Overflow audience at Columbia Symphony concert

Tonight's concert by the Columbia Symphony was a real tribute to Portland's music community, because the nave of First United Methodist Church was so packed that even extra seating, brought in at the last moment, could not accommodate the crowd, and at least 20 people had to stand through an outstanding performance of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, which featured violinist Inés Voglar and violist Joël Belgique. Among the musical cognoscenti in the audience were many members of the Oregon Symphony such as Jun Iwasaki, Nancy Ives, Stephen Price, Karen Wagner, Greg Ewer, Fumino Ando, and Jennifer Arnold. Others notables that I saw were conductor Keith Clark, pianist Cary Lewis, and violinist Tatiana Kolchanova.

I'll write a review of the concert (which included Brahms Second Symphony) for Oregon Music News tomorrow.

Today's Birthdays

Franz Lehár (1870-1948)
Louise Homer (1871-1947)
Frank Merrick (1886-1981)
Robert Shaw (1916-1999)
Günter Raphael (1903-1960)
Willie Nelson (1933)
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (1939)
Garcia Navarro (1940-2002)
Vladimir Tarnopolsky (1955)

and

Alice B. Toklas (1877-1967)
John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974)
Winfield Townley Scott (1910-1968)
Annie Dillard (1945)
Josip Novakovich (1955)

Today's Birthdays

Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961)
Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961)
Sir Malcom Sargent (1895-1967)
Edward "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974)
Peter Sculthorpe (1929)
Klaus Voormann (1938)
Leslie Howard (1948)
Eero Hämeenniemi (1951)
Gino Quilico (1955)

and

Constantine P. Cavafy (1863-1933)
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
Yusef Komunyakaa (1947)

Today's Birthdays

Paul Sacher (1906-1999)
Margaret Vardell Sandresky (1921)
Zubin Mehta (1936)
Jeffrey Tate (1943)
Nicola LeFanu (1947)
Elise Ross (1947)
Jeffrey Tate (1948)
Michael Daugherty (1954)

and

James Monroe (1758-1831)
Karl Kraus (1874-1936)
Harper Lee (1926)
Carolyn Forché (1950)

Classical Music makes a comeback on radio

According to this report in the New York Times, classical music is experiencing a big upswing on the radio under the sponsorship of public broadcasting. Maybe folks are finally getting tired of talk radio.

Today's Birthdays

Johann Adam Reinken (1623-1722
Friedrich von Flotow (1812-1883)
Serge Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1995)
Guido Cantelli (1920-1956)
Igor Ostriakh (1931)
Hamish Milne (1939)
Jon Deak (1943)
Christian Zacharias (1950)

and

Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)
Samuel Morse (1791-1872)
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
C(ecil) Day Lewis (1904-1972)
August Wilson (1945-2005)

Esteemed classical music critic Alan Rich dies

The LA Times reported today that Alan Rich, who wrote about classical music for L.A. Weekly, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Variety, the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune, and magazines such as New York, Newsweek, New West, and California passed away at the age of 85.

I met Alan Rich a couple of times at music critic conferences. I found that he could be witty and charminig sometimes and curt and abrasive at other times. He was an excellent writer and critic, and his blog, So I've Heard, was highly regarded. We will miss his voice.

Today's Birthdays

Erland von Koch (1910-2009)
Pierre Pierlot (1921-2007)
Teddy Edwards (1924-2003)
Wilma Lipp (1925)
Ewa Podleś (1952)
Patrizia Kwella (1953)

and

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
David Hume (1711-1776)
John James Audubon (1785-1851)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
Bernard Malamud (1914-1986)

Terrific Oregon Symphony concert with Midori and Tchaikovsky's Fifth

I'd give the Oregon Symphony concert that I heard last night three thumbs up if I had three thumbs. It was an incredible concert with Midori in the Sibelius Violin Concerto and the orchestra rocking and rolling in Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. I'll be writing my review later today for Oregon Music News, but for those of you who don't have tickets, I'd encourage you strongly to pick them up for one of the two remaining concerts in Portland or the concert on Tuesday evening in Salem. This is a concert that is life-enhancing.

