January 7, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Musicians from the Oregon Symphony will begin a monthly series of school residencies and chamber music concerts on Jan. 18, 19 and 20 in Coos County, Ore., as part of the Symphony’s two-year-long Community Music Partnership (CMP) with the North Bend School District 13 and the Oregon Coast Music Association. CMP funding is provided by the Ford Family Foundation, the JELD-WEN Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Oregon Cultural Trust and the Oregon Arts Commission.
The Community Music Partnership, the Symphony’s largest and most significant education and community initiative, is a music residency program that focuses Symphony resources on rural or remote Oregon communities of 30,000 people or less. Symphony staff works with a local steering committee to craft the orchestra’s presence to meet community needs over a two-year period.
“The CMP’s community-centric approach creates local ‘ownership’ and the sustained interaction needed to ensure its success and produce enduring outcomes,” said Symphony Vice President of Education and Community Engagement Michael Kosmala. The partnership is designed to challenge communities’ understandings of how the arts enrich schools and the broader community, he added.
Over 40 different events will take place during January’s three residency days in Coos Cou +-nty, bringing students, educators and community members together with the Symphony’s musicians and staff to strengthen existing programs while integrating new arts programming into the curriculum and community. Other CMP concerts, residencies and collaborative projects will continue monthly in Coos County through May, 2005, culminating with two full-orchestra youth concerts and a community concert. Year two of the partnership features the implementation of a sustainability plan to ensure the impact of the partnership continues into the future.
“Every board member of the OCMA is absolutely delighted at the opportunity to bring the Oregon Symphony to our schools and our community,” says Jan Hooper, President of the Oregon Coast Music Association.
The first of four chamber music concert, presented by the Oregon Coast Music Association, will feature the newly-formed Oregon Symphony String Quartet, made up of the Symphony’s principal string players, on Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Coos Art Museum, located at 235 Anderson in Coos Bay. Concertmaster Amy Schwartz Moretti, Principal Second Violin Chien Tan, Principal Viola Joël Belgique and Principal Cello Nancy Ives will perform chamber works including Dvorak’s String Quartet No. 12, Opus 96, "The American," and Beethoven’s Opus 18, No. 4. A reception will follow the concert; future chamber music concerts are scheduled for Feb. 15, March 8 and April 29. Tickets are $5 per person or $10 per family (parents with minor children). Contact the Oregon Coast Music Association at 541-267-0938 or email info@oregoncoastmusic.com for further information.
In addition, percussionists Chris Perry, Tom Sessa, Gordon Rencher and members of the Symphony’s brass section will be in residence at North Bend public schools Jan. 18, 19 and 20. “Every school in the district will benefit from these visits,” said Kosmala. These residencies, customized to meet each individual school’s needs in an age-appropriate format, will include ensemble performances, instrument clinics, coachings, master classes, informances and “instrument petting zoos,” in which younger children will learn how individual instruments “work” through hands-on demonstrations.
For more information about the Symphony’s Community Music Partnership, visit the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org.With the formation of the Oregon Symphony String Quartet, the new generation of string leadership at the Oregon Symphony is coming together in an exciting new venture. Amy Schwartz Moretti, the orchestra’s brand new Concertmaster, Chien Tan, Principal Second Violin, Joël Belgique, Principal Viola, and Nancy Ives, Principal Cello, are all avid chamber musicians, and playing in a quartet together combines that passion with their shared commitment to the Symphony’s mission, “to touch the heart and soul of every Oregonian.”
The group’s first appearance was playing for Vera Katz at Portland’s City Hall during the community reception celebrating her tenure as Mayor. In January, they will be launching the Community Music Partnership programs in Coos County, which will culminate in May with concerts by the full Oregon Symphony. Portland-area appearances include a concert as part of the Broderick Gallery series in cooperation with Classical Millennium, and a live performance on the KBPS Classical Cruise on the Portland Spirit.
