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More than a decade ago, in a speech at the Oregon Bach Festival, former New York Times classical music critic John Rockwell suggested that OBF bring in historically informed ensembles so audiences could hear how contemporary authentic-practice Baroque performances differed from then-OBF music director Helmuth Rilling’s “1950s and ’60s interpretations.” Continue reading
Long before Mad Men there was How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, the 1961 musical that satirized American corporate culture via humor rather than pathos. Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows’ Pulitzer- and Tony-winning spoof chronicles the classic rags-to-riches story of a window washer who rises to the executive suite, providing plentiful opportunity for skewering the toadying, manipulative, deceptive behavior demanded by the system of ambitious greasy pole-climbers. Continue reading
Purists may shudder, but musical miscegenation has always been the rule. “Enjoy hybrid music, because that’s all there is,” Oregon-born composer Lou Harrison often said. Regarded as the godfather of what became the world music movement, Harrison typically expressed this sentiment before demonstrating how just about every form of music emerges from encounters with the sounds of other cultures and times. Continue reading
Some of the most vibrant young voices in jazz and show music belong to women, and three of the most intriguing rising vocalists are coming to town in the next couple weeks. Continue reading
Thanks to what’s called the Little Ice Age, Europe could be a chilly place during the 16th through 18th centuries, all the more reason to seek solace in warm music and celebrate spring’s advent. At 7:30 pm Saturday, May 9, at Central Lutheran Church (1857 Potter St.), the Eugene vocal ensemble Vox Resonat sings springy tunes about dancing and loving composed by Thomas Weelkes, Jacques Arcadelt, Nicolas Gombert and other Renaissance masters. Continue reading
Like the blossoms that have been emerging this spring, Oregon classical music is entering a period of renewal. Earlier this month, we told you about the young musicians who’ve just started the new Delgani String Quartet, devoted to both classics and contemporary sounds. At 8 pm Friday, April 24, Eugene sees the debut of another exciting young ensemble at the Broadway House concert series (911 W. Broadway, 686-9270). Continue reading
If music is the universal language, the voice is the universal instrument. Continue reading
String quartets might be the most common classical music chamber ensemble, but it’s hard to find a quartet that performs regularly hereabouts and thereby develops the kind of chemistry that can really make the music sing. That hole in Eugene’s musical tapestry will be repaired at 7:30 pm Tuesday, April 7, at United Lutheran Church (2230 Washington), when the new Eugene-based Delgani String Quartet takes it opening bow. Continue reading
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of the peaks of Stephen Sondheim’s stellar career as America’s greatest musical theater composer, which, after multiple Tonys, Grammys, a Pulitzer and other laurels, received another boost with 2014’s film version of his musical Into the Woods. Continue reading
There’s nothing boring about ARCO-PDX, the Northwest classical music veterans who bring classical music into the 21st century by performing in venues where you can order a beer and not worry about clapping or chatting at the “wrong” moment. The group employs rock-show amplification and lighting effects, and the players memorize their repertoire — the better to connect with audiences instead of hiding behind music stands. Continue reading