Local soprano sang for Pavarotti

As I walked through my neighborhood (Irvington) in Portland a couple days ago, I saw a sign placed in one of the front yards, stating "Thank You Pavarotti!" So, I stopped by that house and chatted to the owner to find out about her connection to the great tenor. I was introduced to Nancy Olson-Chatalas, who teaches voice as an adjunct faculty member at Portland State University. She put the sign on her front lawn as a tribute to Pavarotti, and she told me of a time when she sang for him.

"I was in the finals of the International Arts and Letters competition," recalls Olson-Chatalas. "You had to have a high grade point average, be in certain age range, create a recital of five arias, work your way through the levels. And there was a lot of money involved if you won. The competition was held every year for about 12 years. I was in the 1979 finals which were held in Frank Lloyd Wright Auditorium in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Pavarotti was an adjudicator."

"Were you scared?"

"Not really," says Olson-Chabalas. "I was excited. In the master class he said that 'talent cannot be taught' and he gave me kisses, and I tied for first place with Susan Robinson who later taught at Westminister College. Pavoratti stood behind me with his hands on my waist and said 'breathe into my hands,' and I did that, and he said 'good, good.'"

Olson-Chatalas is retiring from teaching voice at PSU and wants to concentrate on writing and hiking. She now only has five students, but she is still working on singing Schubert lieder.

Debut recording by the Rose City Mixed Quartet

A few months ago, the Rose City Mixed Quartet released its debut CD entitled Outstanding! This recording contains 16 songs that feature some tightly wrought a cappella singing that puts a fresh twist on tunes that we take for granted. Take their opening number, Ain’t Misbehavin’, which detours into the realm of barbershop or Can’t Buy Me Love, which has accents of a madrigal or ’Tis a Gift to Be Simple, which has a jazzy underlying rhythm.

Other numbers on the RCMQ recording are Someone to Watch Over Me, Embraceable You, Home on the Range, Danny Boy, Lonesome Road, Short People, Lazy River, Blackbird, Isn't It Romantic, Java Jive, Little Red Riding Hood, In My Life, and Goodnight Sweetheart. Some of these arrangements (at least the background harmonies) are in the spirit of the Swingle Singers, an octet (now based in London, England) that has been bridging the gulf between classical music, popular music, and jazz with several chart-climbing albums since 1967.

The RCMQ consists of soprano Cameron Griffith Herbert, alto Helen Deitz, tenor Dale Webber, and bass Mark Petersen. They are longtime members of the Portland Symphonic Choir, and I have sung with all of them many times as a member of the PSC.

I’ve enjoyed this group’s ability to thread the needle in performing these complex arrangements. It’s great to have a mixed ensemble like this in Portland. Check out RCMQ’s Outstanding! when you get the chance. Here's a link to their web site.

Chan's piano recital elicits strong reaction

"That was weird. That was really weird," exclaimed one audience member after hearing pianist Susan Chan play "Memories in a Ancient Garden" by Alexina Louie. Chan was standing and had finished reaching into the Steinway to strum its string like a harp. The strumming created an odd atmospheric effect - evoking the sense of someone who had stumbled into a long forgotten garden - and it received a strong reaction.

A round of enthusiastic applause followed the comment and seemed to cover over any awkwardness. But I think that it was very cool that this music received such a strong reaction. The audience of about 200 people in Lincoln Hall's auditorium had been following the second half of Chan's program very intently. This program featured new compositions of Asian composers (all living)and the music evoke a lot of Asian influence in the structure of the harmonics.

One piece, "Incarnation II" by Somei Satoh, consisted of closely hue tone clusters that were mostly in the lowered register of the piano. The repetitive playing of the tones caused a lot of overtones in the upper register even though no notes were played in that part of the keyboard.

A piece by Doming Lam perked up everyones ears with its unusual harmonics, and all of the numbers gave a good shape to this program, which Chan gave as a preview of the performance that she will present in Carnegie Hall later this fall.

The first part of the program consisted of works by Bach, Chopin (8 of the 24 preludes), and Busoni's arrangement of Bach's Chaconne in D minor. All of these were played extremely well by Chan - although I think that her interpretation was a little freer with the first three Bach numbers (Prelude in B minor, Sheep May Safely Graze, and Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring).

Rare cooperation between Portland Opera and the Oregon Symphony

As the comment to the previous post noted, Jossie Perez will be singing a selection from Carmen at the Oregon Symphony's Waterfront concert tonight. Perez is a rising star in the opera world, especially noted for her performances of the naughty girl who works in a cigarette factory in Spain and runs around with gypsies who are involved in illegal activities near the border. That's part of the story of Carmen, which the Portland Opera will be performing later in the month. I'm not crazy about the photo of Perez that Portland Opera is using to promote Carmen, but Perez does have some delicious pics of herself on her website: jossieperez.com.

In any case, I think that this marks the first time in many, many years that someone is appearing in a Portland Opera production and with the Oregon Symphony. I'd like to see more of this kind of thing. It's cross promotion and well worth the effort. And I'd like to see Carlos direct a Portland Opera production some day, too.

Robert Ainsley talks about Carmen

Portland Opera's very talented chorus master Robert Ainsley will give a free lecture about Bizet's Carmen during lunch hour on September 7th in the U. S. Bank Room at the Central Library (801 SW 10th Ave.). It's a free presentation that will include background information about the opera. You'll also be able to to hear some of the musical highlights from the Portland Opera Studio Artists.

Although you may think that you know everything about Carmen, Ainsley will probably give some new tidbits to ponder. These presentations are fun, and they are free!

Reviews of Carlos Kalmar from Chicago and Baltimore

Oregon Symphony's artistic director is a busy fellow during the summer. He has a full schedule at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago and does some guest conducting at the Grand Teton Music Festival and with the Baltimore Symphony.

I didn't find an online review of his concert with the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra, but I did find three reiviews (all positive) of Kalmar's conducting in Chicago and Baltimore.

Here's the review by John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-ovn0820carlosaug20,0,4037025.story

Wynne Delacoma of the Chicago Sun-Times nods favorable to Kalmar near the end of her review:
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/music/classical/516801,CST-FTR-grant20.article

Here's the review by Tim Smith in his Baltimore Sun bog (scroll down to the July 27th entry):
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/critics/blog/classical_music/

Sidenote: Smith is the president of the Music Critic Association of North America (of which I am also a member).

Kalmar is back in town next week to lead the Oregon Symphony's Waterfront Festival concert on August 30th.

Music from the Outer Limits - upcoming Free Marz concert

If you want to hear something new and unusual, be sure to attend the upcoming concert by the Free Marz String Trio. Artistic Director Bob Priest has put together a program that will bring the music of the spheres to your ears. Called "Constellations: Recent Music from the Outer Limits . . .," this concert features brand new works by Priest, Darol Anger (who used to play with the Turtle Island String Quartet, Marylhurst Professor John Paul, Thomas Daniel Schlee (an Austrian composer), and works you've probably never heard by avant-garde, Greek composer, Iannis Xenakis, and Benjamin Britten.

Members of the Marz String Trio are violinist Ines Voglar, violist Joel Belgique, and cellist Adam Esbensen. All three are also members of the Oregon Symphony.

The concert is free (reputedly underwritten by aliens) and will be presented on Friday, September 28 at 8 pm at the Community Music Center (3350 SE Francis St., Portland). A reception follows the concert.

BTW: last year's concert by the Free Marz Trio was standing room only. So, get there early if you want a seat.

I'll follow up this announcement with an interview with Priest closer to the date of the concert.

Susan Chan gives a preview of her Carnegie Hall recital

Pianist Susan Chan, a relative newcomer on the Portland music scene, will be playing an unusual recital of music from East and West in Carnegie Hall on September 16th. As a preview of this concert, Chan will give the same program on Thursday, August 30th at 7 pm.

Here's her program:

Bach/Siloti - Prelude in B Minor
Bach/Petri - Sheep May Safely Graze
Bach/Kempff - Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
Chopin - Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 28 Nos. 1, 6, 13, 22, 21, 15, 23, 17
Bach/Busoni - Chaconne in D Minor
Doming Lam - Gu-Chu: A Transcription for Piano after the
Fashion of Chin and Pipa (1971)
Moonlight Over Spring River NY Premiere
Chen Yi - Ba Ban (1999)
Somei Satoh - Incarnation II (1978)
Alexina Louie - Scenes from a Jade Terrace (1988) Memories in an Ancient Garden
Warrior

Chan is a member of the music faculty at Portland State University and is a very fine artist who deserves serious consideration by Portland's piano cognoscenti. She has played in Carnegie Hall before - in 2004.

Tickets for the preview concert on August 30th are $20 for adults, $16 for PSUAA members, and $12 for seniors and students.
Faculty, staff and students will be admitted free with a PSU ID. Tickets are on sale at Ticketmaster or the PSU Box Office 503-725-3307

New foursome makes debut

Fourscore, a new quartet of male voices, will make their debut concert on August 25th at The Old Church. The foursome consists of three tenors: Ben Landsverk, Brian Francis, and Stephen Marc Beaudoin,and baritone Ben Kinkley. Their program is called "Elegies and other sad songs" and includes the following pieces:

*Rufus Wainwright - "Pretty Things"
*Franz Schubert - "Das Grab"
*William Byrd - "Wounded I am" and "Delight is Dead"
*Joanna Newsom - "En Gallop"
*Charles Strouse - "Maybe"
*Henry Purcell - selected songs
*Hanns Eisler/Bertolt Brecht - selected songs
*John Dowland - selected songs
*Selected barbershop quartet tunes
*Traditional Irish laments

The concert begins at 9 pm, so you have plenty of time to finish your evening meal. Tickets at the door are $10.

