Today's Birthdays

Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956)
Arthur Tracy (1899-1997)
Bill Russo (1928-2003)
Kurt Schwertsik (1935)
Carly Simon (1945)

and

Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926)
George Abbott (1887-1995)
George Orwell (1903-1950)
Sonia Sotomayor (1954)

Today's Birthdays

Harry Partch (1901-1974)
Pierre Fournier (1906-1986)
Milton Katims (1909-2006)
Denis Dowling (1910-1984)
Terry Riley (1935)

and

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
John Ciardi (1916-1986)
Anita Desai (1937)
Stephen Dunn (1939-2021)

Today's Birthdays

Carl Reinecke (1824-1910)
Mieczyslaw Horszowski (1892-1993)
George Russell (1923-2009)
Adam Faith (1940-2003)
James Levine (1943-2021)
Nigel Osborne (1948)
Nicholas Cleobury (1950)
Sylvia McNair (1956)

and

Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966)
Michael Shaara (1928-1988)
David Leavitt (1961)

Today's Birthdays

Francesco Manfredini (1684-1762)
Étienne Nicolas Méhul (1763-1817)
Frank Heino Damrosch (1859-1937)
Jennie Tourel (1900-1973)
Walter Leigh (1905-1942)
Sir Peter Pears (1910-1986)
Hans-Hubert Schönzeler (1925-1997)
Pierre Thibaud (1929-2004)
Libor Pešek (1933-2022)
Pierre Amoyal (1949)
Christopher Norton (1953)

and

Harriett Mulford Stone Lothrop (1844-1924)
Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970)
Billy Wilder (1906-2002)
Joseph Papp (1921-1991)
Meryl Streep (1949)
Elizabeth Warren (1949)

Today's Birthdays

Henry Holden Huss (1862-1953)
Hilding Rosenberg (1892-1985)
Harry Newstone (1921-2006)
Lou Ottens (1926-2021)
Lalo Schifrin (1932)
Diego Masson (1935)
Philippe Hersant (1948)
Judith Bingham (1952)
Jennifer Larmore (1958)

and

Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1972)
Donald Peattie (1898-1964)
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
Mary McCarthy (1912-1989)
Ian McEwan (1948)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1890. Richard Strauss's tone-poem "Death and Transfiguration" and "Burleske" for Piano and Orchestra were given their premieres in Eisenach, at a convention of the General German Music Association, with the composer conducting and Eugen d'Albert as the piano soloist in the "Burleske".

Today's Birthdays

Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792)
Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
Wilfred Pelletier (1896-1982)
Chet Atkins (1924-2001)
Ingrid Haebler (1926)
Eric Dolphy (1928-1964)
Arne Nordheim (1931-2010)
Mickie Most (1938-2003)
Brian Wilson (1942)
Anne Murray (1945)
André Watts (1946)
Lionel Richie (1949)

and

Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948)
Lillian Hellman (1905-1984)
Josephine Winslow Johnson (1910-1990)
Vikram Seth (1952)

Report on singing at the 2024 Bachfest in Leipzig

Well, the headline sums up the terrific experience that I and my colleagues in the Bach Cantata Choir had at the 2024 Bachfest in Leipzig. I hope that you enjoy reading my account and the brief reviews of other concerts I heard there. Here's the link to the article in Classical Voice North America.

Today's Birthdays

François Rebel (1701-1775)
Johann Wenzel Stamitz (1717-1757)
Carl Zeller (1842-1898)
Alfredo Catalani (1854-1893)
Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915)
Guy Lombardo (1902-1977)
Edwin Gerschefski (1909-1988)
Anneliese Rothenberger (1926-2010)
Elmar Oliveira (1950)
Philippe Manoury 1952)

and

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Pauline Kael (1919-2001)
Tobias Wolff (1945)
Salman Rushdie (1947)

Today's Birthdays

Antonio Maria Bononcini (1677-1726)
Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831)
David Popper (1843-1913)
Sir George Thalben-Ball (1896-1987)
Edward Steuermann (1892-1964)
Manuel Rosenthal (1904-2003)
Eduard Tubin (1905-1982)
Paul McCartney (1942)
Hans Vonk (1942-2004)
Anthony Halstead (1945)
Diana Ambache (1948)
Eva Marton (1948)
Peter Donohoe (1953)

and

Geoffrey Hill (1932-2016)
Gail Godwin (1937)
Jean McGarry (1948)
Chris Van Allsburg (1949)
Amy Bloom (1953)
Richard Powers (1957)

