October 8, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE OREGON SYMPHONY IN NOVEMBER:
ONE OUT-OF-THE-ORDINARY CONCERT EVENT AFTER ANOTHER

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(PORTLAND, Ore.) – The Oregon Symphony’s concert calendar for the month of November showcases the breadth and depth of musical experiences to be found inside a modern concert hall in the 21st century, from a multimedia extravaganza of video game tunes, to a guest appearance by legendary Jethro Tull rocker Ian Anderson, to a Pops program highlighting great Hollywood film scores. Oh, there’s an extraordinary program for fans of classical orchestral music too, but one thing’s for certain: It’s not all just classical music anymore!  Complete details follow:

SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOV. 7-8:
THE MULTIMEDIA EXPERIENCE KNOWN AS “VIDEO GAMES LIVE”

• When and Where: Two performances, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7; and a matinee at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

• The Performers: The Oregon Symphony, with guest conductor Jack Wall on the podium, and video game music pioneer Tommy Tallarico as on-stage host. Portland’s own highly regarded Pacific Youth Choir provides choral accompaniment.

• The Program:
• A concert unlike any other, Video Games Live presents full orchestral versions, with choir, of the music heard on classic video games ranging from Final Fantasy and Halo to Warcraft and Metal Gear Solid.

• Tickets: $20 to $70; 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. Tickets may also be purchased by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 during the same hours, at the concert hall box office starting two hours before the performance, or online at any time from the orchestra’s web site, OrSymphony.org. Tickets are also available from Ticketmaster.com.

• What’s So Special About These Concerts:
• Video Games Live is described by its creators as an “immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time.” Since its debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in 2005, in front of a crowd of 11,000 cheering fans, it has played around the world and become an international phenomenon. This is the first time Video Games Live has come to Portland.
• Its creators, conductor Jack Wall and producer/host Tommy Tallarico, are icons in the gaming world and pioneer creators of video game music. Wall has composed the theme music for such games as Jade Empire, Wrath Unleashed, Myst III and Myst IV; Tallarico’s credits include Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Spiderman and Fight Club. Tallarico is also a cousin of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.
• Music is only part of the spectacle at the concert. Audience members can expect a total-immersion adventure that has been described as “two and a half hours of music and video glitz” – elaborate lighting effects, giant video screens, interactive surprises and live contests onstage.
• The concert itself is only part of the day’s events. A pre-show festival and post-show meet-and-greet in the lobby of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall are open to all ticket holders at no extra cost. The pre-show festival begins 90 minutes before curtain time each day and includes game demonstrations and competitions, a video game character costume contest and prizes. The post-show activities include meet-and-greet opportunities with industry designers and creators, composers, voice actors and performers. 
• The concert has a reputation for bringing together audience members whose paths ordinarily never cross. At one recent performance, the crowd was described as “a mix between older ticket buyers in suits and teenagers wearing T-shirts with slogans like ‘Will Work for Anime’.”
• Its two Portland performances will mark the final appearance of Video Games Live in the United States in 2009 before the show goes abroad for an extended tour of Europe and Asia.
  

 

FRIDAY, NOV. 13:
IAN ANDERSON PLAYS THE ORCHESTRAL JETHRO TULL

• When and Where: One performance only, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

• The Performers: The Oregon Symphony, with guest conductor John O’Hara on the podium, joined by legendary rocker Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

• The Program:
• A wide sampling of hits spanning the astonishing 40-year-long discography of the great British progressive rock band Jethro Tull, including some of the group’s best songs (“Aqualung,” “Skating Away” and “Thick as a Brick” among them). There’ll even be some surprises from the 2003 Jethro Tull Christmas Album.

• Tickets: $25 to $130; 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. Tickets may also be purchased by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 during the same hours, at the concert hall box office starting two hours before the performance, or online at any time from the orchestra’s web site, OrSymphony.org. Tickets are also available from Ticketmaster.com.

• What’s So Special About This Concert:
• This is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between the Oregon Symphony and one of the leading figures from the world of rock.
• Jethro Tull, one of the top rock concert draws in the world for more than four decades, is a band that doesn’t fit neatly into any single category, with roots in hard rock, folk, progressive rock, blues and, most recently, world music. The band has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide.
• Ian Anderson, one of the band’s founders in 1967, is widely regarded as the innovator who introduced the flute to rock music.
• Conductor John O’Hara, Jethro Tull’s keyboardist and accordionist, tours the world with Anderson and conducts all of his orchestral concerts.

