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the orchestra world

yeah, we rock

 

There’s not much more to say, other than that Alex Ross, the music writer for The New Yorker tweeted after hearing our concert tonight:

Triumphant Carnegie debut for the Oregon Symphony — best of Spring for Music so far. Eloquent Sylvan, explosive Vaughan Williams.

UPDATE 5/13: David Stabler has his RAVE review here.

NEW YORK — They looked like they belonged. They played like they belonged. And for one night, the Oregon Symphony did indeed belong on the stage of Carnegie Hall.

Triumph is a strong word, but after the orchestra’s debut in New York, Thursday, it fit the occasion. Historically, New Yorkers had to wait for the early morning papers to find out what the critics thought about a play or concert. No more. Immediately following the ovations, when music director Carlos Kalmar was recalled to the stage four times, Alex Ross, the respected music critic for the New Yorker magazine, tweeted his reaction: “Triumphant Carnegie debut for the Oregon Symphony — best of Spring for Music so far.”

UPDATE: If you missed the live simulcast, you can listen online to an archived recording of the broadcast here.

We quite frankly nearly blew the roof off of the place. It was a moment that was long in coming. It was built not just in the last eight years since Carlos arrived as our music director, though it’s undeniable that his impact on the artistic health of the organization has been positively huge. But before Carlos, there were generations of dedicated musicians and the previous music directors, and managers, and support staff. They, too, all made last night possible.

We were also, as an orchestra and as an organization, ready for this trip. We were in the perfect position to make the maximum impact. We have thrown a rock into the pond that will send ripples out for the foreseeable future. The little orchestra that could came and did. We not only punched above our weight, we k.o.’d the heavyweight champ.

  • David Stabler’s Oregonian review of the Carnegie concert.
  • The Oregonian coverage of the Carnegie concert.
  • The chat room at NPR’s live broadcast of the concert.
  • NPR’s page dedicated to the concert.
  • The Oregonian article on the Carnegie rehearsal.
  • Video feature from The Oregonian about the Carnegie rehearsal.

 

4 replies on “yeah, we rock”

james bash just called me from to nyc. he is ELECTRIFIED!!!

he amply reinforced what you say above. actually, james said you flat-out DID blow the roof off duh joint.

BRAVISSIMO!

Fricking awesome.   I ended up listening through the NPR page. It was an interesting experience chatting with the folks from WQXR/nprclassical & watching the Twitter stream during the near-live broadcast.  The digital concert experience wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be…

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