April 13, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE OREGON SYMPHONY IN MAY AND JUNE:
THE 2011/12 SEASON COMES TO A ROUSING CONCLUSION
WITH STRAVINSKY'S THE RITE OF SPRING, PIANIST
ARNALDO COHEN, ROCKER BRANDI CARLILE,
AND BLUESMAN HUGH LAURIE
(PORTLAND, Ore.) – The 2011/12 season, with its wide variety, its 73 performances of 40 different concerts and its strong ticket sales and audience ovations, comes to a fitting conclusion with four concerts spanning the classical, rock and blues genres.
FRIDAY, MAY 4
BRANDI CARLILE
- When and Where: May 4 at 7:30 pm; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
- The Performers: The Oregon Symphony with Brandi Carlile; Jason Weinberger, conducting.
- The Program:
- The program will be announced from the stage.
- More Background Info and Photos:
- On the Oregon Symphony: www.orsymphony.org
- On Brandi Carlile: www.brandicarlile.com
- Tickets: $55 to $200; 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 This Concert:
- One of the Northwest’s most popular young singers, Brandi Carlile makes her debut with the Oregon Symphony.
- Her latest hit album—Live at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony—was recorded at her two sold-out November, 2010 performances.
- The album, which is expected to provide a significant portion of the evening’s program, shows the incredible talent and breadth of this crystalline-voiced singer—hard rocker one moment, touching a cappella singer the next.
- The Seattle singer is renowned for her riveting intensity and the connection she makes with her audience.
- Her avid Portland fans will enjoy a delicious collection of her best-loved original songs as well as a number of cover songs she’s so adeptly made her own.
- In addition to the Oregon Symphony, she’ll be joined on stage by
“the twins” Tim Hanseroth, guitar and vocals and Phil Hanseroth, bass and vocals, along with Josh Neumann, cello, and Allison Miller, drums. - Brandi just released a new single “That Wasn’t Me” currently available on iTunes from the forthcoming album, Bear Creek.
SATURDAY, MAY 12:
SUNDAY, MAY 13:
MONDAY, MAY 14:
ARNALDO COHEN PLAYS TCHAIKOVSKY
- When and Where: [EDITORS PLEASE NOTE DIFFERING PERFORMANCE TIMES] May 12 at 7:30 pm; May 13 at 2:00 pm; May 14 at 8:00 pm; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
- The Performers: The Oregon Symphony with Music Director Carlos Kalmar conducting; * Arnaldo Cohen, piano.
- The Program:
- Britten: Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes
- Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
- * Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
- Dvořák: Scherzo capriccioso
- More Background Info and Photos:
- On the Oregon Symphony: www.orsymphony.org
- On Arnaldo Cohen: www.arnaldocohen.com
- Tickets: $26 to $97; 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 This Concert:
- These concerts are being recorded for inclusion on our next CD with PentaTone and for future broadcast on All Classical 89.9 fm.
- Renowned for the challenges it poses for its piano soloist, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 has an interesting history. When the composer played it for Nikolai Rubenstein, reputed to be the finest pianist in Russia at the time, he got an almost unrepeatable reaction from the pianist. In Tchaikovsky’s words: “a torrent poured from [his] mouth!” In the end, after a few revisions, the premiere was played by a different pianist.
- Arnaldo Cohen recognizes the challenge and looks forward to it. In his words: “This is a piece that had to be played by the devil.” He goes on to note that he’ll “be playing three concerts, and it’ll be different each time because I’m not the same each time.”
- The Brazilian-born pianist Arnaldo Cohen, now living in the United States, has long had a reputation for astonishing his audiences with the musical authority and blistering virtuosity of his performances. His graceful and unaffected platform manner belies playing of white-hot intensity, intellectual probity, and glittering bravura technique bordering on sheer wizardry.
- The concerto’s opening bars will be extremely familiar to audiences. They have been used as the theme to Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre radio programs, the 1971 cult film Harold and Maude and in one of Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketches.
- The Britten works are from his well-known opera Peter Grimes. The Four Sea Interludes capture the ocean in various moods and depict the drama of life surrounding the “perpetual struggle of men and women whose livelihood depends on the sea.”
- Watch for the viola section in the Passacaglia. There’s an anguished viola solo and nine different variations on the viola theme.
SUNDAY, MAY 20:
MONDAY, MAY 21:
STRAVINSKY’S RITE OF SPRING
- When and Where: [EDITORS PLEASE NOTE DIFFERING PERFORMANCE TIMES] May 20 at 7:30 pm; May 21 at 8:00 pm; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
- The Performers: The Oregon Symphony with Music Director Carlos Kalmar conducting.
- The Program:
- Liszt/Adams: The Black Gondola
- Adams: City Noir
- Dvořák: Nocturne in B major
- Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
- More Background Info and Photos:
- On the Oregon Symphony: www.orsymphony.org
- Tickets: $21 to $92; 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 This Concert:
- The final concert of the 2011/12 classical season.
- These concerts are being recorded for future broadcast on All Classical 89.9 fm.
- Originally composed for a solo piano, The Black Gondola has been arranged and orchestrated by John Adams for the orchestra. It depicts the grief and mourning of a Venetian gondola funeral procession.
- Then John Adams himself comes to the fore, with City Noir. In his own words, this is a 30-minute symphony with “the weight of the three movements distributed in pockets of high energy that are nested among areas of a more leisurely lyricism.”
- The orchestra plays Dvořák’s Nocturne for the very first time.
- The season ends with one of the most riveting and popular of all symphonic works—Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
- Composed as a ballet, it’s renowned for the riot it caused at its 1913 Paris premiere when the music, the choreography, the costumes—just about everything—struck a dissonant chord with audiences.
- Set in ancient times, the work depicts a series of pagan rituals, culminating in a sacrificial dance.
- Stravinsky created a musical context filled with asymmetrical rhythms and dissonances to depict those primitive rituals.
- Aaron Copland felt that The Rite of Spring was the foremost orchestral achievement of the 20th century.
- For audiences it is unrivalled in its sonic impact, with memorable solo opportunities for many of our musicians.
FRIDAY, JUNE 1:
HUGH LAURIE AND THE COPPER BOTTOM BAND
- When and Where: June 1 at 7:30 pm; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
- The Performers: Hugh Laurie and the Copper Bottom Band. The Oregon Symphony does not perform.
- The Program:
- While the program will be announced from the stage, it is anticipated that the concert will focus primarily on works from Laurie’s recently released hit CD Let Them Talk!
- More Background Info and Photos:
- On Hugh Laurie: www.hughlaurieblues.com
- Tickets: $25 to $150; 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 This Concert:
- Audiences may know Hugh Laurie best as Dr. House on FOX Network’s hit series, House.
- But the world now knows him as one heck of a blues singer with his recent CD release—Let Them Talk!
- A powerful evening with an Englishman who simply fell head over heels with American Blues.
The 2012/13 Oregon Symphony season begins officially with the August 30th Waterfront Park free concert and the September 8th concert “Opening with a Bang” featuring renowned percussionist Colin Currie.
Season tickets to the 2012/13 season are now on sale, with classical packages available for as little as $90. Subscribers have until May 1 to renew subscriptions.
More information on season ticket packages at: www.orsymphony.org.
Photos for media uses can be found at:
www.orsymphony.org/newsroom/artists.aspx
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CONTACT:
Jim Fullan
Vice President, Communications, Marketing & Sales
503-416-6347
jfullan@orsymphony.org