October 18, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Third Angle, the Northwest's premier new music chamber ensemble, returns to the Oregon Symphony's Chamber Music on Tap series with music by noted 21st century composers Aaron Jay Kernis, Jon Deak and Steve Reich on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 6 p.m. in the Heritage Room at BridgePort BrewPub. Chamber Music on Tap, sponsored by BridgePort Brewing Company, is presented by Fortissimo, the Symphony's young professional volunteer organization. The BridgePort BrewPub is located at 1313 N.W. Marshall.
Continuing their tradition of programming unusual and original new works, this concert features a wide variety of pieces that probe different emotional and musical moods. Jeff Johnson gives his contrabass a workout with “Tom Johnson's 'Failings,' a very difficult piece for bass.” “The challenge of this piece is to succeed by failing, or rather fail to succeed, while narrating and playing - a very funny demonstration of contradictions,” explains Third Angle Artistic Director Ron Blessinger. Steve Reich's classic “Clapping Music” can be performed by any number of players and is a study of shifting rhythms and metric stresses, while Aaron Jay Kernis' “Air” and Jon Deak's “Greetings from 1984” explore themes of love and partnership. The program is subject to change.
Chamber Music on Tap is held every third Wednesday of each month through May. The concerts provide audience members the opportunity to interact with musicians and socialize while sampling the brewery's homemade pizza and handcrafted, award-winning ales in the pub's unique building, a 100-year-old former rope factory.
Tickets are $6 for Fortissimo members, $10 for the general public and may be purchased in advance 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 may also be purchased at the door, if available. All proceeds from the evening benefit Fortissimo.
Founded in 1985, Third Angle has become a primary creative force in the cultural landscape of Portland and the Pacific Northwest; its aim is to commission, premiere, and record new works by regional and nationally recognized composers, and to perform innovative music by the established composers of the twentieth century.
Over the past fifteen seasons, Third Angle has presented eighty programs of contemporary music, commissioned over twenty new works, and released five recordings to critical acclaim. These achievements firmly establish it as one of the nation's foremost presenters of contemporary American music, as acknowledged by financial support from the Copland Fund, NEA, RACC, OAC, Meyer, and Collins Foundations.
The ensemble maintains a roster of eight permanent musicians and a revolving roster of distinguished guest artists. Third Angle consistently features the very best players form top performing institutions in Portland, including the Oregon Symphony, Florestan Trio, and Chamber Music Northwest. Third Angle presents four to six new programs with twelve to fourteen total performances annually in the metropolitan Portland area and throughout the Pacific Northwest. In addition to its active concert schedule, the ensemble focuses on recording projects for release on internationally distributed labels. It also enjoys a long and continuing history of radio broadcasts at the regional (OPB and KBPS), national (NPR's “Performance Today”), and international levels (“Art of the States” through WGBH-Radio).
Ron Blessinger, artistic director and violinist, is a native Oregonian. He received a Bachelor's degree from the Oberlin Conservatory and a Masters degree with distinction in performance from the New England Conservatory. His teachers have included Masao Kawasaki, Greg Fulkerson, and James Buswell. Since joining the Oregon Symphony in 1990, Mr. Blessinger has been concertmaster of the Peter Britt Festival Orchestra, and principal second violin of the AIMS orchestra in Graz, Austria. He is Concertmaster for the Cascade Music Festival under the direction of Murry Sidlin, and has been a frequent soloist with both the Oregon Symphony and Cascade Festival orchestras. Mr. Blessinger has recorded for the Gagliano and KOCH International record labels.
Hamilton Cheifetz, cello, is a winner of the Piatigorsky Prize at Tanglewood, and performs as a soloist and chamber musician in North America, Japan, Europe, and Australia. His concerts have included a performance at the White House, regular appearances with Chamber Music Northwest, and a solo recital in the Sydney Opera House. He has recorded for the Delos and Koch labels, and his solo compact discs on the Gagliano label have received critical acclaim. Mr. Cheifetz recently served as Visiting Professor of Cello at Indiana University. Mr. Cheifetz is the cellist of the Florestan Trio, Portland State University's resident ensemble, which celebrated its 20th anniversary during the 1996-97 season. The trio returned to Japan to perform in September 1999.
Jeffrey Johnson, contrabassist, was born and raised in Montana and begin playing bass at age eleven. He received a Bachelors degree in Music from the University of Montana and a Masters degree in Music from the Eastman School of Music. He also attended the Cleveland School of Music. His teachers have included James Van Demark, David Pearlman and Stuart Sankey. Mr. Johnson has participated in numerous summer festivals including the Aspen, Chautauqua, Round Top, and Carmel Bach Festivals. He was formerly Principal Bass of the San Antonio Symphony and is in his eighth season with the Oregon Symphony.
Pianist Susan DeWitt Smith earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College and her Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Nelita True. Dr. Smith has performed throughout the United States and New Zealand, including the Hot Springs Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, New Zealand's Nelson Music Festival, which she co-founded in 1990, and Olympic Music Festival. She has appeared as a soloist with the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Palomar Symphony, San Diego Symphony and the Oregon Symphony. Her professional recordings include several works for Radio New Zealand and KOCH International.