Eugene Weekly : Oregon Bach festival : 6.18.2009

 

Oregon Bach Festival Guide 2009:

Sing It, Dance It, See It Music, art and dance in World Harmony

Marking Time at the Laundromat Pencils, notes and the life of an OBF chorus member

Seriously ‘Unserious’ Bach Remix gets remixed at The District

Tap Into Classical Spirit Savion Glover dances into the Hult  

OBF2009 Oregon Bach Festival sked & highlights!

 

OBF2009
Oregon Bach Festival sked & highlights!

** Denotes a Best of Bach top recommendation from the EW faithful and * denotes a concert conducted by Helmuth Rilling

 

Tuesday 6|23

7 pm  Bach’s Circle Ensemble with OBF performers — Bend (Tower Theatre).

 

Thursday 6|25

**6 pm  World Harmony Project Festival Exhibitions, with the On Ensemble (Jordan 

Schnitzer Museum of Art; Museum of Natural and Cultural History, UO) See more about this innovative matchup between visual and performing arts on page 2.

10 pm  Bach Remix (The District, 13th and Oak) And see more about this remixed remix, with a reset attitude, on page 4.

 

Friday 6|26

6:30 pm  Inside Line: The Creation, Linda Hathaway Bunza (Soreng Theater)

6:45 pm  PICCFEST Opening Ceremonies (Hult Lobby)

**7:30 pm  Choral-orchestral concert: The Creation* (Silva Concert Hall) 

The so-called “Founders Concert” celebrates an anniversary for Papa Haydn, who died at the end of May, 1809. Maestro Rilling takes on the piece inspired by Haydn’s time in London — and the masterwork he conducted at Carnegie Hall earlier this year. This true opening of the Bach Festival brims with excitement as young musicians mix in the audience and the OBF faithful return again to hear Rilling, the OBF chorus, familiar and new musicians in the orchestra and soloists bring to live the emergence of the Earth itself.

 

Saturday 6|27

11 am  Taiko Together: On Ensemble (Soreng)

Noon  PICCFEST Guest Choirs: Columbia Children’s Choir of Metropolitan Seattle; Nebraska Children’s Chorus; Bel Canto  (Hult Lobby)

7:30 pm  Choral-orchestral concert: The Creation* (Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland)

7:30 pm  On Ensemble (Soreng) 

 

Sunday 6|28

**4 pm  Kahane, Kahn, and Brahms: Jeffrey Kahane; OBF Chamber Players (Beall Concert Hall, UO) 

We love Jeffrey Kahane, who can conduct, play the piano, raise musician kids and maintain his glorious hairdo all at the same time. Here he performs with another family, as the Rilling daughters and Rahel R’s new husband David Adorjan, along with concertmaster Gernot Süssmuth, take on the music of Rahel and Sara’s grandfather, Robert Kahn, and Brahms (Quintet for Piano and Strings). The acoustics of Beall can’t be beat, and we’re so glad to be back there for chamber music. Don’t miss this Sunday afternoon delight!

**7:30 pm PICCFEST Gala (Silva) Another recommended concert, especially for those with young’uns. Watch eight children’s choirs from across the U.S. take on music from around this hemisphere with “Rediscovering the Americas” and a completely reasonable ticket price of $12.

 

Monday 6|29

Noon  On the House: Eugene Taiko/ Waka Daiko  (Hult Lobby)

**4:30 pm  Discovery Series: Christmas Oratorio Part 1* (Soreng)

The OBF brings Christmas in June (and July)! We recommend the Discovery Series every year, and we’ll keep on doing it as long as the delightfully casual — but seriously musical — events charm the dress pants off of attendees and musicians alike. Watching Helmuth Rilling’s conducting process in action combines with the pleasure of hearing new and familiar soloists and musicians and checking out the different students in the maestro’s master conducting classes. Plus, this series is a chance for Bach-lovers to hear, well, some Bach. Six hour-long concerts this year culminate each time with a full-chorus performance of parts of the glorious Weinachtsoratorium.