Aerial dance might work well in collaboration

I just published an article about A-WOL Dance Collective's "Art in the Dark" show on livepdx.com. A-WOL specializes in aerial dance and has done very well to build an audience. I think that it would be terrific to see a collaboration between this dance company and a classical music group. Of course, Third Angle and Fear No Music are two groups that might be able to present such a show at a venue like the Wonder Ballroom or perhaps Kaul Auditorium.

Another collaboration that might be fun to see someday is one between the bicycling community and classical music. Perhaps a classical group could offer a program that featured music about motion/wheels/gears etc. Maybe tickets at a discount could be sold to people who agreed to ride their bikes to the concert. I guess it would have to be an afternoon concert and some shelter/security would be necessary to make sure that the bicycles remained dry and returned to the proper owner. In any case, the main thing would be to reach out to the bicycling culture that is gaining momentum.

Seattle Opera soars high with Flying Dutchman

Seattle Opera opened its 44th season on Saturday evening at McCaw Hall with a superb production of Der Fliegende Hollaender (The Flying Dutchman). Anchoring an exceptional cast was Greer Grimsley in the title role and Jane Eaglen as the woman who saves him from the curse of continuously sailing the high seas. Clear and straightforward stage directions by Stephen Wadsworth and a wonderfully evocative stage design by Thomas Lynch (reviving Seattle Opera's 1989 production) were complimented by the strong playing of the orchestra under the baton of Asher Fisch and terrific singing by the chorus.

Grimsley's robust bass-baritone amply rang true through the evening. He could easily throw down the throttle and match the huge and beautiful sound that Eaglen can produce. At one point in the second act, Grimsley was able to transition from a full sound to a hollowed out sound that added to the haunting anguish of his character. Eaglen sounded top notch throughout. She took the last verse of Senta's ballad in a very slow tempo that would've just left most other singers gasping for breath. Over all, it added greatly to the emotion of the story.

Exceptional singing by Jay Hunter Morris as the frustrated lover Erik and Luretta Bybee as the disciplinarian Mary helped to distinguish their characters and propel the opera forward. Daniel Sumegi in the role of ship captain Daland did a fine job, although I'd prefer that he spit out his consonants more often. Jason Collins debut as the Steersman was a bit unsteady. It seemed that he had trouble supporting his voice in the higher register. But perhaps that was his opening night jitters.

The first act opened with a Norwegian trawler stalled in fog-enshrouded waters. As the steersman falls asleep, the Dutchman's galleon, larger and imposing, dramatically draws up alongside.

The second act took place in the large workroom of a house in a coastal village. A large painting of the Dutchman dominated one wall, and the women worked on sewing projects from one end of the room to the other. The scene had an older refrigerator and an odd assortment of mismatched chairs and the women passed around a laptop as they worked and sang.

The third act featured a high sea wall where the sailors and the womenfolk lounged around. The ships were docked behind the wall, making an effective backdrop for the last part of the opera. Here Wadsworth's directions moved a lot of people around, but it wasn't too much, and they all effectively helped to communicate the story (as when, for example, the sailors listened for a response from ghostly sailors of the Dutchman's ship).

I thought that the Dutchman's crew could've sang a little louder in order to overwhelm and frighten Daland's sailors in the last act. But both the mens and womens choruses, trained by Beth Kirchhoff, sang outstandingly.

Costumes by Dunya Ramicova were modern except when the Dutchman removed his overcoat to reveal a ship captain's black and gold outfit from a much earlier era.

One of the fun things to notice was the family aspect in this production, because not only were the husband/wife team of Greer Grimsely and Luretta Bybee involved, but also their daughter Emma was one of the supernumeraries. She was the sullen teenager who sympathized with Senta, staring at the Dutchman's picture. The interaction between mother and daughter was fun to watch especially when Mary snatched a cigarette from the teenager and then smoked it herself.

In comparison with Portland Opera's production of the Dutchman earlier this year, I think that Seattle won out. Portland did have a provocative set design, but some of Christopher Alden's stage directions were very unclear and didn't help us to understand the story. Although Richard Paul Fink and Elizabeth Byrne in Portland did an excellent job, I would put the duo of Grimsely and Eaglen against any other. If they keep singing like they did in this production, their artistry will become the stuff of legends.

Ancient Music/Modern Marketing

The folks at Cappella Romana are masters of Byzantine Chant, a musical form that started at around 330 AD and continued past the late middle ages. Yet, executive director, Mark Powell, doesn't believe in old fashioned forms of publicity like town cryers and broadsides. He has led the CR's foray into myspace and the blogosphere with these web sites:

http://www.myspace.com/cappellaromana
and
http://cappellaromana.blogspot.com

I'm thinking that other organization like the Oregon Symphony and Portland Opera will be taking advantage of these venues soon, too. In the meantime, kudos to Powell and CR.

Arsis Youth Handbell Ensemble

A top notch group of young handbell ringers from Estonia will be in Portland to perform concerts on August 4 and 5. Here is the schedule for the Arsis Youth Handebell Ensemble:

Sat, Aug 4
Bethel Congregational Church
5150 SW Watson Ave
Beaverton, OR 97005
(503) 646-1191

Sun, Aug 5
First Unitarian Church
1011 SW 12th Avenue
Portland, OR
(503) 228-6389

Greer Grimsley talks about singing and The Flying Dutchman

Greer Grimsley, the terrific bass-baritone who often stars in productions with the Seattle Opera, will be singing the title role in Wagner’s Flying Dutchman. I have heard Grimsley in several Seattle productions: Lohengrin, The Girl of the Golden West, Parsifal, and the Ring Cycle, and in Portland Opera’s Tosca, and have been impressed every time. I talked with him over the phone last week about the Dutchman and singing these big, heavyweight pieces.


How are rehearsals of the Dutchman going?

Grimsley: The rehearsals are going really well. I haven’t done Dutchman with Stephen Wadsworth before, but I find it very interesting, and we are having a great time. I’ve done the role of the Dutchman many times. It was one of the first Wagner works that I’ve stepped into.

How do you learn a role like The Dutchman?

Grimsley: This role fits me like a glove. I don’t have to work around places that cause me difficulty in learning it. In general, you want to allow yourself a least a month to learn a new role, study it and get it into your muscle memory.

The first two times I got to perform Wagner, an angel must have been looking out for me because a friend of mine was running an opera company in Germany and invited me to sing parts of Lohengrin and Dutchman, so that was a great way for me to get into it instead going directly to a staged operatic version. These were concert versions. So, that helped to cement both roles. Later I did my first staged version with Utah Opera.

When you are learning a new role, you are immersed in it. You have to go at it like a sprinter does. You have to choose your sections of music and then go after it for an hour or two to concentrate on it. Then you get some time away and translate the text, research it, work on the difficult passages that are rhythmically challenging. Once you start that, your mind is always there. You are thinking about it for eight hours a day. Vocal coaches help you to shape the music.

So do you sing around the house in full volume? Your wife might not like that.

Grimsley: Fortunately, my wife is a professional singer. Her name is Luretta Bybee, and she was one of the Valkyries in Seattle's last Ring Cycle, and she'll be singing the role of Mary in this production of the Dutchman. Handling Wagner depends a lot on whether you have the natural gifts when you come into it. A lot of it has to do with what you were born with. A big component is breath control which is taxed to the maximum.

But on singing loudly -- once you get to a certain point in study, it’s more about relaxing into your body and allowing natural processes to work.

Is there an aspect of the Dutchman’s character that you try to stress?

Grimsley: Of course the brooding aspect of his character is stressed, but let's not forget about the human aspect of what got him into this predicament. Wadsworth and I agree about that and we are working on it. The Dutchman made the mistake of raising his fist to the heavens and saying that he will round the cape and the Devil damns him to this curse. It’s the story of a sea captain who wants to do the best for his crew and his ship and to get back to port no matter what. There is a human aspect to this. If one of us were a sea captain, we would want to get back to port, to get back to our families, also. You hear that in the first aria that he sings. It’s not just railing, it’s also his vulnerability. You want the audience to care about him. He had a responsibility for the crew who also want to get back to port to see their families.

How did you get started in this business?

Grimsley: It was a series of accidents. I was in drama club, and debate, and band in high school. In my senior year, I wanted to study archeology and was applying to colleges for that. A friend of mine was a character singer at the Met. He taught at my high school and encouraged me to think about music. So I did an audition and was accepted into the the Loyola School of Music in New Orleans. Archeology is a great hobby of mine, and it helps me to research opera. As a senior I thought that I would train classically and then go into musical theater.

Tell us about your work with Jane Eaglen.

Grimsley: Jane and I have known each other for a long time – 16 or 17 years. We were singing at the same time – not together – at Scottish Opera. She is a force of nature.

What do you have coming up for future engagements?

Grimsley: I will sing in New Orleans, Méphistophélès in Faust, and later the Berlioz Requiem in Buenos Aires. Then the Ring Cycle at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. I’m coming back to Portland Opera to do Aida, then in Seattle for Tosca.

Do you have children who are interested following in your footsteps?

Grimsley: My daughter is doing really well with singing in her high school choir. She has a great voice. I’m encouraging her but not pushing her. My parents didn’t push me in any direction, and I've always appreciated that.

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Seattle Opera's The Flying Dutchman runs August 4, 8, 11, 14, 17, 19, 22, and 25 in German with captions in English at McCaw Hall. For tickets, click here.

