March 31, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Oregon Public Broadcasting will air an Oregon Symphony Classical concert featuring Music Director Carlos Kalmar leading the orchestra in Berg’s Violin Concerto with Concertmaster Amy Schwartz Moretti on Friday, May 5, from 9 to 11 p.m. This broadcast is the fifth of nine OPB broadcasts of classical Oregon Symphony concerts from the 2005-06 season which will air on OPB Radio the first Friday of each month through September 2006.
“Every piece on this program has something to do with love,” says Kalmar. “We’ll be performing both well-known ‘love’ works like Wagner’s ‘Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde,’ and we’ll also take a step aside from the traditional repertoire to present Berg’s Violin Concerto, which is technically and artistically demanding.” Berg dedicated this moving and powerful concerto “to the memory of an angel,” referring to Manon Gropius, daughter of Berg’s friends Alma and Walter Gropius, who died at age 18. Schwartz Moretti, who learned Berg’s concerto for this concert, finds the work an interesting challenge. “Not very many violinists have this piece in their repertoire,” she says. “I’m especially pleased that I get the opportunity to play it with my colleagues.”
Other music featured in the concert includes Fauré’s “Pelléas and Mélisande” Suite, originally written as incidental music to Maeterlinck’s Symbolist play, as well as Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloë” Suite No. 2.
In addition to the concerts, OPB and KBPS are collaborating to bring listeners interviews with musicians and conductors during the performance intermission. All broadcasts will repeat on KBPS in a nine-week series beginning July 23; this concert will air Sunday, Aug. 13, from 7 to 9 p.m. KBPS programs classical music all day, every day at 89.9 FM in the Portland region and 90.1 in the Columbia Gorge. Jefferson Public Radio, serving southwest Oregon and northern California, will also air the broadcasts in a nine-week series beginning June 2; this concert will be heard Friday, June 30, from 10 a.m. to Noon.
Oregon Public Broadcasting is a statewide network of community-supported learning resources, including OPB Television, an affiliate of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and OPB Radio, presenting local news coverage and the programs of National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Radio International (PRI). For a list of OPB Radio frequencies, log on to www.opb.org.
For more information, please contact Carol Howard at (503) 977-7751 or carol_howard@opb.org, or visit the Symphony's website at www.orsymphony.org.