Today's Birthdays

Ella Fitzgerald (1918-1998)
Astrid Varnay (1918-2006)
Siegfried Palm (1927-2005)
Digby Fairweather (1946)
Truls Mørk (1961)

and

Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903)
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937)
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965)
David Shepherd (1931)
Ted Kooser (1939)
Padgett Powell (1952)

Selected Upcoming Events: Bach Cantata Choir's Season Finale and Opera Theater Oregon/Filmusik's 'Hercules vs. Vampires.'

Here are a couple of upcoming that I will be attending and wholeheartedly recommend, for various reasons: I sing baritone in the BCC (although I am not singing this concert) and so am always a fan. The dynamic duo of Opera Theater Oregon and Filmusik are both key components of Portland's homegrown, scrappy alternative art music scene that never ceases to amaze me with its brilliant, original projects.


1. Tomorrow, Sunday April 25th is the season finale of the Bach Cantata Choir, and what a grand finale it will be. The concert was featured by host Andrea Murray on Northwest Previews last Thursday on Portland's All Classical 89.9. The very talented BCC Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Ralph Nelson, will be performing J.S. Bach's Violin Concerto in E Major with Mary Rowell as soloist. Among the many hats Mary wears are those of Concertmaster of the BCC Chamber Orchestra and violinist with the esteemed Portland Baroque Orchestra.

In addition, the BCC will sing W.F. Bach's cantata Wohl dem, der den Herren fürchtet. Wilhelm Friedemann was Sebastian's eldest son, a man with a tragic life and the one whom many scholars believe was the finest composer amongst the Bach sons, despite Joh. Christian and especially Carl Philip Emanuel being the more famous. The BCC is proud to present their first performance of an ancient work by a Jewish composer, Salamone Rossi's (1570-1630) Hallelyah. The choir will also sing J.S. Bach's Motet #5 Komm, Jesu Komm, one of only eight Bach motets still surviving, a set known for its complexity, beauty and unicity even among Bach's works.

The performance is at 2 pm at the Rose City Park Presbyterian Church at NE 44th and Sandy. There is no charge for the performance, but free will donations are gratefully accepted.



2. Following is information from Opera Theater Oregon regarding their next project: Hercules vs. Vampires.

WHAT: Opera Theater Oregon and Filmusik present “Hercules vs. Vampires,” a 1960s cult classic brought back to the big screen with all the dialogue turned into opera by composer Patrick Morganelli and performed live by nine glorious voices and a 14-piece chamber orchestra.

WHEN/WHERE: May 14, 18, 20 and 21 at 7:30pm/May 16, 2:00pm (matinee). ALL SHOWS ALL AGES (run time 90 minutes). Hollywood Theater, 4122 Northeast Sandy Boulevard, Portland, OR.

WHO: Produced by Opera Theater Oregon and Filmusik; new commissioned opera and adaptation of libretto by composer Patrick Morganelli; original 1961 film directed by Mario Bava (Black Sunday, Fashion House of Death); musical direction by OTO Musical Director Erica Melton; produced and directed by OTO Artistic Director Katie Taylor; technical direction by Filmusik Artistic Director Galen Huckins.

Starring a cast of rising operatic talent, including baritone Michael Miersma (Hercules), soprano Camelia Nine (Dianara), tenor David Simmons (Theseus), mezzo soprano Claire Craig Sheets (Persephone), and baritone Bobby Ray (Lyco). Made possible by a grant from REGIONAL ARTS AND CULTURE COUNCIL and WORK FOR ART.

TICKETS: $15 (general admission). Call PDXtix at 503-205-0715, or go online to operatheateroregon.com. Group rates available. Contact Katie at Opera Theater Oregon for details: 503-234-4515, kt@operatheateroregon.com.

WHY: Because it is awesome to watch Mr. Universe 1958 crush boulders on the big screen while appearing to sing beautiful music.