No dog days of summer at CMNW - part II

Review of Classical Masterpieces - Friday, July 17 at Catlin Gabel School

The music for this concert featured a conservative line-up, because the program consisted of works by Haydn, Mozart, and Mendelssohn. Interestingly enough, Haydn's Passacaglia for violin and viola (arranged by John Halvorsen), which was first up in the concert order, proved to be a challenging and unusual piece. Violinist Elmar Oliveira and cellist Ronald Thomas exchanged the repeating chord pattern with agility and elan. The pizzicati section was very impressive as well. I think that Oliveira landed a little wobbly on the highest note, which was very atypical for him, but that was a very minor flaw in an otherwise impressive performance.

Next on the program came Mozart's Quintet in E-Flat Major for piano and winds, K. 452. Pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, oboist Allan Vogel, clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester, bassoonist Julie Feves, and hornist William Purvis gave this three-movement piece an excellent turn. Their playing was smooth and elegant throughout. Everyone balanced the sound very well, and a highlight was McDermott's hushed sound at the end of the first movement and the winds pushing the music forward on the second movement, encouraging the audience to anticipate the third movement with all of its delightful inventions.

The concert closed with a magnificent performance of Mendelssohn's Trio No. 2 in C Minor for piano, violin, and cello, Op. 66. McDermott, Oliveria, and Thomas just got into a zone with this music.

But before they began playing, a bit of informality ensued. McDermott thought that her colleagues were positioned too far away; so she motioned them to come closer to her. As Oliveira and Tomas scooted closer, Thomas loudly commented "We usually like to make music while we are sitting in the same time zone." That drew lots of chuckles, and Thomas' witty banter might have made the performers loosen up a bit, because the threesome made Mendelssohn sound downright magical. The second movement was achingly lyrical. The fast passages in the third raced by with fingers flying. The audience reacted with pure glee. There were shouts for an encore, but McDermott, Oliveira, and Thomas called it a night. They had left everything on the stage.

Review of Three Serenades, 1782 to 2007 - Saturday, July 28 at Reed College

This concert marked the season finale of Chamber Music Northwest's 37th summer festival, and a near sell-out audience keenly anticipated a new piece by one of classical music's most popular instrumentalists, bassist Edgar Meyer. One of the neat things about Chamber Music Northwest, is that the final concert usually offers a gaggle of musicians. Upholding this tradition, this program featured nine players in the Mozart and Meyer serenades and twelve in the Dvorak. Everyone was ready for a grand time, and everyone delivered.

Mozart's Serenade in C Minor for winds, K. 388 received a masterful rendition by an ensemble that consisted of oboists Allan Vogel and Stephen Taylor, clarinetists Jose Franch-Ballester and David Shifrin, bassoonists Milan Turkovic and Julie Feves, hornists David Jolley and William Purvis, and double bassist Meyer. With veteran virtuoso Vogel in the lead, the ensemble hit a good stride from the get go in the first movement. Of course, part of the success in such a small group is for the musicians to read the eyes and gestures of the leader. Vogel strikes me as someone who might present a problem in that respect, because he tends to squint while he plays - like a fellow who is having problems with his contact lenses. Vogel can maintain a squint while he arches his eyebrows -which he does quite often. In any case, the ensemble had no problem whatsoever in following his directions, because they played impeccably. The burnished sound from the horns was glorious. The light, dance, almost baroque feel of the third movement was superb, and in the fourth movement, Vogel and company played con brio and with gusto, too.

Meyer's Serenade for Double Bass and Wind Octet followed. This four movement piece came across as an enigmatic work that was filled with intriguing jazz-like riffs for the bass. From the outset, the meter constantly seemed to change, and, well, it looked like it might have been a real headache for any player who thought that he was going to come in and coast through some fluffy little number. The wind ensemble consisted of oboies Taylor and Vogel, clarinetists Shifrin and Franch-Ballester, bassoonists Turkovic and Peter Kolkay, and hornists Jolley and Purvis. They all had a real workout.

Meyer can play the bass fiddle like a virtuoso on a violin. He was all over the place, plucking one moment and then noodling around like a crazy man. He seemed to be making a statement that was then commented upon by the wind octet (not necessarily all at once). In the third movement, everyone started out together, but then the sound became strident as if the conversation became an argument. The fourth movement was more uptempo with four heavily accented beats every now and then. The music had lots of tricky stuff throughout; for example, everyone had to play off the beat a lot of the time. Fortunately for Meyer and his music, he played with a veteran group likes a challenge. Meyer did receive a standing ovation. I'm not sure if anyone in the audience got the hang of the piece, but I'm sure that most of us would like to hear it again.

After intermission, a dozen players came out to play Dvorak's Serenade in D Minor for winds, cello, and double bass, Op. 44. The Oregon Symphony's principal hornist, John Cox, joined Taylor, Vogel, Shifrin, Franch-Ballester, Turkovic, Feves, Jolley, Purvis, Thomas, and Meyer to make a splash with this wonderful piece. The playing of Vogel and Shifrin in this number was particularly outstanding. They had a memorable way of trickling down a cascade of scales and diminishing the volume at the same time. Also outstanding was the very expressive playing of Franch-Ballester throughout the piece. He looks like he is in his early 20s, but he plays like someone who has had much, much more experience. At the end, the music lifted the audience to its feet for a rousing ovation.

No dog days of summer at Chamber Music Northwest - Part I

I attended four Chamber Music Northwest concerts and have scribbled the following thoughts - the first two of four reviews:

Review of German and Slavic Melodies - Tuesday, July 17th at Catlin Gabel School

Flutist Tara Helen O'Connor teamed up with cellist Ronald Thomas, and pianist Shai Wosner to begin the concert with Haydn's Trio No. 30 in D Major. The piece seemed to be a polite conversation between friends. The talk was light and playful, especially in the first and third movements with poignant pauses that created the sense of suspension, but at the same time added to the forward momentum of the piece. All of the artists deserve credit for keeping their composure and focus while someone's hearing added a persistent high pitch to the mix at the end of the first movement and for most of the second. The sound also undoubtedly spoiled the recording that was going on.

Next on the program came Prokofiev's Sonata in C Major for two violins, Op. 56. This rare gem received a terrific interpretation by Robert McDuffie and Amy Schwartz Moretti. The music contains all sorts of emotional mood swings that take you all over a large soundscape and the performers need to have a sort of mind meld to pull if off. McDuffie and Schwartz Moretti played brilliantly to master the difficult hurdles with meter, tempo, and volume. Sometimes they seemed to dance together on a hire wire, then jump into a kayak and plunge down some rapids, then pause in a meadow to admire a sweeping view. They made the music exciting and intriguing and worth looking for a recording of it during intermission, which followed right after they received tumultous applause from a wowed audience.

In the second half of the program, the audience got a healty dose of comfort food with the playing of Dvorak's Quintet in A Major for piano and Strings, Op. 81. Violist Scott Lee joined McDuffie, Schwartz Moretti, Wosner, and Thomas to make a dynamic performance of this beloved work. Everyone played outstandingly, but Wosner's wonderful playing of the piano part added a extra dash of magic. The audience practically jumped to their feet at the end to give a standing ovation.

Review of Lyrical Contrasts - Thursday, July 19 at Reed College

Opening with Tomas Svoboda's "Prayer," this concert made an intense, intimate, and sharply focused statement that earned the rapt attention of the audience. Written for string quartet and clarinent, Svoboda's music did sculpt a prayer. The piece started out very quietly, with two violins (played by Theodore Arm and Amy Schwartz Moretti) playing a sustained tone that grew slowly in a sort of cluster as the viola (Toby Appel) and cello (Fred Sherry) joined in. Above this blur of sound, clarinetist David Shifrin became sort of a free spirit. It was like a bird flying about on a windy day or perhaps like a series of hopes expressed when one launches a prayer. At any rate this first part of the piece came to a thoughtful end when the clarinet and the first violin ended on the same note. In the next section, the strings became more active, establishing a barnyard thrumming that the cello accented. Now and then the cello made more of an individual statement, and the clarinet would penetrate the layered soundscape with a tone that pierced through and went over the top of everyone. Then the music became more dissonant and the pitch climbed higher and higher, creating tension, but it all stopped and was followed by a complete, gradual meltdown. In the third section, the strings returned to another closely hued tone cluster and the clarinet took the lead with another free spirited foray until the music died back down to the quietness and solitude in which it began.

Although the music ended on a subdued note, the audience didn't leap to its feet, but everyone did give the performance a standing ovation that was heartfelt. All of the players brought passion to this music. I don't know where the beat was during all the sustained chords (at the beginning and end of the piece), so it was amazing that everyone played in sync. This music calls for a superb clarinetist of Shifrin's caliber who has impeccable control and artistry wrapped into one. I think that this piece has legs. It's terrific, and I would like to hear it again.

Kuhlau's Quintet in D Major for flute and strings, Op. 51, No 1, followed Svoboda's gem, and although it was delightfully played by flutist Tara Helen O'Connor, violinist Daniel Phillips, violists Appel and Scot Lee, and cellist Thomas, this music just sounded pedestrian next to the intimate beauty of Svoboda's. All of the musicians played the Kuhlau number elegantly, and they easily commanded the changes in tempo and volume, but the piece was just too charming. Every time Kuhlau worked up the nerve to light a fire for the musicians, he'd throw water on it, keeping the music tame and somewhat predictable.

