David Stabler’s best bets Oregon Symphony w/ John Kimura Parker Thomas Hampson, baritone Emerson String Quartet Philip Glass Orpheé @ Portland Opera Third Angle New Music Ensemble: China Music Now
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August 2009
This month’s issue of Portland Monthly has a major feature article on OSO music director Carlos Kalmar. I have some pretty strong feelings on this article, but first, I’d love for you all to read it and give me your feedback. Here’s the setup to the article: Who was this Kalmar fellow, I wondered? Who
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Today I rode in to downtown Portland to pick up music for the first couple concerts of the upcoming Oregon Symphony season. Can I first of all say how pleasant it is to visit the OSO library these days? Everyone is pleasant and helpful, and the mood up there is relaxed and professional. Anyway, with
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As the beginning of the 2009-2010 Oregon Symphony season comes quickly upon us, it has become time to look at what some of my personal highlights might be. I say might, because sometimes the concerts that I most look forward to fall flat, and those which I think might be nothing special turn out to
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Photo: vibrantjourney/flickr.com It’s hard to believe, but summer is almost over. No, not in terms of the 3 month-long cycle of the sun, but in terms of the Oregon Symphony’s 2009-2010 season beginning a week from Wednesday. Yes, on September 2nd the orchestra returns to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall to begin rehearsals for the
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Well, the 2009 edition of the Sunriver Music Festival is complete. I’m back home, the laundry is being done, the house vacuumed, and the obligatory pizza ordered for delivery. The final weekend of concerts was held at the Tower Theater in Bend, rather than the Great Hall in Sunriver Resort. This was due to the
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It’s been another heatwave across Oregon the past couple days, with temps reaching close to 100 degrees in both Portland and Sunriver. Tuesday night was spent playing our sole pops concert at Summit High School in Bend, with guest artists vocalist Susannah Mars and saxophone player James Di Pasquale. Principal trumpeter Jeffrey Work and concertmaster
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Late afternoon on the high desert of Central Oregon – Photo © Charles Noble
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For years, if you were a patron of the Oregon Symphony, you could surf over to the orchestra’s website and find out when any concert was taking place during the upcoming season. Not so the orchestra’s members. We have made do 16th century technology on that front: schedules printed on paper. Many of us who
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The first week of the Sunriver Music Festival is complete! We had some great concerts, in particular an emotional account of the Mozart “Jupiter” Symphony and the stunning playing of pianist Yeol Eum Son in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. Son is truly one to watch. She’s got impeccable technique, true, but much more than that,
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The morning dawned cold (37 degrees) and foggy – not a typical Sunriver morning. They usually are clear and cool (usually mid-40′s). The view from our homestay – click to enlarge. The Great Hall was a bit chilly as well – there was a lot of hand rubbing and blowing upon going on in the
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Billy Wilson, owner of Barista on NW 13th & Hoyt in the Pearl, created this amazing example of latte art on a recent visit: [click photo to see larger version @ flickr.com]
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Photo: © Charles Noble – Click photo to enlarge This morning we had our dress rehearsal in the Great Hall for this evening’s opening concert of the orchestral portion of the Sunriver Music Festival (there was a piano recital Thursday evening featuring Yeol Eum Son). This will be an interesting concert, with quite a bit
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I got in to the Sunriver Resort community around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night, unpacked and promptly went to bed. The festival started right off the bat this morning with a 9:30 a.m. rehearsal. We worked on Schumann’s First Symphony “Spring” and the Beethoven Third Piano Concerto with Van Cliburn silver medalist Yeol Eum Son. I
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There have been a lot of stories in the news lately about the new concessionary contracts at orchestras across the US. They’ve been arrived at as orchestras have been desperately trying to weather the virtually unprecedented recession in the wake of the meltdown of the credit markets. There’s a hidden set of costs that you
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