 

SATURDAY-MONDAY, NOV. 21-23:
THE SPOTLIGHT SHINES ON THE ORCHESTRA’S OWN MUSICIANS

• When and Where: Three performances, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 21 and 22, and 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

• The Performers: The Oregon Symphony, with Resident Conductor Gregory Vajda on the podium, joined by four of the Oregon Symphony’s own principal players taking a rare turn as featured soloists: David Buck (flute), John Cox (French horn), Martin Hebert (oboe) and Carin Miller (bassoon).

• The Program:
• Felix Mendelssohn: The Fair Melusina Overture
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante for flute, oboe, bassoon and horn
• Henri Dutilleux: Symphony No. 2, “The Double”
• Hector Berlioz: Le Corsaire Overture

• Tickets: $15 to $100; 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. Tickets may also be purchased by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 during the same hours, at the concert hall box office starting two hours before the performance, or online at any time from the orchestra’s web site, OrSymphony.org.  

• What’s So Special About These Concerts:
• To call this a concert of rarities would be an understatement: Two pieces on the program, the works by Mozart and Dutilleux, have never before been performed by the Oregon Symphony in its 114-year history. A third work, Mendelssohn’s Fair Melusina Overture, has only been heard here once before, nearly three decades ago, in April 1982.
• Other rarities extend to the performers: The four soloists in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante are all principal players with the Oregon Symphony getting a chance to step front and center as featured soloists for the only time this season.
• French composer Henri Dutilleux’s Symphony No. 2 is one of only seven works by living composers on the Oregon Symphony schedule this season. Dutilleux, regarded as one of France’s most important composers of the late 20th century, is now 93 years old.
• The concert is one of two classical series programs to be led this season by Resident Conductor Gregory Vajda. Now in his fifth season with the Oregon Symphony, Vajda is rapidly gaining recognition as both a conductor and composer. He was recently named artistic and music director of California’s Music in the Mountains festival.

 

SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOV. 28-29:
THE POPS SEASON CONTINUES WITH MEMORABLE MUSIC FROM THE MOVIES

• When and Where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. (NOTE: This concert will also be performed at 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30, at Willamette University’s Smith Hall in Salem.)

• The Performers: The Oregon Symphony, with Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik on the podium, joined by the Pacific Youth Choir and, as host for the proceedings, the resident expert on film music from the stations of All Classical FM, Edmund Stone.

• The Program:
• A wide array of favorites from Hollywood film scores, including Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s music for Captain Blood and the defiant – and instantly recognizable – “Colonel Bogey March” from The Bridge on the River Kwai. Of course, any concert of music from the movies needs plenty of examples from the prodigious output of composer John Williams; here they’ll include excerpts from Superman, The Patriot and Harry Potter.  

• Tickets: FOR THE PORTLAND PERFORMANCES: $15 to $95; 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. Tickets may also be purchased by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 during the same hours, at the concert hall box office starting two hours before the performance, or online at any time from the orchestra’s web site, OrSymphony.org.  

FOR THE SALEM PERFORMANCE: $26 to $54, available from TicketsWest.

• What’s So Special About These Concerts:
• This is the second program in the four-concert Pops series designed and led by Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik, now in his second season with the Oregon Symphony.
• Joining Tyzik and the orchestra on stage will be narrator Edmund Stone, who hosts the popular movie-music program The Score on the stations of All Classical FM, as well as the Pacific Youth Choir.
• Portland’s own highly regarded Pacific Youth Choir, which will perform three holiday songs by John Williams from Home Alone, was chosen this year to participate in the national convention of the American Choral Director’s Association, widely regarded as the highest national accolade a choral ensemble can receive.
• With performances on the Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon of the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the concert may just well be the perfect way for Portlanders to entertain out-of-town visitors who’ve had their fill of Turkey and football.
• Media sponsor for Oregon Symphony Pops concerts is The Oregonian.

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CONTACT:
Carl Herko
Vice President, Media & Public Relations
(503) 416-6347
cherko@orsymphony.org