Contact:
Carl Herko
Vice President, Media & Public Relations
503-416-6347
cherko@orsymphony.org
April 11, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(PORTLAND, Ore.) – Ludwig van Beethoven’s heroic Symphony No. 7 – a masterpiece the composer himself called “one of my best works” – gets a close-up look as the Oregon Symphony’s innovative and popular “Inside the Score” series reaches its season finale.
The Seventh has been acclaimed by audiences virtually since its premiere performance in Vienna in 1813, which Beethoven himself conducted despite the fact that he was almost completely deaf. More recently, British composer and author Antony Hopkins wrote about it: “The notes seem to fly off the page as we are borne along on a floodtide of inspired invention.”
Resident Conductor Gregory Vajda leads the Oregon Symphony’s exploration of the Seventh at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 4, in downtown Portland’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Ticket availability for this performance is extremely limited; patrons are advised to purchase tickets early for the best selection.
“Inside the Score” concerts feature short musical programs – about an hour and a half in length, with no intermission – aimed at giving audience members a unique insight into the music. They are among the most popular events on the Oregon Symphony’s season-long calendar and an ideal way to introduce both children and new concertgoers to the world of orchestral music. Vajda will first discuss the work, setting it in context and illustrating his points with musical examples from the orchestra. The Oregon Symphony will then perform the symphony in its entirety.
Tickets are available for $15 to $75 at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office, 923 SW Washington St., in downtown Portland. Ticket office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Tickets may also be purchased by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 during the same hours, or online at any time from the orchestra’s web site, www.orsymphony.org.
Tickets are also available through ticketmaster.com or by calling (503) 790-ARTS. Discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more are available through the symphony’s group sales hotline, (503) 416-6380.
“Inside the Score” is sponsored by the Friends of the Oregon Symphony with media support from the Portland Tribune.
Subscriptions are currently being sold for the 2008-09 season’s four-concert “Inside the Score” series, which will include in-depth explorations of the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 (Sept. 21), Brahms Symphony No. 1 (Nov. 9), Shubert Symphony No. 8 (Jan. 11) and Elgar’s Enigma Variations (Mar. 8).