly. Current composition projects include an ever-increasing set of duos for violin and clarinet as well as other works for clarinet and strings. For the past 16 years, Shields has served as Associate Artistic Director of Chatter, a popular series in New Mexico that performs over 125 chamber music concerts annually. In June of 2024, Shields joined cellist Trevor Fitzpatrick to establish a branch of Chatter in Portland, OR. Building on the success of the Chatter model in New Mexico, Chatter PDX aims to present 50 Sunday morning performances of chamber music and spoken word each year. 

About Emily Cole

Violinist Emily Cole has been a member of the Oregon Symphony since 2011. An avid chamber musician, Cole has performed with several Portland-area ensembles including 45th Parallel Universe, Third Angle, fEARnoMUSIC, and Northwest New Music, as well as with Chatter ABQ in New Mexico. She has premiered chamber works by Caroline Shaw, Kenji Bunch, Pierre Jalbert and James Shields. 

During the summer months, Cole has performed with the Oregon Bach Festival, Music in the Mountains, Seattle Opera, the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, and the Apollo Music Festival. Cole previously served on the faculty of Lewis & Clark College and has coached young chamber musicians with Portland Summer Ensembles and Seattle’s Music Northwest.  

Cole received a B.M. degree from the University of Texas at Austin, as a student of Brian Lewis, and a master’s degree from the University of North Texas, as a student of Emanuel Borok.

Today's Birthdays

Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1686-1750)
Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-1780)
Arthur Nikisch (1855-1922)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Healey Willan (1880-1968)
Carlos López Buchardo (1881-1948)
Gilda Dalla Rizza (1892-1975)
Erich Gruenberg (1924-2020)
Pilar Lorengar (1938-1996)
Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007)
Daryl Runswick (1946)
Penelope Walker (1956)
Chris Botti (1962)

and

Robert Fitzgerald (1910-1985)
Alice Childress (1916-1994)
Robert Coles (1929)

Today's Birthdays

George Bridgetower (1780-1860)
Fernando De Lucia (1860-1925)
R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943)
Albert Stoessel (1894-1943)
Eugene Weigel (1910-1998)
Art Blakey (1919-1990)
David Rendall (1948)

and

Mason Locke Weems (1759-1825)
Eleanor Roosevelt (1883-1962)
Elmore Leonard (1925-2013)
Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022)

Review of Oregon Symphony concert - Akiho's cello concerto in CVNA

 

You can read all about it in my review, which has been published in Classical Voice North America here.

Today's Birthdays

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Vernon Duke (1903-1969)
Paul Creston (1906-1985)
Thelonious Monk (1917-1982)
Gloria Coates (1938-2023)
Sir Willard White (1946)
John Prine (1946-2020)
Steve Martland (1959)
Evgeny Kissin (1971)

and

Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)
Harold Pinter (1930-2008)

And from The Writer's Almanac:

It’s the birthday of the composer Vernon Duke, born Vladimir Dukelsky, in Parafianovo, Belarus (1903). He was a talented classical musician, educated at an elite conservatory, but his family fled Russia after the revolution and he wound up playing piano in cafés in Constantinople (now Istanbul). From there, his family rode steerage class on a ship to America, went through Ellis Island, and ended up in New York in 1921. There the teenage Dukelsky met George Gershwin, who was only a few years older, and the two became good friends. Dukelsky played Gershwin what he described as “an extremely cerebral piano sonata,” and Gershwin, who was also trained in classical music, suggested this: “There’s no money in that kind of stuff, and no heart in it, either. Try to write some real popular tunes — and don’t be scared about going low-brow. They will open you up.” He also suggested that Dukelsky shorten his name, as he himself had done — Gershowitz to Gershwin. So Vladimir Dukelsky came up with the name Vernon Duke, but he didn’t use it for a while.

First, he went to Paris. There, he met and impressed the great ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Dukelsky wrote later about their first meeting — that Diaghilev had drawled: “‘Ah, a good-looking boy. That in itself is most unusual. Composers are seldom good-looking; neither Stravinsky nor Prokofiev ever won any beauty prizes. How old are you?’ I told him I was 20. ‘That’s encouraging, too. I don’t like young men over 25.’” And so Diaghilev commissioned him to write a ballet, and he wrote Zephire et Flore, with sets by Georges Braque, choreography by Léonide Massine, and costumes by Coco Chanel. It got a great reception, and Dukelsky was taken in by the not-quite-as-good-looking Stravinsky and Prokofiev. For a few years he divided his time between Paris, where he continued to write classical music, and London, where he wrote show tunes and used the name Vernon Duke. Then in 1929, he decided to go back to America, and he wrote some of the biggest hits of the 1930s — “April in Paris” (1932), “Autumn in New York” (1934), “I Can’t Get Started” (1936), and “Taking a Chance on Love” (1940). And he wrote the music for the Broadway show and film Cabin in the Sky (1940). By that time, he had become an American citizen and officially changed his name to Vernon Duke.

Today's Birthdays

Alexander Siloti (1863-1945)
Harry Lawrence Freeman (1869-1954)
Carl Flesch (1873-1944)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Roger Goeb (1914-1997)
Einojuhani Routavaara (1928-2016)
Alfons Kontarsky (1932-2010)
John Lennon (1940-1980)
Jackson Browne (1948)
Sally Burgess (1953)
Roberto Sierra (1953)

and

Ivo Andrić (1892-1975)
Bruce Catton (1899-1978)
Léopold (Sédar) Senghor (1906-2001)
Belva Plain (1915-2010)
Jill Ker Conway (1934-2018)
James Howe McClure (1939-2006)