Last night the Oregon Symphony played a concert that is, in many ways, emblematic of the tenure of our current music director Carlos Kalmar. On display were canny programming, a stellar soloist, and a well-known chestnut with an interpretive twist. The work that has most occupied the members of the orchestra in the weeks preceding
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Since we were doing music of the 60′s and 70′s this past weekend as part of our pops series, one of our cellists brought in their own blast from the past. Can you identify this person? Here’s more of the album cover from which this was culled: The album is by Harry Chapin. More on
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Tchaikovsky Competition winner Sergey Antonov plays the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto tonight with the Astoria Festival Orchestra under Keith Clark. The concert takes place in the historic Liberty Theatre in downtown Astoria at 7:30 p.m. tonight.
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There are some clever people in this world. Do you remember the “Yo-Yo Shreds at the Inauguration” vid that popped up on YouTube? Then there was the “Perlman Shreds Winter”: Now, there is the “Berliner Philharmoniker Masterclass”: I was in tears for the last one – it’s a great job of dubbing over what the
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On my mind over the past couple weeks has been the dual concepts of appreciation and recognition. In one’s capacity as a leader of an orchestra, whether as a music director or as a guest conductor, I feel it’s vitally important to make certain that not only does one appreciate what they have in the
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Saturday night’s concert was especially meaningful in regards to its location in Astoria, as it was devoted to the music of two giants of Scandinavian composers: Grieg and Sibelius. Astoria is steeped in the traditions of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, with many immigrants from those nations choosing the settle in what must have been
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For those of you who have been lucky enough to hear the wonderful Dutch cellist Quirine Viersen play the Dvorák concerto this weekend (and one more performance tonight), you’ll also get to hear her play the Beethoven Triple Concerto with OSO concertmaster Jun Iwasaki and pianist Arnaldo Cohen. Here’s a clip from the Netherlands Philharmonic
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If you look to the right sidebar, you’ll see a donation button for Team in Training, which is an organization which raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by training teams of runners and cyclists for major full and half marathon events and cycling centuries around the country. My wife Heather has an aunt
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So, you know that Yo-yo Ma is playing with the Oregon Symphony next season, right? And it’s a one night only deal, right? And tickets are only available to renewing or new subscribers, right? Did you also know that as of 11:20 a.m. on Wednesday there were only 12 tickets left in the entire Arlene
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The 2009-2010 season has about six weeks left before it ends, and we’re just about to enter the home stretch. May is a super-busy month, but April still has some compelling concerts to see and hear. I’ve very much looking forward to our next Classical series (April 24-26), which features the return of the violinist
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We played the first of our three concerts of this weekend’s Classical set last night, and it was quite frankly loads of fun, at least for me, anyway. And I know that a lot of my colleagues in the string section are feeling the same thing. Pinchas Zukerman is in town wearing two hats: conductor
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A collective shoe-gasm hit the female population (and a few select males) of the Oregon Symphony today as guest artist Amanda Forsyth strode on stage along with her husband, violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman, to rehearse the Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello this morning. Why? Because she was sporting the apparent holy grail
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Coming up after the orchestra’s extended spring hiatus is a concert conducted by Pinchas Zukerman. In addition to conducting a work by Malcom Forsyth and Beethoven’s First Symphony, he’ll be playing the Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello with his wife, cellist Amanda Forsyth (and leading the orchestra from the violin). Here’s one of
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A great article from today’s Washington Post, about the phenomenon that is Yo-Yo Ma – here’s the teaser: In 1961, Pablo Casals played for John F. Kennedy at the White House. The concert could be seen as a symbol of the importance of the arts to the Kennedy administration, or as a gesture of honor
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I was thrilled to discover this vintage documentary of the four DePasquale brothers, all of whom played in the Philadelphia Orchestra – at the same time! I studied with Joseph, the violist, who was principal violist of the Boston Symphony under Koussevitsky, and then was hired by Eugene Ormandy, later being joined by his brothers
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