{"id":4825,"date":"2010-06-19T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2010-06-19T14:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=4825"},"modified":"2010-06-20T15:11:47","modified_gmt":"2010-06-20T22:11:47","slug":"astoria-festival-concert-day-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/06\/19\/astoria-festival-concert-day-one\/","title":{"rendered":"astoria festival \u2013 concert one"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tonight was the opening night of the 2010 Astoria Music Festival<\/strong> (and that’s the Astoria in Oregon, not the one in New York).\u00a0 The concert was billed as Norman Leyden’s All-American Gala<\/em>, and it certainly lived up to its name.\u00a0 With the exception of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue<\/em>, the entire program consisted of Leyden’s legendary arrangements, and playing them again was like getting in touch with an old friend. Norman is a master arranger of works from the American Songbook and other related genres, and the authenticity rings through in every note he writes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Norman Leyden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were three stellar artists that Norman brought with him to Astoria: soprano Katie Harmon, baritone Richard Zeller, and pianist Thomas Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Katie Harmon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soprano Katie Harmon<\/strong> might be best known as the Miss Oregon who won the Miss America Pageant in 2002, but her vocal prowess has grown greatly over the ensuing years, and she was in impressive form Friday night.\u00a0 Her rendition of Somewhere<\/em> from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story<\/em> was sung with power, conviction, and exemplary technique.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Richard Zeller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Baritone Richard Zeller<\/strong>, also an Oregonian, has built a major career in recent years, including 12 seasons with the Metropolitan Opera.\u00a0 He especially shone in Ol’ Man River from Kern\/Hammerstein’s Showboat, which was simply spellbinding through his suspension of incredibly long lines, and in Billy’s Soliloquy<\/em> from Rogers\/Hammerstein’s Carousel<\/em>, where he brought incredible intensity and emotional range to his character in one of the great arias in all of musical theater.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Thomas Lauderdale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pianist Thomas Lauderdale<\/strong> pulled out all the stops, and then pulled out a few more in his wild and crazy traversal of Rhapsody in Blue<\/em>.\u00a0 There were times when the orchestra just seemingly couldn’t keep up with his propulsive tempos, but he brought the audience to their feet through sheer chutzpah and daring.<\/p>\n

Norman Leyden<\/strong> is 93 years old this year, and he was showing his age a bit Friday night, as he has every right to do, but he can still spin a line with his clarinet better than people half his age, and he still brings an infectious combination of joy and a wry sense of humor to his rehearsals and performances that makes him a pleasure to work with.\u00a0 Way to go, Norman!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonight was the opening night of the 2010 Astoria Music Festival (and that’s the Astoria in Oregon, not the one in New York).\u00a0 The concert was billed as Norman Leyden’s All-American Gala, and it certainly lived up to its name.\u00a0 With the exception of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, the entire program consisted of Leyden’s legendary […]<\/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_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[108,1689,1373],"class_list":["post-4825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-norman-leyden","tag-richard-zeller","tag-thomas-lauderdale"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1fP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12467,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/11\/portland-chamber-orchestra-honors-leyden\/","url_meta":{"origin":4825,"position":0},"title":"portland chamber orchestra presents film concert and honors leyden","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"February 22, 2013 at 7:30pm Village Church, Beaverton 330 Southwest Murray Boulevard Beaverton, OR February 23, 2013 at 7:30pm Scottish Rite Center 709 Southwest 15th Avenue Portland, OR Presented on the weekend of the 2013 Academy Awards, The Music of Film highlights film scores from past Oscar-nominated movies! From well-known\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":"MOF_Postard2013_FINAL-1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/MOF_Postard2013_FINAL-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/MOF_Postard2013_FINAL-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/MOF_Postard2013_FINAL-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8159,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/19\/norman-keeps-stormin\/","url_meta":{"origin":4825,"position":1},"title":"norman keeps stormin’","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night the Oregon Symphony played a run-out concert in Newberg - a smallish town at the northern end of the Oregon wine country. It was a pops concert, conducted by our Principal pops conductor Jeff Tyzik, who did his usual impeccable job. What was remarkable last night was the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "pops"","block_context":{"text":"pops","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/pops-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Norman Leyden | Oregon Symphony","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/leyden4_original1-300x198.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13505,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/07\/23\/rip-norman-leyden-1917-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":4825,"position":2},"title":"RIP: Norman Leyden (1917-2014)","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It was with great sadness that I learned today of the death of the Oregon Symphony's Laureate Assistant Conductor Norman Leyden at the age of 96. 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