Fortunately, after intermission, we got a full-body experience with Mendelssohn's Octet in E-Flat Major for strings, Op. 20. In the hands of violinists Elmar Oliveira, Phillips, Schwartz Moretti, and Arm were joined by violists Appel and Lee, and cellists Thomas and Sherry, this octet was a pure pleasure to hear and see. With one quartet next to the other the music making sometimes resembled a volleyball game. Cellist Thomas could post a note for one of his teammates who would smash it across to the other side. That side would the dig out the note and send it back over. Then it seemed that all of the players would mix up things and play with a different foursome. Thomas and Sherry played some wickedly fast passages perfectly together in the third movement. Then in the fourth movement Oliveira in a take no prisoners mood, kicked the tempo up another notch, and at the very end everyone in the audience just jumped out of their seats. It was thrilling!

Two more opera reviews

Some of my reviews of Portland Opera productions recently appeared in two magazines. My review of Norma appeared in the June issue of Opera magazine and my review of The Flying Dutchman was published in the August issue.

I also published a review of The Magic Flute in the summer issue of Opera Canada.

Unfortunately, you can't read either magazine online, although both have web sites. The Portland Central Library does carry Opera.

Need a stick?

Alan Pierce, who recently retired after playing 45 years in the brass section of the Oregon Symphony, makes terrific custom-made batons. (I just purchased one as a gift for a friend of mine.) Some of the conductors who have wielded Pierce's sticks are Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, Itzak Pearlman, James DePreist, Carlos Kalmar, Murry Sidlin, and James Paul. Check out the Pierce Batons web site for more information.

Bobble-headed conductor

While attending the Oregon Bach Festival, I purchased a bobble head version of Helmuth Rilling, music director of the festival. It looks like this:



Rilling and the the festival leadership must have a good sense of humor. He has a baton in one hand and a cigar in the other!

On the serious side, the OBF just reported a gross sales of $420,000 at the box office, which represents a growth of 16% over the previous year. Overall, the festival goers added an estimated $6 million to Eugene's economy through sightseeing, hotels, meals, and shopping (including sales of the bobble-headed Rilling). This report is not yet posted in the press release area of the OBF's web site, but it should be soon.

A couple of recently published reviews

My review of concert by Wu Man and the Daedalus Quartet (part of Chamber Music Northwest's spring concert season) appeared in the July/August edition of the American Record Guide. This issue includes a light assessment of 13 American orchestras (the Oregon Symphony is not in this group), a variety of symphony and opera reviews, and a cornucopia of CD reviews.

I also published a review of the Oregon Bach Festival's Honegger "King David" production in today's edition of the Eugene Register Guard. You can read the review here.

Portland Opera on KBPS

KBPS (89.9 FM) will broadcast Portland Opera's productions from last season. Here is the schedule:

July 21 Faust (Gounod)
July 28 Norma (Bellini)
August 4 The Return of Ulysses (Monteverdi)
August 11 The Flying Dutchman (Wagner)
August 18 The Magic Flute (Mozart)

These broadcasts will be followed by CD recordings in preparation of the upcoming season:

August 25 Carmen (Bizet)
September 1 Cinderella (La Cenerentola) (Rossini)
September 8 Rodelinda (Handel)
September 15 Albert Herring (Britten)
September 22 Aida (Verdi)

Portland Piano International offers 2 for 1 bargain!

Portland Piano International is offering a 2 for 1 special for its Monday night series for new subscribers only. New subscribers can get two tickets for a half series (3 concerts) or a full series (6 concerts). This offer is not mentioned on the PPI web site, but Lori Fitch, PPI's operations manager, told me that you just have to call and mention the offer, or print out the order form from the web site and write 2 for 1 on it. The folks at PPI will take care of the rest.

PPI is offering a stellar lineup with Andre Watts, Rachel Cheung, Jon Kimura Parker, Michael Roll, Angela Hewitt, and Marc-Andre Hamelin.

Note that the Angela Hewitt concert is on a Tuesday rather than a Monday. This is because she will be giving a lecture and a master class on Monday evening.

Article about the Oregon Bach Festival

I've published an article about the Oregon Bach Festival in Crosscut, a new online newspaper that covers issues pertaining to the Pacific Northwest. The article describes the festival, some of the major players, and contains a couple concert reviews.

Summer Sings! - your summer vocal challenge

For the nominal price of 5 bucks, you can flex your vocal chords with some the the best singers in the metropolitan area. The Portland Symphonic Choir is inviting all singers to join in their annual Summer Sings event. For a nominal price $5 per person or $15 per family (for each rehearsal), you can brush up your Handel (Messiah), Haydn (Creation), Brahms (Requiem), and/or Mendelssohn (Elijah). You don't have to bring a score with you, because the PSC will provide a copy.

Here are the particulars:

July 11 Handel's Messiah conductor: Steven Zopfi
First Congregational Church 1126 SW Park

July 18 Haydn's Creation conductor: Sharon Paul
Southminster Presbyterian 12250 SW Denney Rd. Bvtn

July 25 Brahms Requiem (English) conductor: Stephen Coker
St.Andrew Catholic Church 806 NE Alberta St.

Aug. 1 Mendelssohn's Elijah conductor: Bruce Browne
First Congregational Church 1126 SW Park

Since its inception two years ago, Summer Sings! has been a real hit. Apparently, there are a lot of singers who want to get into the action and improve or maintain their skills.

For more information, see http://www.pschoir.org/summer.html.

Midori at Oregon Bach Festival

I wrote a review of the Oregon Bach Festival's all-Mendelssohn concert for the Eugene Register-Guard. Violin virtuoso Midori performed the violin concerto and Jeffrey Kahane conducted the Symphony No. 5. Both pieces were interpreted terrifically. But the orchestra's performance of the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream was not up to par.

Drew McManus reveals all - salaries of music directors, executive directors and more

If you want to know how much the music directors of major league and minor league orchestral organizations make, then you should take a look at Drew McManus' blog, Adaptistration. For example at the top of the pile among music director, you'll find Loren Maazel checking in a $2,638,940. For the executive directors Deborah Borah of the Los Angeles Philharmonic pulled in a cool $1,325,542.

The report also covers base pay for musicians, orchestra budgets, and percentage of increases or decreases over the previous year.

Read for yourselves...
Music Director compensation

Executive Director compensation

The compensation for music directors of regional orchestras is here.

The compensation for executive directors of regional orchestras is here.

Portland Youth Philharmonic gives free concert before its Asian tour

Catch a free concert with the Portland Youth Philharmonic under the direction of its outgoing conductor Mei-Ann Chen in Pioneer Courthouse Square on Thursday, the 28th at noon. It's called the Bon Voyage Concert because the orchestra will take off on a tour of Taiwan and Korea this weekend. In Taiwan, the ensemble will play concerts in Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Taipei. In Korea, they will perform in Ulsan and Seoul. The Taiwan leg of the trip will mark a splendid homecoming for Chen, who is a native of that country.

After this tour, Chen leaves Portland to begin her duties with the Atlanta Symphony, where she will be the assistant conductor. The PYP will rotate four conductors during its 84th season. The first concert in November will be led by PSU's Ken Selden. Chen returns in December to conduct the Concert-at-Christmas. Alistair Willis will direct the March concert, and former PYP conductor Huw Edwards returns to wield the baton in the season-ending concert in May.

A short profile of Gregory Vajda in the Budapest Sun

I wrote a short profile of Gregory Vajda for the Budapest Sun and it's in today's online version. Vajda is conducting the Budapest Concert Orchestra MÁV at the National Museum this weekend. Since The Budapest Sun is Hungary's English language newspaper. Vajda is the resident conductor of the Oregon Symphony.

Columbia Symphony makes an historic concert

Portland's Columbia Symphony Orchestra will make an historic debut in the Gerding Theater in the renovated Armory building this Saturday evening at 7:30 pm. The CSO will become the first symphonic group to play in the new theater and they will be the first orchestra to play in the Armory since the days before 1920 when the touring orchestras used the big building for their concerts. The New York Symphony (predecessor to the New York Philharmonic), the Chicago Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra played in the Armory to very large crowds.

Conductor Huw Edwards leads the Columbia Symphony in the upcoming performance, which will be a celebration of the ensemble's 25th year. In this day of struggling budgets for orchestra, that's a good reason to celebrate.

"We are intrigued to hear how the theater will sound," said Edwards. "It’s a great chance for us to replay some of the pieces from the season. And the Pearl is a burgeoning and happening place. Lots of people like to walk there. We want to tap into the downtown , urban style."

The program features the March King Cotton by Sousa, a portion of Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony, the Brahms’ Tragic Overture, Bach's "Concerto for Oboe and Violin" with soloists Brad Hochhalter (oboe) and Dawn Carter (violin), and concludes with Rossini’s William Tell Overture.

The concert is a benefit for the South West Music School, which has been helping to support music education in the public schools for the past 12 years. Deb Postlewait is the new managing director of the South West Music School, and she is looking forward to this concert collaborating with the Columbia Symphony in the future.

"Kids need to have a goal beyond taking lessons," said Postlewait. "This concert is an excellent way for them to see and hear the results of years of study."

Postlewait and members of the South West Music School will be selling $50 raffle tickets at the concert. The winner will receive two airline tickets for a round trip within the continental US, and only 100 tickets will be sold.

Tickets for the concert cost $25 apiece for adults and $10 for students.

Chamber Music Northwest starts its 37th season

I just published a preview of Chamber Music Northwest's summer festival in livePDX.com. The preview includes a brief interview of composer Tomas Svoboda. One of his works will be given its US premiere in one of the festival concerts. Here's a link to the article.

