Portland Columbia Symphony presents Valentines/Birthday concert

The Portland Columbia Symphony will present concerts this weekend (Friday night and Sunday afternoon) that will feature love-themed music and a new piece by a very young Oregonian, Taylor Brizendine. Brizendine 19-year-old student at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. He has studied composition with Tomas Svoboda and Michael Johanson, and at CalArts plays bassoon and takes lessons from Julie Feves, who happens to be an Oregon native and Juilliard graduate and a regular guest artist at Chamber Music Northwest's summer concerts.

Brizendine has written a piece called "Hymn of the Earth," which the Portland Columbia Symphony will perform. Here's some information from the orchestra's web site about Brizendine and his new work:

Written for the 150th anniversary of the state of Oregon, "Hymn of the Earth" is very nature based, and unlike most of his works, quite tonal. Influences for the piece include the Oregonian scenery, but also the current political atmosphere. When the piece was originally finished in early October 2008, the ending was small and quiet, symbolizing a disinterest in the way the American government was shaping up, and an overall disappointment in the country and state. However, on November 4th, 2008 when President Obama was elected, Taylor happened to be listening to his piece and editing it. As soon as the election was called he couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement, and in fact destroyed the last third of the piece. In his new found sense of national and state pride, he re-wrote the ending to be quite the opposite of the original. Hymn of the Earth is now a statement of patriotism and hope for the condition of not only Oregon, or the United States, but the world as a whole.

For more about the upcoming Portland Columbia Symphony's concert, click here.