eastern exposure May 9, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : bloggers, music, the orchestra world, add a commentI’m here in La Grande, Oregon with the Oregon Symphony, in case you’re wondering. And it’s been a busy first day. Yesterday my wife (a freelance cellist who plays often with the orchestra) and I arrived here at around 9:00 p.m., enjoying the great change of scenery and ecosystems that we continually marvel at when we venture across the Cascade Range along the way.
I got some great sunset shots from the top of the huge hill that I-84 climbs before you descend through the Blue Mountains into La Grande, but no way to post them at this time - I’ll be sure to share photos from the trip with you when I’m back home on Sunday.
This morning at 9:30 and 11:00 we played youth concerts for elementary, middle, and high school students from La Grande and several surrounding communities, including Baker City, Cove, and Union. (more…)
we’re smarter - but why? March 7, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : appreciation/criticism, music, research study, add a commentIt’s in its early stages, but a study by the DANA foundation is examining whether people interested in the arts are smarter to begin with, or if their intelligence is stimulated and improved by their exposure to the arts. (more…)
oso violinist thinks out loud February 26, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : bloggers, music, add a comment 
Ron Blessinger, violinist with the Oregon Symphony, blogger, and artistic director of the Third Angle New Music Ensemble, well be a guest on the new Oregon Public Broadcasting radio show Think Out Loud, on Wednesday, February 27th from 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. You can listen on your radio at 91.5 FM in the Portland metro area, or listen worldwide on OPB’s internet stream. You can also download the podcast later in the day to enjoy at your leisure.
The topic of discussion will be Oregon-based musical culture. Discuss…
record year for oregon cultural donations January 22, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : music, add a comment
From the Oregon Cultural Trust’s press release [click here to download complete press release as a pdf file]:
The Oregon Cultural Trust reports that Oregonians donated a record $3.5 million to the Trust in 2007 - up 20 percent from 2006 receipts.
Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski commented “In 2007, for the first time in years, the state made a major reinvestment in art and culture.”
Donors who match or exceed their gifts to the Trust with contributions to any number of Oregon’s 1,100 cultural nonprofits may claim their Trust donation as a 100 percent credit against their state income taxes.
columbus lost at sea? January 19, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : labor issues, music, the orchestra world, 3commentsIn a move which will likely result in the permanent crippling of a once fine orchestra, the management of the Columbus Symphony (Ohio) is proposing massive cuts of both orchestra personnel positions and the length of the season: the former down from 53 to 31 full-time musicians, the latter from 46 to 34 weeks. (more…)
cascade head loses founder/director January 11, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : music, soloists & recitals, add a commentDavid Stabler breaks the story that the Cascade Head Music Festival’s founder and artistic director, Sergiu Luca, has left the festival. This is a tremendous loss for the Oregon festival scene, and I hope that he finds a way to get back into the Oregon arts circles again.
arts advocacy at the presidential level January 8, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : music, politics, 1 comment so far
If you’re concerned about maintaining the current level of federal funding for the arts, or actually increasing the amount of funding for the arts, take a quick surf over to this website: Arts Vote 2008, and fill out and send the online letter which will be sent (either electronically or on paper) to each of the remaining presidential candidates.
While at the site, you can also visit links to the candidates’ web sites, including pages which state their positions on the arts in American life.
Sorry for the imbalance in political candidates presented here, but only Mike Huckabee of the Republican candidates had responded to the queries of Arts Vote. I’ve presented only (in my view) the remaining viable Democractic candidates’ views - head over to the web site to see everything.
Music and the arts are not extraneous, extra-curricular, or expendable - I believe they are essential. I want to provide every child these “Weapons of Mass Instruction.”
Hillary Clinton [pdf file]:
Hillary Clinton understands that strong arts programs are part of a well-rounded education that helps enrich the next generation of America’s leaders and develop their abilities to think creatively and independently.
Though she does not explicitly refer to music - for her “the arts” seems to refer only to visual art forms.
John Edwards [pdf file]:
The arts lift our spirits, elevate our thoughts, and draw us closer together. I believe that
there is a national role in nurturing painters, writers, poets, musicians, theatre artists and
other performing artists. We must preserve America’s precious cultural heritage by
supporting museums and performance spaces for theatre, dance and music. The arts also
play an important role in our education system: arts in schools can improve reading and
math, foster self-expression and individual thought, and improve socializing among
children.
Barack Obama [pdf file]:
To remain competitive in the global economy, America needs to reinvigorate the kind of creativity and innovation that has made this country great. To do so, we must nourish our children’s creative skills. In addition to giving our children the science and math skills they need to compete in the new global context, we should also encourage the ability to think creatively that comes from a meaningful arts education. Unfortunately, many school districts are cutting instructional time for art and music education. Barack Obama believes that the arts should be a central part of effective teaching and learning. The Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts recently said “The purpose of arts education is not to produce more
artists, though that is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to create complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive lives in a free society.
more raves on seattle opera 08-09 season January 5, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : music, opera, seattle, add a comment
Gavin Borchert shares my enthusiasm about the Seattle Opera’s 2008-2009 season, especially the Bartók/Schoenberg duo of one-act operas:
Most exciting—unbelievable, in fact—is their presentation of Robert Lepage’s production of Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s monodrama Erwartung (Feb. 21-March 7), which I saw in Vancouver in 1998 and never dreamed would be done here. I did, however, hang on to the review I wrote:
“Bartok’s 45-minute opera is a duologue between Bluebeard and his bride Judith. In his great hall stand seven doors; one by one she demands to open them, revealing the horrors and wonders within. But behind the last are the apparitions of Bluebeard’s three previous wives, and Judith joins them to be sealed up forever as the curtain falls. In Michael Levine’s black-box set, the floor, ceiling, and walls slope up, down, and in from the proscenium to converge on a portcullised entrance at the rear of the stage—a space which both conveys the somber vastness of a castle hall and becomes increasingly claustrophobic as the psychological screws tighten. Robert Thomson’s lighting was an equal partner in the drama, from the row of illuminated keyholes in the darkness that marked the doors to the dazzling bursts of light as each one opened. Most magical was the moat at the lip of the stage, silvery waters from which the three wives rose, a stunningly beautiful effect.
“Lepage’s Schoenberg staging used the same set. In the original stage directions, a woman wanders through the woods and discovers the body of her lover, who, it is implied, she killed in an insane fit of jealousy. Lepage presented this as a flashback from the woman’s asylum cell, a hallucination decked with Dadaist details: a psychoanalyst in a chair on the wall, a floating bed, a scarlet moon.”
As long as I live, I’ll never forget the moat. “Stunningly beautiful” doesn’t even begin to cover it. This is the must-see of the season, if not the decade.
favorite intermissions January 5, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : contemporary, music, recordings, the orchestra world, 1 comment so farThis is just fascinating, and I’m ashamed that I’ve only just discovered this! “This” is a CD of composer and “sound artist” Christopher DeLaurenti which consists of surreptitiously recorded audio tracks from intermissions of orchestral concerts around the U.S. (more…)
letters in response to Seattle NYTimes article December 29, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : labor issues, music, the orchestra world, 1 comment so farIn the upcoming Sunday edition of the New York Times, several letters are printed in the Arts section - you can read the complete letters (as printed) here.
Here are some of the best parts of some of them: (more…)