Adventurous programming award for PSU orchestra

The PSU Symphony Orchestra received the highest award for collegiate orchestras for its adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) . Coming in behind PSU were the Peabody Symphony Orchestra and the Standford Symphony Orchestra. You can read all about it here.

Kudos are in order for, Ken Selden, who took over conducting the orchestra this year. As an example of how Selden has set tempo for this ensemble, the final concert of the season featured works by Silvestre Revueltas, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Felix Mendelssohn. PSU concerto competition winner Eric Allen played Shostakovich’s virtuosic Cello Concerto.

Go West Alex Ross! Go West!

If you haven't read the most recent article by Alex Ross, the classical music critic who writes for The New Yorker, you should take note of his most recent piece, On the Road. In this article, Ross hits the highway to hear three orchestras that do not make tours to Carnegie Hall: the Indianapolis Symphony, the Nashville Symphony, and the Alabama Symphony. With his characteristic insight Ross writes positively about each ensemble, reviewing three concerts in two days and concluding that "Great performances can happen anytime skilled players respond with unusual fervor to a conductor whose vision is secure."

It would be great to have Ross come to Portland to hear the Oregon Symphony. I think that he would have some encouraging things to say.

Composer Kevin Walczyk wins AMC grant

Today, the American Music Center gave Oregon composer Kevin Walczyk a monetary award to help him cover the performance costs of his recent piece Concerto Gaucho. The AMC awarded a total of $35,050 to 25 composers; so we're not talking about a big pile of money here. If the money was evenly split, then each composer received about $1,400. But hey, JS Bach received nada for his Brandenburg Concertos.

So congratulations to Dr. Walczyk, who teaches music at Western Oregon University. Walczyk's work has been performed by many orchestras and ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, and the Third Angle New Music Ensemble. His Concerto Gaucho was premiered by the Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra in May at the Kiev World Music Festival.

The AMC was founded in 1939 by Aaron Copeland and Howard Hanson and a number of other composers to help promote new music.

Ruddigore at Mock's Crest tickles the ancestral funny bone

The Mock's Crest production of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Ruddigore" wittily pokes fun at etiquette, ancestor worship (in a loose sense), mariners, and our innermost compunctions (distress over finding the right partner, what the neighbors might think, etc.). The performance I attended on Saturday night featured a strong cast who knew how to have fun with a silly story, yet it was the inventive direction of Kristine McIntyre that made this production come to life. The confines of the small stage at the Hunt Theater Center seemed to release her creative juices as bridesmaids, soldiers, noblemen, their ancestors, and a host of others strutted around. And amidst the commotion, no one fell into the front row of the audience.

The action takes place at the Ruddigore Castle in the year 1820. A bevy of bridesmaid ooze charm and beauty as they impatiently wait to honor the someone who is about to get married. Anne McKee Reed, as the fetching village maiden, Rose Maybud, is spot on. She refers to her book of etiquette whenever she needs advice (for example, a lady can't speak until she has first been spoken to and it is most unladylike to hint). This hinders her from communicating with the bashful Robin Oakapple, played by Thomas Prislac Jr., who is in love with her.

Prislac gives an outstanding performance as the country bumpkin who is actually an aristocrat with an unbearable curse. Prislac has an resonant baritone that is easy to hear, his diction is solid, and it didn't matter how fast the patter songs few by, he remarkably kept apace of the wickedly fast tempi.

David Simmons in the role of Richard Dauntless (Robin's foster brother who has spent 10 years at sea) also did an exceptional job. Simmons did a whirl of sailor jigs and poses all over the stage and sang with aplomb. In one or two numbers, he constantly switched from being on his knees or supporting someone resting on his knees. Needless to say, his athleticism is tour de force.

Alexis Hamilton made an ultra-dramatic entry as Mad Margaret and effectively used over-the-top gestures to generate waves of laughter. Hamilton skillfully used her beautiful and powerful mezzo to convince us that she was out of her mind after having been refused in marriage by one of the evil Ruddigore barons.

As Sir Despard Murgatroyd of Ruddigore, John Vergin, looked sort of like Hector Berlioz with his pile of wild hair, Vergin has an incredible sense of comic timing, and he brought down the house when he was pair in a two-step dance with Hamilton. He was less success with his patter delivery, but that should only improve through the run.

Jeffrey Beruan sang and acted superbly as Sir Roderic Murgatroyd. He easily altered between an almost overpowering voice of the ancestor who can revel in placing an ancestral curse to a very smooth and tender voice of the ancestor who is still in love with Dame Hannah, played wonderfully by Beth Madsen-Bradford.

Jasmine Presson as Zorah (a professional bridesmaid) and Brian Bartley as Old Adam Goodheart (Robin's servant) were top notch. I liked how the group of ancestors gave Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd (formerly Robin Oakapple) the finger (index finger) when they were putting the family hex on him.

The Empire era costumes designed by Sue Bonde matched the black and white, Edward Gorey-inspired scenery - created by Lawrence Larsen - perfectly. The choreography of John Szenszen was remarkably entertaining.

Conductor Roger O. Doyle relied on con brio tempi to keep everything moving along. It's uncanny how the cast can follow him, because he conducts from a loft at the rear of the stage, and they have their backs to him. But that is just part of the magic of this production.

Economic impact of the arts in Portland!

Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett in Crosscut reports that $318 million of economic activity are generated by the arts in Portland. She found this tally in a study recently released by Americans for the Arts, a non profit organization dedicated to "advancing the arts in America."

To quote Hartnett's article:

"The study this week by Americans for the Arts found that the arts in metro Seattle generate $330 million of economic activity a year. Well, if that's a bunch of hooey, Portland's hooey is every bit as impressive, maybe more so considering it's a smaller place: $318 million a year changes hands in Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties courtesy of paintings, performances, and other pastimes. And that doesn't include tickets, money spent on dress and painful shoes, bohemian-black separates, or parking citations."

There's more information in Hartnett's article - with links to the study and to the local groups that are trumpeting this info. Those of us involved in the arts know how valuable the arts are! Now we've got some data to back it up. And it's interesting to note that we are on the level with Seattle, which I thought spends a heck of a lot more on arts than we do.

Several critiques of what I heard at Spoleto USA

While in Charleston last week, I took in a production of Kurt Weill's opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, two chamber music concerts, a symphony concert featuring works by Ravel and Brahms, and The Constant Wife, a theater piece by Somerset Maugham.

The first performance I experienced (May 30th) was Mahagonny at the Sotille Theatre, which seats 800. Spoleto brought this production of Mahagonny from Opera de Lausanne, and Spoleto's charismatic music director Emmanuel Villaume conducted both productions. Villaume and his forces did well to conquer this challenging work, which contains a flurry of scenes changes, jabs and uppercuts at our capitalistic society, and artists who are equally adept at singing and acting.

The star of the show was Richard Brunner in the role of Jimmy Mahoney. Brunner's easily projected his voice over the orchestra and could throttle it back when needed to blend with the other singers. His diction was superb and his presence commanding -- even when he hung lifeless in the last act.

As the prostitute Jenny Hill, Tammy Hensrud sang strongly but needed more bite to create a more compelling character. Karen Huffstodt's Leokadja Begbick had plenty of verve, but Huffstodt's vibrato was out of control.

Beauregard Palmer made an outstanding Fatty, one of Begbick's con men. Timothy Nolen adroitly created the other con man, Trinity Moses, but Nolen couldn't always be heard when the orchestra played loudly. As Alaska Wolf Joe, Kirk Eichelberger displayed a beautiful bass baritone voice and was totally convincing. John Fanning used his big baritone to great effect as the avuncular yet unfeeling Moneybags Billy.

The cardboard-like cartoon cutouts of a an old truck, an ocean liner, and the hotel facade crisply defined the transitory location of Mahagonny, the city of gold. The disco ball and loud, clown-like costumes infused the story with a garish atmosphere. Lighting by Christophe Forey was top notch, and directions by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser were superb.

The orchestra played at a high level throughout, but some of the tempi seemed to drag. For example, Villaume took the "Alabama Song" at a leisurely pace. This took some momentum away from the production, but all in all, it was a winner.

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The following day, I heard two chamber music concerts at the Dock Street Theatre, which has a seating capacity of 436. Each concert lasted about 75 minutes, depending upon how long pianist and emcee Charles Wadsworth chose to speak. Wadsworth's charming personality and witty commentary add a dash of spice to each program. He is a necessary component, announcing each program from the stage. That is, attendees are not given a list of what is to be played or who is performing. This style of presentation gives the concert a carefree and impromptu ambiance. Oh, in the lobby there's a small blackboard (or greenboard) with the selections written in chalk. Unless you scribble that on a sheet of paper or into your Blackberry, you must listen up to what Wadsworth says.

The 11 am concert on May 31 featured a variety of musicians and works. The first piece was Debussy's Première Rhapsodie, arranged by clarinetist Todd Palmer. Joining Palmer were flutiest Tara Helen O'Connor, harpist Catrin Finch, bassist Edward Allman, and the members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Palmer guided this piece with silky smooth playing, and the ensemble captured the spirit of Debussy with evocative phrasing and a lush sound. It was outstanding.

Next, soprano Courtenay Budd sang lulabies by Dvorák ("Ukolébavka") and by Canteloube ("Bresairola"), which she has recorded in a recently released CD entitled "Sleep is behind the door" (the proceeds of which will benefit disaster relief). For the Dvorák number, Budd teamed up with Wadsworth. For the Canteloube piece, she was accompanied by O'Connor, violinist Daniel Phillips, and cellist Christopher Costanza of the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Both pieces were exquisite. It didn't matter if you knew what Budd was singing, she instinctively seems to be able to draw an audience into the realm of each lullaby.

