Oregon Symphony adds concert to celebrate Portland Japanese Garden's big 5-0

Toru Takemitsu

Details:

Saturday, September 21, 2013 | 7:30 pm
Monday, September 23, 2013 | 8 pm

Carlos Kalmar, conductor

• Sergio Carreno, percussion

• Niel DePonte, percussion

• Jonathan Greeney, percussion

• Luanne Warner Katz, percussion

• Michael Roberts, percussion

 

• Takemitsu: From me flows what you call Time (percussion concerto)

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

From the OSO Press Release:

  THE OREGON SYMPHONY TO ADD A MUSICAL BOW

ON THE PORTLAND JAPANESE GARDEN’S 50^th BIRTHDAY PRESENT

 

(PORTLAND, Ore.) –  The Oregon Symphony and the Portland Japanese Garden are teaming up to help make the Garden’s 50^th birthday as big as it deserves to be.

 

To honor the Portland Japanese Garden’s 50^th Anniversary, the Oregon Symphony and Music Director Carlos Kalmar programmed a very special concert to open the 2013/14 Classical Concert season.  The concert features a percussion concerto, From me flows what you call Time, by Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, as well as Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade based on Eastern-inspired tales from One Thousand and One Nights.

 

Unlike the explosive sound often associated with a percussion concerto, Takemitsu’s piece is delicate and quiet, much like a walk in the Garden itself.  The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall will also look a little different with colorful ribbons extended from the stage into the upper seating areas where they are connected to chimes activated by one of the five percussion artists on stage.

 

Portland Japanese Garden CEO Stephen Bloom voiced his appreciation of the musical celebration:  “We sincerely appreciate the Symphony’s recognition of this important milestone.  We thank them, and we look forward to doing a bit of cross-pollination of our mutual audiences.”

 

The Portland Japanese Garden, founded in 1963, is the most authentic Japanese garden outside of Japan. Situated on 5.5 acres in the scenic West Hills of Portland, and featuring five traditional garden styles, the Portland Japanese Garden is open year-round to nearly 250,000 visitors per year. The purpose of the Portland Japanese Garden is to create, maintain, improve, and administer an authentic, world-class Japanese garden in the city of Portland and to offer compatible educational, cultural, artistic, horticultural, environmental, and charitable activities. For more information, visit japanesegarden.com.