The consortium of ensembles under the Portland Youth Philharmonic umbrella delivered sterling performances at its annual Concert-At-Christmas at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. The event (December 26) with the theme Up in the Air was a wonderful showcase for all of the participants, including the conductors, and it was terrific to see youth having fun on stage making music.
The concert usually starts an orchestra of alumni of the Portland Youth Philharmonic. After their performance, ensembles of the youngest musicians take the stage, and the program gradually progresses to ensembles of older musicians until we finally hear the Portland Youth Philharmonic, which is basically a pre-conservatory orchestra.
So, here is my report of the evening’s performances.
Normally, the Alumni Orchestra gets at least one rehearsal before they perform, but this year things didn’t go as planned because of snow, which caused flight-delays, resulting in some empty chairs especially in the strings. The bad weather meant that the Alumni Orchestra didn’t any practice time for its one piece, the Mars, the Bringer of War movement from Gustav Holst’s “The Planets.” Still, the veterans, under the baton of PYP music director David Hattner, knocked the piece out of the park, especially the trumpet battery, which I think might have curled the ears of timpanist, who was positioned directly in front of them.
Next came the Portland Youth String Ensemble, which led by Inés Voglar Belgique, created a rich, unified sound in James Curnow’s “Chinese Folk Fantasy.” The students also excelled with Larry Moore’s arrangement of music from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Encanto,” and smiles erupted from all corners of the house when the cellos twirled their instruments twice and didn’t miss a beat.
The Portland Youth Wind Ensemble, conducted by Giancarlo Castro D’Addona, opened its program with a spirited rendition of “Flourish for Wind Band” by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Robert Sheldon’s gentile “Applachaian Morning” received a polished performance, including some fine clarinet playing. The ensemble snapped their fingers, clapped their hands, and created a peppy upswing with the “Byzantine Dances” of Carol Brittin Chambers – which also included a fine saxophone solo. The PYWE wrapped up their segment of the program with a snappy “The Free Lance” march by John Philip Souse.
After intermission, the Portland Youth Conservatory Orchestra, under Lawrence Johnson, elicited the noble and grand sentiment of Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia.” The musicians really got into John Williams’ “Raiders March” from the film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and expertly contrasted the two main themes in the piece.
Finally, the Portland Youth Philharmonic with Hattner took the stage and made a robust statement with the Overture to Rossini’s “La gazza ladra” (The thieving magpie). The strings impressively stayed together even after the tempo went into the final brisk pace. The orchestra also gave the world premiere of “she flies with her own wings” by Kenji Bunch. (BTW, the title is also the Oregon State motto.) The piece attained liftoff with a brassy fanfare, a big melodic theme, a brief jazzy trumpet, an extended percussion solo with tom toms going wild, a passage with leaping strings, a solid segment with two tubas going full out, and a sudden ending. Each section of the orchestra got a moment in the spotlight, and the musicians enthusiastically joined the audience in applause when Bunch came to center stage to take a bow.
The PYP capped off the concert with an outstanding performance of Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” including an impeccable piccolo solo by Diego Fernandez. Hattner wisely had the orchestra play the piece a second time so that the crowd could clap along, and that was embraced with ebullient enthusiasm throughout the hall, making a terrific ending for the concert.
PYP’s Concert-At-Christmas gave me a renewed feeling of hope and the sense that the world can become a better place. It’s an uplifting tradition that makes the City of Roses special.
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