Before the St. Lawrence String Quartet launch into Schumann's String Quartet No. 2 in F major, Wadsworth teased violinist Geoff Nuttall about his fashionable gray shoes and his second-hand clothing. But after the laughter died down, Nuttall and his colleagues played the heck out of this pieces, adding fine nuances in phrasing, volume, and rhythm. They were completely together, playing cleanly, crisply, and artistically.

Of special interest during the SLSQ's performance was the super animated style of Nuttall. He looks like a nervous cat or someone who is desperately trying to control his bladder. He'll raise one foot then the other, arch his back, put his body in all sorts of contortions, and all the while he gets a perfect sound. It looks impossible!

The concert finished with an octet version (again by Palmer) of Carl Maria von Weber's Invitation to the Dance. Besides Palmer, ensemble consisted of O'Conner (who doubled on the piccolo), Finch, Allman, and the SLSQ. Palmer's delightful arrangement received a wildly enthusiastic ovation from the audience, and everyone left the theater in high spirits.

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At 1 pm, the same day, I returned to the Dock Street Theatre to hear another chamber music concert. The program began with Wadsworth, and cellist Andres Díaz accompanying Budd in works by Handel and Allesandro Scarlatti. The selections were "Tone sanft," from Handel's Alexander's Feast, and "Sono guerriera ardita," an aria from one of Scarlatti's operas. Again Budd sang brilliantly, and her bright voice was matched beautifully by her colleagues.

Daniel Phillips and pianist Wendy Chen followed with a performance of Dvorák's Four Romantic Pieces (Opus 75). Phillips and Chen played terrifically -- as if they had been performing together since childhood. Well we know that couldn't have happened because Phillips was a soloist at Spoleto USA in 1977 and Chen was just a toddler at that time.

Chen, Díaz, and violinist Chee-Yun ended the concert with a wonderful performance of Schubert's Piano Trio No. 1, in B-Flat. I thought that Díaz might have had a problem with a couple of notes, but that didn't disturb the over-all effect of this masterpiece.

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Again the same evening I heard Emmanuel Villaume conduct the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra in a concert of Ravel and Brahms. The program was played without intermission, so it began at 8 pm and ended shortly after 9 pm, allowing concert goers to end a bit more of the evening than they would normally expect.

The festival orchestra is composed of very accomplished young musicians. It looked as if no one was older than 25 or so. In any case, everyone was bowing furiously when I took my seat about 10 minutes before the concert began. That the orchestra played an extra Tribute concert to Menotti (Spoleto's founder who died in February) may have resulted in reduced rehearsal time.

However, when Villaume took his place on the podium, the musicians were ready. They opened the concert with Ravel's Ma Mère l'oye (Mother Goose) Suite. Everyone excelled at this piece, but the concertmaster, the principal violist, and the principal clarinetist were outstanding. (I couldn't find their names listed anywhere.) Also, the brass section and the woodwind section were radiant.

The performance of Brahms' Symphony No. 4 seemed to start a little slow out of the gate but surprisingly gained a lot of momentum and ended triumphantly. Some of the ends of phrases didn't seem quite as crisp as they should have been, but Villaume energetic leadership captured the ensemble's imagination and put a smile of the lips of the audience at the end.

The beep beep beep of a truck that was backing up in the street outside the concert hall marred several soft and delicate minutes of the Ravel. Unfortunately, one of the walls of the Sotille leads directly to the street. There is no buffer to loud street noise. I thought that I heard a police siren at the beginning of the fourth movement of the Brahms, but whatever I heard passed by quickly.

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On Friday, June 1st, I saw an incredible production of The Constant Wife in a production by The Gate Theatre of Dublin, Ireland. This play (written by W. Somerset Maugham) explore the problem of infidelity in humorous and thought provoking way. The cast was very strong, but it was the over-the-top performance of Simon Coates who puts the play into outer orbit. As the non-monogamous husband, John Middleton, Simon jumps around like someone who is coming out of his skin when he finds out this his wife is going to assert her economic and sexual independence. But Simon does it in such a funny and convincing way that he wins over the audience, and at the same time, he delivers his lines perfectly. I would like to see the Oregon Shakespeare Festival take on this play some day in the future.

Reporting on the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina

I spent a few days last week at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina where air conditioning is state of the art. The Festival, now in its 31st year runs from May 25th to June 10th, presents about 150 performances involving opera, chamber music, symphonic music, theater, world music, dance, jazz, and the visual arts. It's sort of like Charleston cuisine that features some grits in every dish, only in this case, Spoleto offers an artistic experience for everyone in the space of 17 days.

I was in Charleston during this time in order to attend a music critics conference. I'm a member of the Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA), which consists mainly of newspaper and magazine critics, and we can obtain press tickets to a number of events. I heard two chamber music concerts, an opera, a symphony concert, and a play.

You can get a serious dose of culture during the festival, because that is part of its intention. The critics were treated to an hour-long discussion with Nigel Redden, general director of the festival. He told us that the budget of this year's festival is $7.5 million. Wow! That is quite a pile for a city that only has 120,000 residents and a metropolitan area of less than 500,000. Redden said that $2000,000 in funding for the festival comes the City of Charleston and another $800,000 from corporations. I'm not sure where the remaining $6.5 million comes from, but a hefty amount is from ticket sales which has been trending steadily upward for the past seven years. I assume that the state of South Carolina ponies up some cash and perhaps some other governmental agencies and an endowment figure into the final tally as well.

Redden mentioned that coming up with the artistic schedule each year is something "like making sausage." There are many variables to consider and sometimes an invitee will cancel and that causes the management to scramble. Redden did rail against the current visa process for artists who are foreigners. "The visa process is out of control," he told us. "It's a big hassle to comem to the US. It's very expensive and complicated. For example, if you need to use premium processing to speed things up, that costs $1,000. Getting artists from some parts of the world is a nightmare, because some nations are considered terrorist nations, and if an artist comes from that country, then it's..."

Regarding the attendance figures, Redden said that 60% of the attendees come from outside the Charleston area. Dock Street Theatre, which holds about 460 people, will close down after this year's festival in order to undergo a multitude of repairs, so the festival management will hopefully have Memminger Auditiorium, which is undergoing a total restoration process, ready in some form or fashion to take up the slack.

As general director of festival, Redden is obliged to attend a lot of parties. "I went to 45 parties in 17 days," he mentioned. "I'm sacrificing my liver for the arts." Redden is also the general director of Lincoln Center Festival, so his liver surely undertakes serious challenges in NYC as well.

The success of Spoleto Festival USA makes me wonder what Portland could do. We have a much larger city and metro area. We have access to more money. A collaborative festival of this kind would really help to boost Portland. But it would probably take a big name with a big vision to kick things off. Spoleto Festival USA started in 1977 because of the effort of Gian Carlo Menotti, and has survived some ups and down because of Redden who rejoined the festival in 1995.

Beethoven's 9th with the PSC and the PCO

The Portland Symphonic Choir teams up with the Portland Chamber Orchestra for an evening of Beethoven at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall this Friday, June 9th at 7:30. I think that this is the choir's first collaboration with the PCO in many, many years, and it should be an excellent concert with Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and his 9th Symphony on the same ticket.

A Conversation with Robert Kyr

Last week, I talked with Robert Kyr about the recent performance by the Oregon Symphony of his 12th Symphony, his composers symposium at the Oregon Bach Festival, and about his next work. I started out by asking him of his impression of the performance last week.

"I really think that the Oregon Symphony is phenomenal," said Kyr enthusiastically. "It’s in the top 10 orchestras of the US. I have no doubt about saying that because within the course of a year I do a lot of traveling and get to hear a lot of orchestras around the country. In my mind the Oregon Symphony easily compares with the top 10 orchestras in the US. And Carlos Kalmar is one of the finest conductors today."

"The Schubert Unfinished… you’ll never hear it performed better than the way the Oregon Symphony did," added Kyr. "A lot of orchestras will just bow and blow through it. They won’t give it the sort of weight and expansiveness that is part of its nature. The second movement is rarely as serene as it’s intended to be. This performance had everything. It was just phenomenal. The way the second movement unfolded and the each time the beautiful solo line came back. The oboe solo was just exquisite. Just the right tempo. The relationship between the solo and the orchestra was incredible. The conductor knows pacing and drama and knows what’s appropriate for any given movement. If you consider the sound that he was able to evoke from the orchestra in the Schubert, then my piece, and finally the Strauss. Each piece is very, very different. That’s the mark of a great orchestra with a great conductor: each piece has its own world. Stylistically, each piece really shines. There were connections such as the themes of conflict and reconciliation between those three pieces and he brought them out, too. I was thrilled about the performances of all the pieces every evening."

Kyr founded the Oregon Bach Festival Composer’s Symposium in 1994, and it has been an extremely successful program.

"We’ve had many wonderful composers in residence," said Kyr. "Our first one was Arvo Part. That was a very special situation. We had a translator from Estonia for him. He rarely does symposiums. He felt at home and comfortable. The symposium forms a community. People work well together under a spirit of cooperation. He spoke for over two hours and took question. His wife was there and two of his kids as well. Everything he said related to music had a poetic and philosophical to it. We also have had John Harbison, Judith Weir (from Scotland), Lou Harrison, George Crumb – it was during his 75th birthday and we celebrated that with 13 pieces commissioned in his honor – Murray Schafer from Canada (he had a lot to say about music and education), and Veljo Tormis – theme was conflict and reconciliation. Tormis spoke about the struggles of his own country and the role of music during the revolution One of his pieces is God Protect Us From War. That's one of his finest pieces. He is one of the greatest choral composers."

