If you caught this past week’s episode of the Simpsons, and watched the closing credits, you saw this amazing arrangement of the theme music for a capella voices, courtesy of the singing group Canvas:
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April 2009
Emanuel Borok Interesting video/audio story of Dallas Symphony concertmaster Emanuel Borok and his 401 year-old Amati violin. Click here to read/see/hear about it.
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Some very sad news from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, whose Principal trombonist, Steven Witser, died of a heart attack at the age of 48 on Monday night. The Ying Quartet is losing its first violinist, resulting in a quartet that will not be all siblings. The Baltimore Symphony musicians have given $1 million in voluntary
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Here’s a great video that I found on YouTube of OSO Assistant principal trumpeter David Bamonte and Minnesota Orchestra Principal trumpeter Manny Laureano playing a particularly tough section from Aaron Copland’s great Symphony No. 3. They’re playing the Portland workshop of master trumpet maker David G. Monette. Now all we need are some vids of
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Robert Taylor, trombone; Photo: Torsten Kjellstrand/The Oregonian David Stabler has added more coverage of the planned trip of the Oregon Symphony to Carnegie Hall in May of 2011. There’s also a great collection of new photos of various orchestra members by Oregonian staff photographer Torsten Kjellstrand (I must say that the opening shot of cellist
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For those of you who come early to quartet concerts (why an hour early, people?) and end up watching the ensemble doing some last minute touch ups but not really knowing what’s going on, I posted a 4 minute recording of our pre-concert soundcheck/rehearsal for the opening of Mendelssohn’s A minor Quartet at the Salem
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Photo: Charles Noble What a concert! I was not familiar with the art of fado singing before this, but I am now a devoted fan of the incredible Mariza. She had lots of Portuguese fans in attendance as well, judging by the Portuguese flags flying in the audience Saturday night!
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If you’re looking for something to do today that involves great chamber works, then seeing the Arnica Quartet at the Salem Public Library might be just the ticket. What’s more, the concert is FREE! We’re being presented by Camerata Musica of Salem, and the program features three great works for string quartet: Mozart – Adagio
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We had our dress (and only) rehearsal with the renowned fado singer Mariza this morning, and she’s amazing! If you’re on the fence about seeing/hearing her with the OSO strings at the Schnitz, you owe it to yourself to go. You will not be disappointed!
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Photo: Oregon Symphony Acclaimed fado singer Mariza will appear with the Oregon Symphony Saturday evening – it should be an amazing evening of some great singing. Tickets are still available – go here to get yours.
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Photo: Martha Warrington/DigitalPDX Well, we did it! We not only got through Bartók without having to stop and regroup, some of it was actually musical and fun as well! A colleague of ours has said that there is no agony more exquisite than the first performance of a difficult piece, and this was no exception.Â
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This is the final post on the Bartók String Quartet No. 4. Enjoy! Bookends are sually two fairly massive objects which hold a row of lesser books upright. This would be an apt description of the two outer movements of Bartók’s Fourth Quartet. They are large in scope (at least in comparison to the rest
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This is the second of a series of brief posts about Bartók’s great String Quartet No. 4. Today, we look at the two quicker movements that surround the “night music” of the central third movement [you can read about that movement here]. The second movement, marked Prestissimo, con sordino, is for the most part a
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Principal violist Joël Belgique bought a Stroh violin – it’s impossible to describe, so here’s a photo: Basically it’s a solid wooden dowel with a violin bridge, fingerboard and tailpiece attached, and with a metal horn to amplify the sounds made by the strings. There is also a smaller horn bell attached that is designed
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