local musician with ties to china earthquake May 23, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : News, add a commentDavid Stabler has a gripping blog entry about trumpeter Jay Chen, whose brother and his family live in the city of Chengdu, about 50 miles from the epicenter of the recent magnitude 7.8 earthquake. I cannot imagine the hell of having to wait for three days to know if my brother and his family were still alive, as Jay did.
Jay has been a frequent substitute/extra with the OSO over the past few years, and I know that all of us with the orchestra and in the musical community at large wish him and his family well.
He’s also producing a benefit concert for the victims of the earthquake, to be held on Sunday, June 1 at 4:00 p.m. at First United Methodist Church (1838 SW Jefferson Street).
All proceeds go to the Red Cross fund for victims of the earthquake.
mendelssohn April 5, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : chamber music, fundraising, music, add a commentLast night was the benefit concert at the Community Music Center for the Naomi Blumberg Fund for Chamber Music Education at the Community Music Center.
The first half was a wonderful performance of the Mendelssohn Trio for violin, cello and piano in c minor, Op. 66. It was given a wonderfully polished and emotional performance by CMC students Brandon Garbot, violin, Boris Popadiuk, cello, and Eloise Kim, piano. It was so nice to hear such young performers give such a poised and flexible performance of a great work from the piano trio literature.
Next came the Mendelssohn Octet, Op. 20, which was written when the composer was just 16 years old (just a year or two older than the young performers who played his piano trio on the first half!).
It was a delight to play this great piece with such a fine group of colleagues. Jun Iwasaki, our new concertmaster, led easily and clearly from the first violin chair, and handled its many hurdles quite nicely.
It was my first time to perform in a chamber group with Jun, as well as with cellist Adam Esbensen, who leaves after this season for the Boston Symphony, cellist Trevor Fitztpatrick and violinists Inés Voglar and Becky Anderson.
In spite of rehearsing from three different editions of the parts (I was constantly asking where we were in rehearsals) we were able to put together a convincing performance of the piece, and show the rewards of being good collaborators (which reaps many dividends in the orchestral ensemble as well).
It was great fun for everyone involved, and I learned (unofficially) that it was a very successful fundraiser for the endowment fund as well. I hope that it’s the first of many such collaborations.
jun iwasaki & friends concert tonight April 4, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : News, chamber music, fundraising, music, 1 comment so far
An exciting concert will be presented this evening to endow the Naomi Blumberg Endowment Fund for Chamber Music Education at the Community Music Center. The concert features OSO concertmaster Jun Iwasaki, OSO musicians, and CMC students and alumni in a full evening of chamber music.
The concert will feature the Mendelssohn Trio in c minor, Op. 66, and the Octet for strings, Op. 20.
Here’s a listing of the performers:
From the Oregon Symphony: Jun Iwasaki, Greg Ewer, Inés Voglar, Joël Belgique, Charles Noble, Trevor Fitzpatrick, and Adam Esbensen.
CMC Students and Alumni: Becky Anderson, Brandon Garbot, Boris Papadiuk and Eloise Kim.
Tickets are on sale at the door, come early as seating is limited.
