classical music

The Shanghai Quartet

First sellout of the Oregon Bach Festival season!

Did you wait to get your tix to the Shanghai Quartet + OBF string principals Mendelssohn Octet?

Well, sucker, you're too late!

So! Be sure to secure tix to the Quartet's China Song with the group on its own; Le Salon Français, with Heidi Krutzen, harp; David Riley, piano; and the OBF wind principals; and the Schubertiade, with "Sibylla Rubens, soprano; Ingeborg Danz, alto; Lothar Odinius, tenor; Michael Nagy, bass; Carey Bell, clarinet; Rick Todd, horn; Alexandre Dossin, David Riley, piano; Schubert Singers of the OBF Men's Chorus."

Gonna be a great fest. I feel it in my bones. Now let's make them feel it at the box office ...

The UO School of Music and Dance sponsors a boatload, and I do mean a ton, of events in the acoustically glorious Beall Hall. Many are student concerts; many are faculty recitals; some are from the faculty artist groups like the fabulous Trio Pacifica and the Oregon Brass Quintet, which I went to see last night.

Read more.

Paul Winberg, hard at work even on a Friday at 4:45 pm

Occasion-al Music

The Eugene Symphony’s executive director talks smack about Cleveland, praises the Hult and demystifies the process of going to a concert

By Suzi Steffen

The man doesn’t own an iPod or have a grasp on the world of downloads and easily portable music.

That’s OK. He doesn’t need that right now; he’s surrounded by music all of the time. At the offices of the Eugene Symphony, Executive Director Paul Winberg can hear the sweet strains floating from the radio in the lobby — tuned to the UO’s classical music station, KWAX 91.1 FM, of course. Or he can walk into the music library, where the symphony’s librarian spends hours keeping the notes in order. And of course, in his own light-filled office, he has a CD player where he just might be listening to the Goldberg Variations … or Dolly Parton. (Check out his playlist below.)

Read more about Paul Winberg here, after the jump!

News flash: New (full size, not like the pic above) concert hall made from Legos in Denmark!

I cannot embed the thing I wish to embed (the audio file), and this makes me frustrated. However, it's still worth it. Make sure you have RealPlayer though.

Please, after you check on the Real thing, head to Performance Today and page down until you get to the "April 1 Special Feature." Listen to it. I beg of you.

My favorite part is where the violinist (I think) talks about turning the Legos so they're not all flat, so that the other bits of the Legos provide a bit better acoustic space.

Made. Of. Awesome.

I am so proud to know Rob Hubbard, the guy who wrote the piece (Fred Childs delivered it PERFECTLY as well). He's brilliant, and I met him at the not-as-schnobby-as-it-sounds NEA Institute in Classical Music and Opera. See, classical music people are hilarious!

(Click for bigger pic.)

I forgot to blog about this when it happened, but a couple of weeks ago, the Eugene Symphony announced the lineup for next season.

Giancarlo Guerrero, still artistic director until he skips out for Nashville at the end of the 2008-2009 season, made the announcement at a special pre-show event. But you know what? The pre-show event started at 6:30 pm on Valentine's Day.

I was a bad journalist (but a good partner!) and skipped it for a Valentine's Day dinner at home. But I did go to the concert that night, where James Carter kicked some ass on his sax and where the orchestra lost its way after intermission during Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet (a losing I blame half on Guerrero, half on some of the less skilled members of the group) ... and where Guerrero announced the next season before he began the concert.

And when Guerrero said the magic words "Yo-Yo Ma," the place went insane. Seriously. From the gasps in a Silva Hall drenched in red clothing (jackets, skirts, blouses, sweaters, skirts, dresses and coats on a lot of women; sweaters or ties on a very few men), it seemed the audience thought that Mr. Cello Crossover Man (whom I do like, don't get me wrong) was the Messiah or something.

Which, hey, he might be for classical music. So that means the Messiah is coming to the Hult Center Sept. 30. Get your tickets now.

Other highlights of next season:
Mozart's Jupiter Symphony
Mahler's Fifth
And score! Jennifer Higdon as composer in residence!