For complete information and a detailed press release, visit my blog MusicalOozings

Today's Birthdays

Giovanni Martini (1706-1784)
Charles O'Connell (1900-1962)
Violet Archer (1913-2000)
John Williams (1941)
Barbara Streisand (1942)
Norma Burrowes (1944)
Ole Edvard Antonsen (1962)
Augusta Read Thomas (1964)
Catrin Finch (1980)

and

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882)
Willem De Kooning (1904-1997)
Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989)
Stanley Kauffmann (1916)
Clare Boylan (1948-2006)

Today's Birthdays

Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1858-1919)
Albert Coates (1882-1953)
Henry Barraud (1900-1997)
Roy Orbison (1936-1988)
Barry Douglas (1960)

and

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Joseph Turner (1775-1851)
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)
George Steiner (1929)

Today's Birthdays

Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709)
Dame Ethel Smyth (1856-1944)
Eric Fenby (1906-1997)
Kathleen Ferrier (1912-1953)
Lord Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999)
Charles Mingus 1922-1979)
Michael Colgrass (1932)
Jaroslav Krcek (1939)
Joshua Rifkin (1944)
Peter Frampton (1950)
Jukka-Pekka Saraste (1956)

and

Henry Fielding (1707-1754)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)
Louise Glück (1943)

Today's Birthdays

Randall Thompson (1899-1984)
Leonard Warren (1911-1960)
Bruno Maderna (1920-1973)
Locksley Wellington 'Slide' Hampton (1932)
Lionel Rogg (1936)
John McCabe (1939)
Iggy Pop (1947)
Richard Bernas (1950)

and

Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855)
John Muir (1838-1914)

Update on arts funding in Georgia

Here's an update from Musical America:

At 2 p.m. April 20, MusicalAmerica.com received word that the Georgia Arts Council's budget has been reinstated. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that its allocation will represent "a steep cut from the $2.52 million it received in fiscal 2010, but the agency will not be eliminated, as the House had intended."

Shame on Georgia (the state not the country)

Editor Susan Elliott of Musical America has written a succint scolding on the Georgia legislature, and her message is worthy of reprinting; so here it is:

Shame on You, Georgia Politicos
By Susan Elliott
MusicalAmerica.com
April 20, 2010


As reported here last week, the State of Georgia’s House of Representatives has voted to eliminate the Georgia Council for the Arts and its annual budget, which has already been slashed from $2.52 million to $890,735. Save for Congressman John Lewis, and State Senator Vincent Fort, Georgia is Republican run, and most certainly Republican owned.

Having lived in Atlanta for 14 years until returning home to Manhattan three years ago, I can attest to Georgia’s guiding Red Neck mentality: “the arts promote imagination and creativity and are therefore bad for our children, especially with all those homosexuals in high places.”

It has been nearly two decades since Cobb County withdrew its funding from the Circle in the Square Theater in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta, after the company mounted Terrence McNally’s “Lips Together Teeth Apart.” Damn those homos, said the County Fathers. Clearly, little has changed since then.

Kudos to the Atlanta arts community for yesterday’s rally on the steps of the Capitol, protesting the cuts. If the current budget passes, Georgia will be the only state without an art council.

"If we … cut this funding, I'm going to be ashamed to be from Georgia," said Fort, an Atlanta Democrat. "This is a defining issue of who we are as Georgians."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution eliminated its music, art and theater critics awhile ago. Now, save for the ArtsCriticAtl blog that the three bravely put on [see link on MusicalAmerica.com Home Page], there is no arts coverage. Soon there will be no arts to cover.

Shame on you, Georgia. Shame on you.

Today's Birthdays

Nikolai Miaskovsky (1881-1950)
Lionel Hampton (1908-2002)
Christopher Robinson (1936)
Sir John Eliot Gardiner (1943)
Robert Kyr (1952)

and

Pietro Aretino (1492-1556)
Joan Miró (1893-1983)

Amy Schwartz Moretti back in the saddle again

While checking out Gregory Vajda's gig with CityMusic Cleveland, I noticed that former Oregon Symphony concert master Amy Schwartz Moretti is listed as the concert mistress of the CityMusic Cleveland orchestra. She is doing that gig in addition to serving as director of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University, her chamber music work, and solo appearances.

Today's Birthdays

Alexandre Pierre François Boëly (1785-1858)
Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)
Ruben Gonzalez (1919-2003)
Bernard Klee (1926)
Dudley Moore (1935-2002)
Kenneth Riegel (1938)
Jonathan Tunick (1938)
David Fanshawe (1942)
Murray Perahia (1947)
Yan-Pascal Tortelier (1947)
Natalie Dessay (1965)

and

Etheridge Knight (1931-1991)