7:30 pm  Brandenburg Concertos, Portland Baroque Orchestra- Portland (First United Methodist Church)

7:30 pm  Bach’s Circle-Eugene  (Beall)

It’s Baroque-o-mania up and down I-5 tonight as the PBO, an awe-inspiring ensemble that uses period instruments, performs the full Branderburg cycle both tonight (in Portland) and tomorrow night (in Eugene). While the PBO keeps everyone in Portland on their toes, OBF favorite Allan Vogel and his CalArts peers fill Beall Hall with the strains of Handel, Bach and Vivaldi. Sweet delight, we tell you, sweet delight.

 

Tuesday 6|30 

Noon  Organ Interlude: ElRay Stewart-Cook  (Central Lutheran Church)

**2 pm  Composers Symposium: Virgin Ears Workshops (The Cube, 190 Music Building. UO)

Honestly? This is damned exciting. With the American Creators Ensemble, hotttttt (we don’t have enough ts to say how brilliant they are) Beta Collide and the Fireworks New Music Ensemble playing eight new music workshops, those who worship at the altar of Bach can also hear some of the best new ideas and sounds for unbelievably unspendy prices ($5; $3 students & seniors).

6:30 pm  Inside Line:  Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, Robert Hurwitz (Soreng)

7:30 pm  Brandenburg Concertos, Portland Baroque Orchestra – Eugene  (Silva)

 

Wednesday 7|1 

9 am  Composers Symposium: Virgin Ears Workshop (The Cube)

Noon  Let’s Talk: Frederica von Stade (The Studio)

2 pm  Composers Symposium: Virgin Ears Workshop (The Cube)

4:30 pm  Discovery Series: Christmas Oratorio Part 2* (Soreng)

7 pm  Composers Symposium: Virgin Ears Workshop (The Cube)

**7:30 pm  InChoir: Sing-Along Messiah w/OBF Chorus and Orchestra  (Soreng)

Ahem. No matter how often one sings “Oh thou, who tellest good tidings to Zion” or “For Unto Us a Child is Bo-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-horn” in harmony with others, one can rarely resist the urge to join more sing-along Messiah experiences. If you’re not at the tremendous Composers Symposium event, celebrate the glory of the Lord (or, for those who are avowed atheists, the glory of the chord). Tix are speeding away, so pop to the website and order now.

 

Thursday 7|2

9 am  Composers Symposium: Virgin Ears Workshop (The Cube)

Noon  Let’s Talk: Monica Huggett  (The Studio)

2 pm  Composers Symposium: Virgin Ears Workshop (The Cube)

**7:30 pm  An Evening with Frederica von Stade  (Silva)

The famed mezzo, who performed as a soloist with the Bach Fest earlier in her career,  takes us through opera and Broadway; the orchestra celebrates Shakespeare and dance (two OBF themes this year); and Jeffrey Kahane conducts. What’s not to love?

 

Friday 7|3

9 am  Composers Symposium: Virgin Ears Workshop (The Cube)

Noon  On the House: SFYCA Soloists  (Hult Lobby)

2 pm  Composers Symposium: Virgin Ears Workshop (The Cube)

4:30 pm  Discovery Series: Christmas Oratorio Part 3*  (Soreng)

**7:30 pm  Purcell and Shakespeare  (Beall Concert Hall)

True, this may not make those who love the big choral works happy, but let the rest of us swoon to the absolutely splendiferous Baroque. A combination of Brit music and lit with the finely tuned period instruments of the Portland Baroque Orchestra and the voices of two soloists, in the gorgeous acoustics of Beall Hall. Sigh!

 

Saturday 7|4

10 am  Composers Symposium ACE Concert 1: American Creators Ensemble & Beta Collide  (Beall Concert Hall)

2 pm  Composers Symposium ACE Concert 2: American Creators Ensemble & Fireworks New Music Ensemble (Beall Concert Hall) 

**9 pm  Choral-orchestral: Red, White, and Rhapsody in Blue  (Alton Baker Park)

Uh, this one’s a no-brainer: The Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy under the baton of Anton Armstrong; the OBF orchestra under the baton of Jeffrey Kahane; the Art & the Vineyard under the baton of Maude Kerns; Alton Baker Park under the baton of nature at her finest; and a ton of fireworks under the baton of skilled pyromaniacs. Also, free. What’s not to love?

