Eugene Weekly

There was a time when Eugeneans had to venture up I-5 if we wanted to catch the top touring classical and jazz pianists at, say, Portland Jazz Festival, Portland Piano International and other events. No more. While PJF, which starts next week, is indeed featuring one of today’s most inventive jazz masters, pianist Vijay Iyer, he will also bring his DownBeat-award-winning trio with drummer Marcus Gilmore and bassist Stephan Crump to The Shedd 7:30 pm Thursday, Feb. 19. Continue reading →

Of all the music events happening in Eugene this month, perhaps none is more valuable than the University of Oregon’s Music Today Festival. In contrast to most classical music institutions, which over the past century have turned into moldering antiquities, endlessly recycling well-known works by long dead Europeans, the Music Today Festival is devoted to incubating the creative work of Oregon’s next generation of composers. Continue reading →

New Year’s Eve has always been my least favorite holiday, with the commercially contrived Valentine’s Day a close second. Instead of celebrating gratitude or sacrifice or renewal or even zombies, it’s become pretty much an excuse to go out and get hammered and maybe ruin someone else’s life by driving intoxicated for a nightcap. Continue reading →

’Tis the season and all, but before we get to the holiday shows, let’s note the secular sounds. The Dec. Continue reading →

If you’ve been thrilled by the images of the NASA comet rendezvous, check out First Methodist Church at 13th & Olive this Friday, Nov. 21, at 7 pm for a harmonic convergence of eight local organists and one famous astronomer, Bernie Bopp. Continue reading →

People who worry about classical music’s future point to its aging, dwindling audiences; stale, predictable repertoire (the same old pieces by the same old long-dead European composers); stuffy atmosphere (tuxedos! No unauthorized clapping!); dull, rote performances. Then come glimmers of hope like PROJECT Trio, which performs at The Shedd this Thursday, Nov. 6. Continue reading →

What’s all that orange and black we’re seeing everywhere these days? Could it be … Beavers? No, it signals something even scarier: tubas! The brass wind instruments and other annual Halloween happenings are now invading Eugene music stages.  Continue reading →

Oregon’s greatest composer, the late Lou Harrison, often explained the difference between the music written on the American East and West coasts. “Out there” — meaning the East Coast — “you think of Paris and Berlin as cultural centers. Here we think of Tokyo and Djakarta,” he said. “We have a very strong connection with Asia. This is Pacifica, that’s Atlantica. They’re different orientations. I don’t think that there is a composer in the West who is not aware of that.”  Continue reading →