Today's Birthdays

John Wesley (1703-1791)
Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Hermann Reutter (1900-1985)
Einar Englund (1916-1999)
Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006)
Sir Edward Downes (1924-2009)
Christian Ferras (1933-1982)
Gérard Grisey (1946-1998)
Derek Lee Ragin (1958)

and

M. C. Escher (1898-1972)
John Hersey (1914-1993)
Ron Padgett (1942)

Today's Birthdays

Niccolò Vito Piccinni (1728-1800)
Helen Traubel (1899-1972)
Willi Boskovsky (1909-1990)
Sergiu Comissiona (1928-2005)
Lucia Dlugoszewski (1931-2000)
Jerry Hadley (1952-2007)
David Owen Norris (1953)

and

Geronimo (1829-1909)
Joyce Carol Oates (1938)

Today's Birthday

Franz Danzi (1763-1826)
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Ernestine Schumann‑Heink (1861-1936)
Guy Ropartz (1864-1955)
Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981)
Sir Thomas Armstrong (1898-1994)
Otto Luening (1900-1996)
Geoffrey Parsons (1929-1995)
Waylon Jennings (1937-2002)
Harry Nilsson (1941-1994)
Paul Patterson (1947)
Rafael Wallfisch (1953)
Robert Cohen (1959)

and

Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827)
Saul Steinberg (1914-1999)
Dava Sobel (1947)

Today's Birthdays

Antonio Sacchini (1730-1786)
Simon Mayr (1763-1845)
Nicolai Rubinstein (1835-1881)
John McCormack (1884-1945)
Heddle Nash (1894-1961)
Rudolf Kempe (1910-1976)
Stanley Black (1913-2002)
Theodore Bloomfield (1923-1998)
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004)
Natalia Gutman (1942)
Lang Lang (1982)

and

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)
Ralph Barnes (1899-1940)
John Bartlett (1820-1905)
Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971)
Ernesto (Che) Guevara de la Serna (1928-1967)
Jonathan Raban (1942)
Mona Simpson (1971)

Today's Birthdays

Anton (Antonín) Wranitzky (1761-1820)
Anton Eberl (1766-1807)
Elisabeth Schumann (1888-1952)
Carlos Chavez (1899-1978)
Alan Civil (1929-1989)
Gwynne Howell (1938)
Sarah Connolly (1963)
Alain Trudel (1966)

and

Frances Burney (1752-1840)
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
Mary Antin (1881-1949)
Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957)
William S. Burroughs (1914-1997)
Artem Chekh (1985)

In Leipzig, Germany, singing with the Bach Cantata Choir at the 2024 Bachfest

I am in Leipzig with the Bach Cantata Choir of Portland. We sang our hearts out at our concert yesterday at the Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church) with our soloists: soprano Vakare Petroliūnaité, alto Hannah Penn, tenor Leslie Green, and bass Jacob Herbert along with the Leipzig Camerata Orchestra and wowed the audience. In attendance were the Bachfest Artistic Director Michael Maul and Ton Koopman. They and the audience of around 1,000 gave us a stomping standing ovation. So we responded with an encore Alice Parker's arrangement of "Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal," and that drew huge cheers of approval. So we did Portland proud... a great experience!

Now, I'm working on an article about the experience and the concerts that I've heard (including an opera) for Classical Voice North America. More on that later...

Today Birthdays

Vanni Marcoux (1877-1962)
Werner Josten (1895-1963)
Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986)
Leon Goossens (1897-1988)
Maurice Ohana (1913-1992)
Ian Partridge (1938)
Chick Corea (1941)
Oliver Knussen (1952)

and

Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)
Charles Kingsley (1819-1875)
Egon Schiele (1890-1918)
Djuna Barnes (1892-1982)
Anne Frank (1929-1945)

Today's Birthdays

Francesco Antonio Bonporti (1672-1749)
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
George Frederick McKay (1899-1970)
Hazel Scott (1920-1981)
Shelly Manne (1920-1984)
Carlisle Floyd (1926-2021)
Antony Rooley (1944)
Douglas Bostock (1955)
Conrad Tao (1994)

and

Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
William Styron (1925-2006)
Athol Fugard (1932)

