DAVID SHIFRIN TO PERFORM COPLAND'S CLARINET CONCERTO
AT OREGON SYMPHONY DEBUT
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Portland, Ore. … David Shifrin of Chamber Music Northwest, dubbed "unsurpassed as a clarinet soloist" by Clarinet Magazine, will make his long-awaited Oregon Symphony debut in an ODS Classical Bravo concert performing Copland's Clarinet Concerto, a work for which his recording received a Grammy nomination. Music Director Candidate Enrique Diemecke will conduct the concert, which features Beethoven's legendary "Eroica" Symphony, March 9 through 11 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. An additional concert is scheduled for March 12 at Salem's Smith Auditorium. Classical Bravo concerts are sponsored by ODS Health Plans.

The program will begin with a work by one of today's most prominent and frequently performed American composers, John Corigliano's festive "Tournaments." Shifrin will then perform Copland's jazzy Clarinet Concerto, a work commissioned for Benny Goodman in 1948. Shifrin is currently Artistic Director of Chamber Music Northwest and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

The program will end with Diemecke's direction of Beethoven's bold and powerful Symphony No. 3, a work known as "one of the major turning points in the history of Western art" (Jim Svejda). Diemecke has been Music Director and Principal Conductor of both the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México and the Flint Symphony Orchestra (Michigan) since 1990. Also a well-respected composer, his works have received many performances both in Europe and the United States. Diemecke was heralded by the Musical Opinion (London) as "…among the finest young maestros working anywhere in the world today." Audience members will have an opportunity to share their opinions of the music director candidate by completing surveys inserted in program books or by visiting the Symphony's Web site at www.orsymphony.org/survey.

In addition to pre-concert talks one hour before the concert, Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra.
These activities include:
Saturday: The conductor of each series will discuss the program from the podium in "Symphony Interactive." Media support for "Symphony Interactive" is provided by KINKfm102.
Sunday: Audience members will be invited to stay for a 15-20 minute panel discussion with musicians and/or the conductor. Media support for "Sunday Night Post-Concert Discussion" is provided by KBPS..

Performances are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, March 9 and 10, at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, March 11, at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and Tuesday, March 12 at 8 p.m. at Salem's Smith Auditorium. Tickets range in price from $15 to $70 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at 503-228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony's Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.

David Shifrin

"Unsurpassed as a clarinet soloist," (Clarinet Magazine) David Shifrin has elicited the kind of ecstatic response usually reserved for keyboard virtuosos for his performances with orchestra, in recital and on recordings.

Shifrin holds the Artistic Director position of Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Ore. and has been Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1992. Last year he was honored by the Society when he opened the season as featured soloist in an all-Mozart program; works included the Mozart Trio, Quintet and Concerto for Clarinet. With CMSLC, he has toured extensively throughout the US and performed several times on national TV on "Live from Lincoln Center."

Mr. Shifin continues to garner honors and esteemed positions in his field. In 2000, he received the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, an award given to artists based on excellence alone. He is also a recipient of a Solo Recitalists Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Currently a professor of music at Yale University, Shifrin has served on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the University of Southern California, the University of Michigan, the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Hawaii.

In addition to his chamber music performances, Shifrin is an eagerly sought concert soloist and has the distinction of regularly performing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in its original version on a specially built basset clarinet. The Delos recording by Shifrin and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra of this same work received a Record of the Year award from Stereo Review. Shifrin records for the Delos, Arabesque and CRI labels. His recording of the Copland Clarinet Concerto for Angel/EMI received a Grammy nomination. Other recordings are available on BMG, SONY, and DGG.

Enrique Arturo Diemecke

Dynamic conductor Enrique Diemecke has been hailed as "... among the finest young maestros working anywhere in the world today" (Musical Opinion) and, according to French publication The Marseillaise, he is "... no less than genial ... with vitality, passion, and diabolic precision, he is an authentic creator-transmitter of beauty, a volcano, with gestures that recall the young Bernstein." Diemecke has been Music Director and Principal Conductor of both the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México and the Flint Symphony Orchestra (Michigan), since 1990. In 2001 he was appointed Music Director of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Calif.

In great demand as a guest conductor, Diemecke's 2001-2002 season performances includes opening the Orquesta Sinfónica de Buenos Aires' season, and he will appear as guest conductor with the Oregon, Utah, San Antonio and Tucson Symphonies. Last season, he appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and the symphonies of Charlotte, Columbus, Hartford, Phoenix, Long Beach and Winnipeg.

Diemecke served as Resident Conductor of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and after being awarded the Exxon Arts Endowment Conductors Prize in 1983, he was selected to work as associate conductor with David Zinman and the Rochester Philharmonic. Internationally, Diemecke has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Montpellier in France leading that orchestra in 2000 on a European tour with concerts in Paris and Milan. Additionally, he returns to France in 2001/02 as guest conductor with the Orchestra National de Lyon and the Liege Philharmonic of the Netherlands. Diemecke has directed the National Orchestra of France in Paris for the "Victoires de la Musique Classique et Jazz," broadcast on national television and radio joined by international soloists Cecilia Bartoli, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Maria Joao Pires, and Pierre Amoyal. A regular conductor in South America, he has served as Music Director of the Bellas Artes Opera of Mexico City and the National Ballet of Mexico, and has conducted the Buenos Aires Philharmonic and Simon Bolivar of Venezuela Symphony. In April 1999, Diemecke led the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México on an amazingly well-received U.S. West Coast tour. This tour paid homage to Mexico's famed composers, Silvestre Revueltas and Carlos Chávez, as Mexico celebrated the 100th anniversary of their births.

Highlights of Diemecke's international career include conducting the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México in the finals of the Plácido Domingo World Opera Contest, "Operalia 1994," broadcast live worldwide; Mahler's Symphonies in a memorable festival with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México; the Festival Series of the New Zealand Auckland Philharmonia; and new productions of Wagner's "Der Fliegende Holländer," "Lohengrin" (1996) and "Boris Godunov" (1997) for the Opera de Bella Artes.

In October 1998, Diemecke was honored for the 10 years he has led the Flint Symphony Orchestra. October 10th was declared "Enrique Diemecke Day" in the city and he was also presented with the Key to the City by Mayor Woodrow Stanley.

An increasingly celebrated composer, Diemecke received a commission to write a tone poem for the Flint Symphony's next season. He conducted his own composition, "Die-Sir-E," commissioned by Radio France Festival for the World Cup France 1998. This piece was also performed during the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México's April 1999 U.S. tour and his "Chacona-a-Chávez" has received many performances both in Europe and the United States. Further commissions will receive premieres in Mexico and with the Flint, Tulsa and Tucson Symphonies in the 2001/02 season.

In 1993, Diemecke was signed by Sony Music to record music by Revueltas, Chávez, and Moncayo. This recording sold 20,000 copies in six months, reaching the top-ten sales in México, a position held for more than one year that earned him a Golden Record Award. Other releases have included the music of Villa-Lobos and Revueltas on Dorian Records with the Simón Bolivar Orchestra.

Diemecke comes from a German family of classical musicians. He began to play the violin at the age of 6 and studied with the renowned Henryk Szeryng; he has also played French horn, piano and percussion since age 9. He went on to study at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. In addition, he studied with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School for Advanced Conductors on a scholarship granted by Madame Pierre Monteux.