Planet Carlos
Carlos, Carlos Everywhere …
Pedestrians and motorists making their way around the streets of downtown Portland in August and September this year may have found themselves thinking about attending Oregon Symphony concerts just a little earlier in the summer than they ordinarily do. That’s perfectly fine with us.
In fact, that’s precisely what we hoped they’d do when we started adorning light poles all over downtown with festive banners bearing the smiling image of Music Director Carlos Kalmar wielding a handful of batons.
The aim of the banners was to build a bit of pre-season excitement and to entice potential new audience members to check out the orchestra’s web site – and, of course, our concerts. If early season ticket sales figures are any indication, it looks like the project was a rousing success.
We’d like to think it made downtown just a little bit more attractive for a couple of months, too.
Another Debut: Including the Airwaves
OK, so we’ve got Carlos at the Schnitz, Carlos on light poles downtown, and, starting early next month, thanks to our friends at All Classical FM, we’ll have Carlos to enjoy in the privacy of our own homes for an hour each month.
Mark your calendar for 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2, to catch the premiere broadcast of our music director’s new monthly radio show, The Conductor With Carlos Kalmar, on All Classical (89.9 fm in Portland). The show, which will offer an in-depth look at the great conductors of the 20th century along with Kalmar’s unique insights into life atop the conductor’s podium, will air the first Sunday of each month throughout the concert season, right before the station’s broadcast of the New York Philharmonic concerts.
The new radio collaboration – a longtime goal of both Kalmar and All Classical – promises to delve deep into the art, the science and the creative craft of conducting a modern symphony orchestra. Along the way it’ll offer glimpses into the colorful lives of some of the titans of the podium from Arturo Toscanini to Leonard Bernstein.
“A core component of our mission is to promote our local arts organizations, and the Oregon Symphony is the jewel in the crown,” says John Silliman Dodge, All Classical’s vice president of programming. “Carlos is so knowledgeable, so vivacious, so curious – he’s the perfect radio show host, and we’re thrilled to have him star in this exciting new series.”
Sounds like another must-hear event to us.
A Little Family Time
Carlos Kalmar took advantage of a little down time in the waning days of summer – before the non-stop concert season began – for a family vacation trip through Oregon and northern California with his daughters Katja (not pictured), Svenja, right, and her friend Sabine, left, both university students in Graz, Austria. Here they take in the opening of Portland’s Riverfest celebration at Tom McCall Waterfront Park downtown following a journey that included stops at Crater Lake National Park, the Oregon Coast and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and San Francisco.
