{"id":12763,"date":"2013-07-07T09:02:55","date_gmt":"2013-07-07T16:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=12763"},"modified":"2013-07-07T13:16:41","modified_gmt":"2013-07-07T20:16:41","slug":"obf-passing-the-baton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/07\/obf-passing-the-baton\/","title":{"rendered":"obf – passing the baton"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rahal <\/a>
Rahal Rilling and David Adorjan play the Brahms Double Concerto <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Rahal <\/a>
Rahal Rilling and David Adorjan play the Brahms Double Concerto <\/div> <\/div>
\"Matthew <\/a>
Matthew Halls leads the OBF chorus and orchestra <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Matthew <\/a>
Matthew Halls leads the OBF chorus and orchestra <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"MacMillan <\/a>
MacMillan Alleluia premiered for Helmut and Martina Rilling <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Helmut <\/a>
Helmut Rilling and Matthew Halls take a bow. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Matthew <\/a>
Matthew Halls shows the inscription on the MacMillan score to the Rillings. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

It was my final performance at the Oregon Bach Festival for 2013, and it was quite a historical event for the festival. This concert marked the symbolic ‘passing of the baton’ from founding Artistic Director Helmut Rilling to the Artistic Director Designate Matthew Halls. Rilling conducted a family affair first half, consisting of the Double Concerto for Violin and Cello by Johannes Brahms, with daughter Rahal and son-in-law D\u00e1vid Adorj\u00e1n playing the solo roles. In addition, his other daughter Sara was playing on the first stand of violas, and his other son-in-law Gabriel Adorj\u00e1n sat concertmaster. The soloists played beautifully, dealing with some ensemble issues in the performance that would have stymied less steely constitutions.<\/p>\n

After the intermission, Matthew Halls took over for serene performances of two lesser-known choral works: the Psalm 95<\/em> of Felix Mendelssohn and Johannes Brahms’ sublime Shicksalslied<\/em> (Song of Destiny). The future of the festival is in good hands with Halls. His energy and passion for the music that he conducts is infectious, and he has a keen eye for programming that will make for some adventurous future festivals, I’m sure.<\/p>\n

The highlight of the night was the special presentation given after the close of the official concert. Festival president and executive director John Evans came out and announced that in honor of Helmut’s final season as Artistic director and his 80th birthday, the festival had commissioned a choral work by Scottish composer James MacMillan. Entitled “Alleluia”, it was a major new piece for a capella<\/em> chorus, and was given an absolutely stunning performance by the always excellent Berwick Chorus of the festival. Even more exciting, it was announced that MacMillan had accepted a commission to write a St. Luke passion for the festival in 2016. Heady times, indeed!<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Here is an image of the title page with the inscription, as well as program notes by the composer, and the composer’s biography, courtesy of the Oregon Bach Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was my final performance at the Oregon Bach Festival for 2013, and it was quite a historical event for the festival. This concert marked the symbolic ‘passing of the baton’ from founding Artistic Director Helmut Rilling to the Artistic Director Designate Matthew Halls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[135,138,2],"tags":[3403,439,3401,3390,3402,2776,361,2337,3400],"class_list":["post-12763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-soloists-recitals","category-summer-festivals","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-berwick-chorus","tag-brahms","tag-david-adorjan","tag-helmut-rilling","tag-macmillan","tag-matthew-halls","tag-mendelssohn","tag-oregon-bach-festival","tag-rahal-rilling"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-3jR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12732,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/26\/oregon-bach-festival-preview\/","url_meta":{"origin":12763,"position":0},"title":"oregon bach festival preview","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We're just had our first rehearsal of the first week of the 2013 Oregon Bach Festival. It's a big year for the organization, with the founding conductor and artistic director Helmuth Rilling stepping into the role of artistic director emeritus with the ascendance of Matthew Halls as the new artistic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "summer festivals"","block_context":{"text":"summer festivals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/summer-festivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Helmut Rilling","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/8894099714_657e769e60.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12742,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/30\/obf-missa-solemnis\/","url_meta":{"origin":12763,"position":1},"title":"obf – missa solemnis","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been crossing works off of my musical bucket list this year at this summer's festivals - an act from a Die Walk\u00fcre and big chunks for Verdi's Otello in Astoria, and now Beethoven's massive and enigmatic Missa Solemnis in Eugene at the Oregon Bach Festival. Whereas Beethoven's Ninth Symphony\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/8894075938_da8d4f2440.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6644,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/06\/24\/bach-festival-musings\/","url_meta":{"origin":12763,"position":2},"title":"bach festival musings","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm just entering my first weekend of the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene, Oregon, and there's a lot going on at the southern end of the Willamette Valley. The OBF is starting its search for a successor to the festival's co-founder and artistic director for the past 41 years, Helmuth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"jeffrey kahane and yo-yo ma at oregon bach festival","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/5864896036_3d439de024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6804,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/08\/24\/oregon-bach-festival-hires-new-conductor\/","url_meta":{"origin":12763,"position":3},"title":"oregon bach festival hires new conductor","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"From the OBF's blog: Eugene, Oregon\u2014The Oregon Bach Festival announced today the appointment of 35-year-old British conductor and keyboardist Matthew Halls as its next artistic director. 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The phenomenal OBF chorus, and two exceptional singers: baritone Thomas Quasthoff,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}