"This year, we’ve invited Martin Bresnick, professor of music at the Yale School of Music, to be our composer in residence, and Lisa Moore as our artist in residence," added Kyr. "She is the pianist in Bang in a Can. Her concerts are legendary. Bresnick and Moore are husband and wife."

"The premise for this summer is making music together," explained Kyr. "We are trying out a new model this year, inviting composers, composer/performers, and performers. They will work in collaboration with the composer in residence and the artist in residence. There is a whole new layer of activity that is performance based. We’ve got the largest number of applicants (over 130) for 55 places, and people are still calling. There are master classes of all sorts and Lisa will be performing four new works by participants. Three wild nights improv cafes. Participants are bringing all of the instruments that they play. So this will have notated compositions and improvisation. Also a composer’s gamelan concert. So many people have signed up for it that I’ve split it up into three groups. We're calling it the "Gamelan der Tausend." Each is composing a short piece for gamelan. Composers are encouraged to combine any instrument they would like with gamelan."

Somehow Kyr still finds time to compose.

"My next big project is an hour-long piece called A Time for Life," explained Kyr, "which will be performed in November in Portland by Cappella Romana. It’s on the theme of the environment. I’m creating the text myself from source texts. One of the source texts is an orthodox service for the environment. A monk from Mt. Athos was a wonderful poet on spiritual topics. He was commissioned to create this service in the 1960s. I’ll also use prayers and invocations from around the world. I’m creating a musical drama that will use the entire space of the hall. The audience is inside the piece. There is no outside. No passive spectator is allowed."

Keeping up with Gregory Vajda

I had coffee the other day with Gregory Vajda, the resident conductor of the Oregon Symphony, and found out that he's a busy fellow. He'll be conducting the donor's appreciation concert this Friday and extra concert at George Fox University in Newberg.

On June 16th he'll conduct the Texas Festival Orchestra at the Round Top Festival in Round Top, Texas. The program will feature the US premier of Vajda's Duevoe as well as Franz Liszt's Les Preludes, Symphonic Poem and Bela Bartok’s Bluebeard's Castle with soprano Krisztina Szabo and baritone Istvan Kovacs. We heard Szabo sing a few Handel arias with the Oregon Symphony last year, and she was fabulous.

At the end of June, Vajda leads the Budapest Concert Orchestra MÁV at the National Museum in a concert consisting of Weber's Second Symphony, Haydn's Horn Concerto and the Schumann’s First Symphony. Then on July 11th he'll lead the Grant Park Music Festival's orchestra in a concert with gypsy violinist Roby Lakatos.

"Roby Lakatos is the most amazing violinist," added Vajda. "He is short and stocky with a mustache like Salvador Dali's. He’s a Hungarian gypsy. Joshua Bell loves to play with him. He can play for three hours straight and now break out in a sweat. He has a gypsy band that can go back and forth in styles: gypsy, jazz, Serbian folk music, classical – it’s just the easiest thing in the world for him. He makes it look likes it’s the easiest thing on earth. He plays to perfection. It’s just clean and clear and no mistakes and no limits."

Based on Vajda's comments, I had to take a look at a couple of video clips on Lakatos' web site, and he and his playing are just the way that Vajda described him, but even better. Check it out!

Vajda will conduct the Oregon Symphony in several concerts in Portland's parks in August, culminating with the Waterfront Concert at the end of the month.

Maybe he'll find time to compose another piece along the way.

Oregon Symphony keeps getting better and better

The Oregon Symphony ended its season with an impressive concert on Sunday evening, displaying some terrific playing in all parts of the orchestra. The orchestra performed Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor (aka the "Unfinished"), a world premiere of Robert Kyr's Symphony No 12, "Armed Man Variations, and Richard Strauss' "Ein Heldenleben" ("A Hero's Life"). This well-shaped program, traveling from the melancholy valleys of Schubert's great work to the brighter, sunnier landscapes revealed in the pieces by Kyr and Strauss.

Under Kalmar's leadership, the orchestra performed a beautifully crafted Schubert Eighth. The basses began with a wonderfully dark, woody sound, like a large animal in the woods, and then the violins filled in the canvas with a stream and the leafy trees. Then I heard the oboe and the clarinet emerge from this forest scene like a small bird. The way that principal clarinetist Yoshinori Nakao and principal oboist Martin Hebert can make a slightly penetrating sound that seems to come out of nowhere is remarkable.

This performance contained numerous rewarding moments, such as the soft yet strong brass touches. There were many subtle nuances that struck me as marvelous, including how the violins seamlessly passed a theme to the woodwinds. All of this artistry helped to give the piece with more texture and more meaning, all of which allows the mind to explore while listening.

Kyr's new symphony seemed to extend the journey begun by Schubert, guiding us through a landscape of war and one of peace. The music started out with a breezy, carefree, dance-like tune. Everyone in the orchestra (including the two xylophones) seemed to be chirping along when the lower strings agitated the smooth waters with short, snappy comments. Soon the cymbals got into the act, then there was a blare of trumpets and a crash in the percussion. The fight between different parts of the orchestra was underway. It got crazily loud! Then the sound died away, leaving a whispering in the violins. This was followed by a mournful theme of loss and sadness, including a plaintive flute over the grumbling of muted trombones and tuba. Guest concertmaster Elisa Barston played passages that attempted reconciliation between the waring parties. Principal flutist David Buck seemed to play a kind of freestyle solo that pick up the tempo and the music gradually became more uplifting until everyone joined in a grand, joyful ending.

I like the position of the percussion in three different areas of the stage. I talked with Kyr about this, and he said that it would help to represent the different factions in the music as it moved from conflict to resolution. The orchestration is filled with variations on the 15th century tune "L'homme arme" ("The Armed Man"), which was associated with warfare. The audience really liked this work, and some people I talked with said that it was one of the best new works for the orchestra that they had ever heard. Let's hope that a donor will step up to give the orchestra some money to record this piece.

The orchestra returned after intermission to play Strauss' great tone poem. The sudden starting and stopping at the end of the work was thrilling. I loved the nine French Horns and how they were never used to bully any other section of the orchestra. Also, near the end of the piece, the way that Principal John Cox and one of the subs could match sounds exactly over many measures, giving the effect of just one horn playing continuously.

Again, there were so many magical moments in this performance, that everyone in the orchestra could be credited. However, I enjoyed concertmaster Barston's solos the most of all. She showed an incredibly wide variety of sound from soft and smooth and hard and with a little zing. Barston put a real wow factor into the music that seemed to inspire the orchestra to create a superb performance.

Philadelphia Orchestra comes to Eugene

The Philadelphia Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach is stopping in Eugene for a concert at the Hult Center on May 27th at 8pm. On the program are Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat (K297) and the Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz. I would like to attend this concert, but I'll be en route to the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina during that time. I am a member of the Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA), and we will have our annual conference there.

Tickets for the Philadelphia Orchestra range from $25 to 65, which is a very reasonable price, considering that ticket prices at the orchestra's home base in Kimmel Center are much higher.

Cellist Nancy Ives at Broderick Gallery

You can catch the Oregon Symphony's fine principal cellist Nancy Ives this coming Friday, May 18th, at 8 pm at the Broderick Gallery. Ives teams up with pianist Susan DeWitt Smith to present

- Suite No. 3 in C Major for Solo Cello by J. S. Bach
- Suite No. 1 in C Minor for Solo Cello by William Bolcom
- Elegy, Op. 24, by Gabriel Faure
- Fantasy Pieces, Op. 73, by Robert Schumann
- Sonata in G Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19, by Sergei Rachmaninoff

I like the way that Ives has anchored the orchestra's cello section with her excellent playing and solid leadership. So this concert gives you a chance to hear her up close. Tickets are only $9 at the door. The Broderick Gallery is located at 814 SW 1st Avenue in Portland. Classical Millennium is a co-sponsor of this concert.

Article about Amber Opheim, Portland Opera's Papagena

If you'd like to read about one of Portland Opera's fine young artists and her role in the current production of The Magic Flute, please see my article in livePDX.

Amazing Magic Flute blends humor and beauty

Last night I experienced an exceptional performance of Mozart's Magic Flute. Produced by Portland Opera, this show had a lot going for it: a superb cast of singers, traditional yet fanciful scenery, excellent stage directions, fine playing in the orchestra (with no lag in tempi), expert lighting, wonderful costumes, ... even the supernumeraries (dragons and lions) drew applause. Mary Dunleavy in the role of Pamina lead the way with incredible singing. Jonathan Boyd as Tamino and Jonathan Hays as Papageno were tip top also. Kudos to Christopher Mattaliano for putting this together. The only bad thing for those who would like to see this production is that there are only 20 tickets left for Tuesday night's performance; otherwise, all of the performances are completely sold out.

I would write more, but I have to write a lengthier review for publication elsewhere.

Review of Vancouver Symphony Concert

When I returned from the Vancouver Symphony Concert yesterday afternoon, I had a little more than an hour to write a review of their season finale for The Columbian newspaper. It's always a challenge to find the right words so quickly, but what is life without a challenge.

Vancouver Symphony preview in The Columbian

My preview of this weekend's Vancouver Symphony concert appeared in The Columbian. On the program are pieces by Barber, Stravinsky, and a new work by Ella Mich-Sheriff.