Today's Birthdays

Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843-1900)
Hariclea Darclée (1860-1939)
Frederick Loewe (1904-1988)
Ralph Kirkpatrick (1911-1984)
Tikhon Khrennikov (1913-2007)
Bruno Bartoletti (1925-2013)
Mark-Anthony Turnage (1960)

and

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877)
Terence Rattigan (1911-1977)
James Salter (1925-2015)
Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)

Review: Oregon Symphony and violinist Simone Porter tango into Buenos Aires

Cancelations by guest soloists has been an off-and-on-again thing for the Oregon Symphony’s 2023-2024 season. This time around double-bass extraordinaire Xavier Foley could was unable to make his scheduled appearance to perform Gerardo Moreira’s arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s “Cuatros Estaciones Porteñas” (“The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”). Ergo, behind the scenes, Clement So, Vice President for Programming at the Oregon Symphony, sprang into action and found up-and-coming violinist Simone Porter, who gave a gorgeous performance of the same piece in an arrangement by Leonid Desyatnikov at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on June 3rd.

Porter grew up in Seattle where she made her professional debut as a 10-year-old with the Seattle Symphony. The 28-year-old phenom now maintains an international schedule; ergo, the Oregon Symphony was lucky that she had an opening and knew the Piazzola like the back of her hand.

Piazzolla expressed the flavors of his hometown with a tango-esqe spin and – courtesy of Desyatnikov – occasional allusions to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” Porter fashioned numerous slinky-sounding zings and downward glissandos with elan. The piece offered lively contrasts between dissonant passages and more harmonious ones. Now and then, scratchy sounds gnawed at the texture of the music, adding to the colorful atmospheric collage that Porter and the orchestra created under the energetic baton of Music Director David Danzmayr.

Keeping the first half of the concert in South America, the orchestra presented the world premiere of “De mi tierra” (“Of my land”) by Giancarlo Castro D’Addona. D’Addona, who is from Venezuela where he was a start trumpeter in the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra. Now living in Portland, D’Addona has been making a name for himself as a composer, and one of his most recent compositions was performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel.

In his introductory remarks, Danzmayr said that one might imagine a city park in Venezuela where lots of people are engaged in daily activities. “De me tierra” certainly reflected a very active soundscape right from the get-go with congas, guiro/guira, and timpani leading the way. Boisterous waves of sound emanated from all parts of the orchestra with some tricky high notes for Principal Trumpet Jeffry Work. It was easy to imagine kids at play, people selling goods, and a festive air. Though the piece briefly quieted down a bit, it had a toe-tapping optimism that was infectious.

Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 (“Unfinished”) only has two movements, but they were played with exceptional passion in which every note, every phrase had an extra special significance. The double basses expressed a throbbing urgency. The horns and brass choirs glowed. The strings spun pure lyric beauty and the woodwinds cast a plaintive spell.

The orchestra under Danzmayr pulled out all of the stops for Richard Strauss’s Suite from “Der Rosenkavlier” in an arrangement by Artur Rodzinski. The opening bloomed with the horns leading the way into a robust romantic dalliance that might not have much difference to listeners who didn’t know the story of the opera. The lovely waltzes evoked a bygone era, and there was much passion in the music making except that one point an unexpected noise erupted when – I think, a clarinet reed – didn’t cooperate during a stirring forte passage. No matter, the orchestra, including evocative solos by Concertmaster Sarah Kwak and the principals created an enticing sonic-scape that made this reviewer want to see the opera.

Today's Birthdays

Anton Weidinger (1766-1852)
Otto Nicolai (1810-1849)
Alberic Magnard (1865-1914)
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)
Cole Porter (1891-1964)
Dame Gracie Fields (1898-1979)
Ingolf Dahl (1912-1970)
Les Paul (1915-2009)
Franco Donatoni (1927-2000)
Charles Wuorinen (1938-2020)
Ileana Cotrubas (1939)

and

Baroness Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914)
George Axelrod (1922-2003)
Patricia Cornwell (1956)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1840, Franz Liszt gives a solo performance at the Hanover Square Rooms in London billed as "Recitals." This was the first time the term "recital" was used to describe a public musical performance, and it caused much discussion and debate at the time. Liszt is credited with both inventing and naming the now-common solo piano "recital."

