Contact: Allison Griffin
Public Relations Associate
503-416-6347
October 10, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Resident Conductor Gregory Vajda and the Oregon Symphony will take audience members on an aural art gallery tour during a performance of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” on Sunday, November 5 at 2 p.m. in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
The concert is the first of a new series called Inside the Score. The series is designed for both newcomers and aficionados alike, and explores the historical and cultural perspectives of the composer’s life and times through increased interaction between audience members, the conductor and musicians. The concerts will lend a ‘behind the scenes’ look at a piece of music that might not be accessible through their own initial research.
For example, what audience members might not know is that dozens of orchestrations exist for this piece, and Vajda will explore three of those through a combination of music and dialogue with the audience.
Mussorgsky wrote the piece as a memorial to his friend, artist Victor Hartmann. This evocative music transformed Hartmann’s work into aural images that have immortalized both Hartmann and Mussorgsky as artists of depth and invention.
“The piece is full of orchestral color,” said Artistic Administrator Charles Calmer. “It’s really like taking a musical tour around an art gallery.”
Tickets are $16 to $55 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office, located at 923 S.W. Washington. Ticket office hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets may also be purchased anytime online at www.orsymphony.org or charged by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Discounted tickets for groups of eight or more are available through the group sales hotline at (503) 416-6380. Tickets are also available through Ticketmaster. American Airlines is the exclusive airline of the Symphony’s 2006-2007 Inside the Score Series. Media support is provided by The Portland Tribune.