Ja'Ttik Clark to sub with the Detroit Symphony

Oregon Symphony's principal tubist, Ja'Ttik Clark will be playing with the Detroit Symphony at the end of the month. He's subbing for Detroit's principal tubist, Wesley Jacobs, who is recovering from surgery on his shoulder. Clark will be playing Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5, with Leonard Slatkin conducting. The performances take place May 31 through June 3.

Jazz Baby article in Down Beat magazine

I've published an article in the May issue of Down Beat magazine about a new recording called Jazz Baby by Doug Beavers and his ensemble. This recording features Matt Catingub and Linda Harmon singing nursery songs with a big band/jazz ensemble (arrangements by Beavers). Steve Moretti mans the drumset, and the band consists of 20 professional musicians who did the recording at the Skywalker Sound (Lucasfilm Ltd.) in Northern California. If you'd like to hear a couple of the tunes go to the Jazz Baby web site. The CD will be out soon.

The article is not online. So (in response to a comment), I've posted the article here. You can click on it to enlarge it.

Portland Columbia Symphony blooms with Bach and Bruckner

The Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra presented an outstanding concert of Bach and Bruckner at St. Mary's Cathedral on Tuesday evening. The program consisted of Bach's Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor (BMV 1060) and Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major (Original Version, edited by Haas). Principal violinist Dawn Carter and principal oboist Brad Hochhalter teamed up as soloists for the Bach; the entire orchestra girded its loins for the Bruckner. Huw Edwards gave crisp directions, and the results were smashing.

Carter and Hochhalter sailed smoothly with elegance through the Bach concerto, and each movement elicited applause from the audience. Carter and Hochhalter seamlessly traded the lead back and forth. Carter used fleet fingering to whip through the fast and tricky passages of the third movement, managing it all with aplomb. Hochhalter maintained a beautiful tone throughout and matched Carter perfectly.

I was surprised by how well the Bach sounded, especially the pizzicato in the strings. I thought that the acoustics at St. Mary's might muddy up the waters. Fortunately, Edwards kept everything under control and didn't let the liveliness of the church nave make the crescendos too loud.

I moved to the balcony to absorb Bruckner's monumental Fifth Symphony. The orchestra sounded magnificent and glorious, especially during the massive crescendos. The very warm temperature in the building caused some of the men to shed their suit jackets, and the heat might have caused a few flaws in intonation. To its credit, the orchestra wisely re-tuned after the second movement. Also, the brass section never overwhelmed the strings, and the overall effect of the performance was impressive.

Again, Edwards chose excellent tempi that worked with with the building's acoustics. Of particular note were the pauses that allowed the huge chords to decay before the next passage began. The orchestra sounded like an organ, just the way Bruckner would've liked it.

The orchestra was augmented by a couple players from the Oregon Symphony: Erin Furbee in the violin section and tubist Ja'Ttik Clark. I like their spirit of collaboration.

Article about property master Ian Hewett and Portland Opera

In today's Columbian, you can find an article I wrote about Ian Hewett, the property master of Portland Opera. It's called He puts the props in opera. I hope that you enjoy reading it.

Oregon Symphony creates memorable concert with the 3 Ss

I heard the Oregon Symphony deliver a wonderful concert on Sunday evening , playing pieces by Scriabin, Schumann, and Shostakovich. Although the monumental artistry required by Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 in the second half of the program almost overwhelmed everything in the first, I thoroughly enjoyed how the orchestra performed Scriabin's Reverie and Schumann's Concerto in A minor for Cello. In particular, the artistry of guest virtuoso Alban Gerhardt in the cello concerto was magnificent.

The concert began with a tribute to bass trombonist Alan Pierce for his 45 years of playing in the orchestra. Pierce started his run when he was 17 years old. That's when he won his audition with the Portland Symphony (as it used to be known). Wow! I used to play trombone, and I think that I was barely getting past the marching band music stage at that age.

After the applause for Pierce died down, the orchestra began to play Scriabin's Reverie. The musical line in this piece seemed to float around aimlessly until the clarinet, played wonderfully by Yoshinori Nakao, got a hold of a theme and pushed the music downstream a little ways. Still the piece seemed to be haunted by a subdued, quiet melancholy, and in the end it dissolved into a kind of nothingness or a metaphysical state that left me wanting to hear more.

I got a lot more with the cello concerto that came next. I really enjoyed the way that Gerhardt played this work. His artistry was impeccable and he created all sorts of shadings and color in tone. At times he rocked the cello back and forth as he played. His duet with the orchestra's principal cellist Nancy Ives was lyrical and beautiful.

After intermission, the orchestra performed Shostakovich's Eighth with an impassioned purpose that gripped the audience by the throat. There was just a terrific onslaught of sound -- all of it interesting and driven and arduous -- and the overall effect made this rendition the best Shostakovich performance I've ever heard. I'll not forget Niel DePonte pounding on the snare drum, Carla Wilson sounding a shrill alarm with her piccolo, Harris Orem with a hauntingly plaintive English horn, the whispering of the string section, another treacherous piccolo solo by Wilson, the tension driven up in the second movement like someone ringing out a wet towel and then stomping on it, the angry violas in the third movement, the punctuation by the cellos and then the timpani, then everyone flailing away at a supersonic speed like a truly mad person, then a wonderful flute solo followed by a French horn solo, and a squadron of raspy flutes. It was all incredibly forceful and engaging. I applaud Kalmar's conducting of this piece. He had a great vision for it and the audience really got it. The brass were terrific, and I can't wait for the orchestra to tackle a Bruckner symphony. Yes! Bring on Bruckner now!

Addendum: A reader pointed out that I forgot to mention guest concertmaster, Jun Iwasaki, who played very, very well in his debut with the orchestra. Iwasaki is currently the concertmaster of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and Co-Leader of the International Sejong Soloists.

Portland Opera Chorus to sing benefit concert

The Portland Opera Chorus will perform a fundraising concert for colleague James Steele, who has been diagnosed with cancer. Steele has been a member of the tenor section since 1977.

The Portland Opera Chorus is a stellar ensemble and will sing choral selections from Nabucco, Die Fledermaus, Lucia di Lammermoor, and other operas. In addition, members of the chorus will also perform solos from a variety of operas.

The concert will take place at the Hampton Opera Center's Studio Theater (211 SE Caruthers St., just south of OMSI on Friday, June 1st, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $10 (cash or check at the door).

PBO beefs up and serves Romantic fare

For their final concert this season, the Portland Baroque Orchestra pressed the expando commando button and increased their bandwidth to 27 members in order to perform several early works of composers associated with the Romantic era. The result was a wonderful concert of music by Schubert, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Carl Maria von Weber that still had its legs in the classical period but also revealed glimpses of the Romantic.

The concert began with Schubert's Overture in B-flat Major, which he wrote when he was 19 years old. This piece starts with a pleasant theme that becomes a lull before the storm as the second theme really takes off in a con brio fashion. The PBO played this piece with grace and agility. Overall, it seemed a bit like dessert... maybe a creme brulee that's followed by bracing cup of coffee.

The second piece, Beethoven's Romance Op. 50 in F major, featured PBO's director Monica Huggett as violin soloist and Adam LaMotte (a member of the violin section) as conductor. Huggett played with excellent expression, and her way of sticking the high notes with a beautiful sound was perfect. The orchestra excelled at transitions from a near staccato to a smooth legato. I wanted flutist Janet Lee to play a little louder, but I also may have been at a slight disadvantage because I was sitting just under the lip of the balcony. Overall, the music was a little sweet but not sentimental.

The orchestra completed the first half of the program with a thoroughly engaging interpretation of Mendelssohn's Sinfonia for Strings, No 12 in G minor. This three movement work is full of wit and charm from the get go. The lower strings of the PBO had some terrific passages that were outstanding in every aspect. The violas in the second movement really set the mood with a plaintive melancholy that was exquisite. The last movement had wonderful decrescendos and a cascade of notes that melted into each other in a delicious way. The furious, animated ending was invigorating.

After intermission the orchestra performed Beethoven's Romance Op. 40 in G major. Beethoven wrote this piece when he was 33 years old. He wrote the Romance Op. 40 when he was 28. I think that the rising temperature from the audience affected the tuning of the violins and intonation was a big of a challenge. Fortunately, the artistry of Huggett as the soloist can overcome just about any obstacle, and she created a warm and elegant sound for this piece.

The concert ended with Carl Maria von Weber's Symphony No. 2 in C Major. The PBO played this tricky work with relish. I really enjoyed the way that oboist Gonzalo Ruiz applied a light, soft touch -- like someone tip toeing through a lawn of freshly cut grass -- to his exposed passages. Hornist Paul Avril was superb. In one or two passages, he seemed to magically alternate between a muted and an open sound. Janet See's flute solo was remarkably clear and beautiful. I (and the audience in general) loved the way that the ensemble could stop and start on a dime in the last movement. That showed the terrific charm and wit of this music.

I'm looking forward to the next time that the PBO delves into the Romantic era. They know how to make this music their own.

My article on the PBO -- in livePDX

I've written a piece about the PBO's Young Romantics concert and Adam LaMotte, one of the musicians who will play in the concert and do a bit of conducting. You can find this article published in livePDX.

Who are these potential concertmasters?

If you would like to learn more about the people who are competing to become the next concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony, you should take a look at their bios, which are stated in the Oregon Symphony Players Association web site. I heard from a Sunday evening audience member that Kalmar announced (during the pre-concert conversation) that he would choose the next concertmaster in the next two weeks.