Today's Birthdays

Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750)
Nicolas Dalayrac (1753-1809)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942)
Reginald Kell (1906-1981)
Emanuel Ax (1949)

and

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)
John W Campbell (1910-1970)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1912, Ravel's ballet, "Daphnis et Chloé" was premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, by Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe, Pierre Monteux conducting.

Today's Birthdays

Leopold Auer (1845-1930)
George Szell (1897-1970)
Ilse Wolf (1921-1999)
Philippe Entremont (1934)
Neeme Järvi (1937)
Sir Tom Jones (1940)
Jaime Laredo (1941)
Prince (Prince Rogers Nelson) (1958-2015)
Roberto Alagna (1963)
Olli Mustonen (1967)

and

Paul Gaugin (1848-1903)
Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973)
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)
Nikki Giovanni (1943)
Orham Pamuk (1952)
Louise Erdrich (1954)

Interview with John Malkovich and Alekesy Igudesman about The Music Critic at the Symphony - now in Oregon ArtsWatch

 I had a blast interviewing John Malkovich and Aleksey Igudesman about their upcoming show with the Oregon Symphony at the Schnitz. If I were not on tour with the Bach Cantata Choir in Europe, I would definitely attend this event and review it. You can check out my preview in Oregon ArtsWatch here. 

Today's Birthdays

Sir John Stainer (1840-1901)
Siegfried Wagner (1869-1930)
Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978)
Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987)
Iain Hamilton (1922-2000)
Serge Nigg (1924-2008)
Klaus Tennstedt (1926-1998)
Louis Andriessen (1939-2021)
Paul Esswood (1942)

and

Pierre Corneille (1606-1684)
Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837)
Thomas Mann (1875-1955)
Maxine Kumin (1925-2014)
Julian Mayfield (1928-1984)
Robert Pirsig (1928-2017)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1931, Henry Cowell's "Synchrony" received its premiere in Paris, at the first of two concerts of modern American music with the Orchestre Straram conducted by Nicholas Slonimsky and funded anonymously by Charles Ives. On the same program, Slonimsky also conducted the Orchestre Straram in the European premieres of works by Adolph Weiss ("American Life"), Ives ("Three Places in England"), Carl Ruggles ("Men and Mountains"), and the Cuban composer Amadeo Roldan ("La Rehambatamba").

Today's Birthdays

Arthur Somervell (1863-1937)
Robert Mayer (1879-1985)
Eduard Tubin (1905-1982)
Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006)
Peter Schat (1935-2003)
James Dick (1940)
Martha Argerich (1941)
Bill Hopkins (1943-1981)

and

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)
Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936)
Alfred Kazin (1915-1998)
David Wagoner (1926-2021)
Margaret Drabble (1939)
David Hare (1947)

Profile of Oregon Symphony Principal Bassoonist Carin Miller in Oregon ArtsWatch

 

A few weeks ago, I was able to meet with Carin Miller to discuss her upcoming performance with the Oregon Symphony. I wrote up a profile of her and her passion for the bassoon. It is now published for your reading pleasure in Oregon ArtsWatch here.

Review: Vancouver Symphony closes out the season with exciting Beethoven's 9th

iPhone photo by yours truly

It was great to see a full house at Skyview Concert Hall (June 1) for the Vancouver Symphony season finale. The parking lot was completely stuffed before concert time, and many drivers had frantic expressions on their faces as they realized that they would have to park in a nearby neighborhood.

Fortunately, a few introductory remarks allowed latecomers to find the few remaining seats before the downbeat of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. This was the first time in twenty years that the VSO had played the iconic work. This time around, the orchestra collaborated with the Portland Symphonic Choir and soloists: soprano Megan Belov, mezzo-soprano Grace Skinner, tenor Katherine Goforth and baritone Anton Belov. Music Director Salvador Brotons led the musical forces, impressively directing from memory.

The first movement of the Beethoven was played extremely well with the strings fashioning an exceptionally unified sound. When the brass section made its entry, it didn’t overpower the strings. Principal timpanist Florian Conzetti pummeled the kettle drums vigorously to create thunderous eruptions.