 

Sunday 7|5

3 pm  Inside Line: Shakespeare and Music, Carolyn Bergquist (Soreng)

**4 pm  A Midsummer Night’s Dream  (Silva)

Shall we dance to this dreamy mash-up? Eugene Ballet dancers perform on stage; Oregon Shakespeare Festival actors narrate; OBF orchestra plays. Whether you love Mendelssohn, Shakespeare or ballet, this is the performance for you (and probably your kids as well). 

6 pm  Midsummer Soiree  (Valley River Inn)

8 pm  Composers Symposium ACE Concert 3, with Fireworks New Music Ensemble and Beta Collide  (Beall Concert Hall)

Monday 7|6

**Noon  Hinkle Distinguished Lecture: Sven-David Sandström  (Soreng)

The man whose music chorus members descibe as “very difficult” offers his take on revamping the most familiar of all Baroque choral works and explains sacred music and spirituality in the process. Free.

4:30 pm  Discovery Series: Christmas Oratorio Part 4*  (Soreng)

7:30 pm  At Home with the Mendelssohns  (Soreng)

Tuesday 7|7

Noon  Let’s Talk: Messiah Project, with Helmuth Rilling, OBF Exec Director John Evans and composer Sven-David Sandström  (The Studio)

**7:30 pm  Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy  (Silva)

Always a blast to see the shining young faces of the SFYCA. Especially appropriate for aspirational young singers and their families, but a joy for the rest of us as well.

**10:30 pm  Composers Symposium: Wild Nights Cafés (The Cube)

Hey, it’s summer! Go crazy with Beta Collide and performers from around the nation as they improv all over the place and perform new works for piano as well. You’re up late? This is the place for you. 

 

Wednesday 7|8

Noon  Organ Interlude: Julia Brown  (First United Methodist Church)

4:30 pm  Discovery Series: Christmas Oratorio Part 5*  (Soreng)

7:30 pm  Jeffrey Kahane in recital  (Beall Concert Hall)

10:30 pm  Composers Symposium: Wild Nights Cafés (The Cube)

Thursday 7|9

**11 am  Savion on Tap  (Soreng) 

Got kids? Take ‘em over to this great demo with the man they’ll know well from Sesame Street. Just be sure to know you might need to stop for a pair of tap shoes on the way home. (Or bring the shoes and migrate to The Studio for the Tap Jam after this performance.)

Noon  On the House: Tap Jam  (The Studio) 

6:30 pm  Inside Line: Sandström Messiah, with Sven-David Sandström (Soreng)

**7:30 pm  Choral-orchestral: Sandström Messiah*  (Silva)

The OBF commissioned this work for its 39th year (and the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death), and Swedish composer Sandström delivered a piece whose preview snippets at the June First Friday Art Walk caused gasps through a packed audience. No, we won’t be standing up to sing Sandström’s Hallelujah Chorus, but your EW team guesses there will be some standing — and clapping.

10 pm  OBF 40th Anniversary Preview, with Helmuth Rilling and John Evans (Soreng)

10:30 pm  Composers Symposium: Wild Nights Cafés (The Cube)

Friday 7|10

Noon  Let’s Talk: Savion Glover  (The Studio)

4:30 pm Discovery Series: Christmas Oratorio Part 6*  (Soreng)

**7:30 pm  Classical Savion  (Silva)

The man has his very own classical and jazz orchestra, and they get put through their paces with newly christened tap music from Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart and Mendelssohn. As DJ Food Stamp puts it, Savion Glover can make different parts of his shoes sound like different percussion instruments — plus he does it all with such energy and élan that he’ll bring joy to young and old alike. 

 

Saturday 7|11

5 pm  King Estate Gala  (King Estate Winery)

7:30 pm  Organ Recital: Bach’s Music “As You Like It,” Janette Fishell  (Central Lutheran Church)

Sunday 7|12

**4 pm  Choral-orchestral: Handel Messiah*  (Silva)

It’s a wrap, with the OBF chorus and orchestra under the baton of Maestro Rilling tearing into the glorious masterwork. The musicians, tired as they are by this time, kick it into gear at the end of the festival with energy to spare for that glowy feeling everyone has for the closing concert. Don’t miss it!