June 30, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Oregon Public Broadcasting will air an Oregon Symphony Classical concert featuring music that explores time and space as Music Director Carlos Kalmar leads the orchestra in Mahler’s “Rückert Lieder” with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore on Friday, Aug. 4, from 9 to 11 p.m. This broadcast is the eighth 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.
This concert is built around the concept of time and the universality of human emotional experiences encapsulated in Mahler’s “Rückert Lieder.” “This music is as deep as Mahler can get,” says Kalmar. “At times it is even heartbreaking.” Larmore, whose voice was described by The Guardian as a “combination of thrilling abandon, perfect control and dramatic exactitude,” will perform seven of Mahler’s orchestral songs.
Also featured in this concert is the Symphony’s premiere of American composer Joseph Schwantner’s 1979 Pulitzer prize-winning work, “Aftertones of Infinity.” “The very title is a paradox, combining as it does the notion of infinity with the notion of afterness,” explains Artistic Administrator Charles Calmer.
Building on the concept of time and universality, this concert will also include Haydn’s “Clock” Symphony, so named because of the ticking of the accompaniment in its second movement, and Josef Strauss’ “Music of the Spheres” waltz.
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 16; this concert will air Sunday, Sept. 3, 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, July 21, 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.