The intertwined themes in the second movement motored along smoothly, although it would have been more interesting if the phrases could have had more shape – like sometimes tapering off a bit at the end. Sometimes the orchestral balance got a little off centered, but the intricacies of each line came through very well.

The slow and elegant third movement received lovely playing – with the spotlight falling on the very exposed passage for the four horn, which he delivered in fine style. The refined and gentle mood came to an abrupt end with the dramatic blast at the beginning of the fourth movement. That took the music in a new direction and the voices of the singers leapt into action. That led to the grand, barn-burning finale with everyone going full tilt.

The choir was stuck about as far back as possible on the stage. The acoustical shell didn’t quite close the gap on the right side. That meant that the singers had to work a bit extra to project the sound over the orchestra. No problem. They were expertly prepared by Alissa Deeter and rose to the fierce demands of the piece, which requires the sopranos to make the double-forte crest of endless high Gs and As sound easy peasy. They did that and topped it off with a beautiful, centered tone. The alto, tenors, and basses matched them with gusto. The rolled r in Bruder from the men was absolutely stunning.

The soloists soared over the heights and depths of the piece. Megan Belov excelled, but shot a little out of bounds before landing nicely on the high B at the very end of the final quartet. Both Skinner and Goforth sculpted forceful passages. Anton Belov started with a racing vibrato, but smoothed it out. The soloists were place on a small platform in front of the stage, which meant that they had to rely on the big screen behind the audience to follow the conductor. That worked well except for one moment when Brotons suddenly decided to up the tempo. Being professions, the soloists quickly adjusted, and sailed on the rest of the way.

Even though Beethoven’s Ninth is well-known, projected titles of the German text with translation would have improved the concert experience. Of course, that would have been an added expense to an already pricey production. Otherwise, a sheet with the text would have been nice, but that would mean that the lights would have been turned up. Oh well, maybe next time.

Concertgoers really paid rapt attention to the entire piece. There was applause after each movement and an enthusiastic standing ovation at the end. People didn’t just applaud for a minute and leave. They stayed and generated a cascade of cheers for an outstanding job.

Now, let’s hope that the financial outlook for the orchestra continues onward and upward so that we don’t have to wait twenty more years for the next Beethoven Ninth.

Today's Birthdays

James Hewitt (1770-1827)
Evgeny Mravinsky (1903-1988)
Alan Shulman (1915-2002)
Robert Merrill (1917-2004)
Irwin Bazelon (1922-1995)
Oliver Nelson (1932-1975)
Anthony Braxton (1945)
Cecilia Bartoli (1966)

and

Josef Sittard (1846-1903)
Karl Valentin (1882-1948)
Robert Anderson (1917-2009)

Today's Birthdays

František Jan Škroup (1801-1862)
Charles Lecocq (1832-1918)
Jan Peerce (1904-1984)
Valerie Masterson (1937)
Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999)
Greg Sandow (1943)
Lynne Dawson (1956)

and

Josephine Baker (1906-1975)
Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997)
Larry Jeff McMurtry (1936-2021)

Today's Birthdays

James Cutler Dunn Parker (1828-1916)
Felix Weingartner (1863-1942)
Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Jozef Cleber (1916-1999)
Samuel Jones (1935)
Marvin Hamlisch (1944-2012)
Mark Elder (1947)
Neil Shicoff (1949)
Michel Dalberto (1955)

and

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

and from The New Music Box:

On June 2, 1938, Amy Beach began work on her Piano Trio while in residence at the MacDowell Colony. She finished the composition fifteen days later (June 18th) and published it as her Op. 150. It was to be her last major work.

Today's Birthdays

Georg Muffat (1653-1704)
Ferdinando Paër (1771-1839)
Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857)
Werner Janssen (1899-1990)
Percy Whitlock (1903-1946)
Nelson Riddle (1921-1985)
Yehudi Wyner (1929)
Edo de Waart (1941)
Richard Goode (1943)
Frederica von Stade (1945)
Arlene Sierra (1970)

and

John Masefield (1878-1967)
Charles Kay Ogden (1889–1957)
Naguib Surur (1932-1978)
Colleen McCullough (1937-2015)
Sheri Holman (1966)
Amy Schumer (1981)