QUARTET OF TALENTED LOCAL MUSICIANS TO PERFORM BACH, BEETHOVEN AND SCHUMANN
AT CHAMBER MUSIC ON TAP
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Portland, OR. … The talents of Chien Tan, Oregon Symphony Principal Second Violin, Principal Cello Nancy Ives, Principal Viola Joël Belgique and guest pianist Janet Coleman will be showcased at Chamber Music on Tap as part of an evening of Bach and Beethoven featuring Schumann's Piano Quartet Wednesday, Oct. 17, from 6 to 8 p.m. at BridgePort BrewPub (1313 N.W. Marshall St., Portland). Chamber Music on Tap, sponsored by BridgePort Brewing Company, is presented by Fortissimo, an Oregon Symphony volunteer organization.

The first half of the program features Tan's performance of "Sarabande" and "Gigue" from Bach's Partita No.2 for solo violin, Beethoven's "Spring" Sonata for violin and piano and Kreisler's Praeludium and Allegro. During the second half, Belgique and Ives will join Tan and Coleman for the Schumann Piano Quartet.

Chamber Music on Tap is an innovative series of casual chamber music concerts featuring performances by members of the Oregon Symphony and local musicians of note. The concerts are held upstairs in the BridgePort BrewPub's Heritage Room the third Wednesday of October, second Wednesday of November and every third Wednesday of January through May. The concerts provide audience members the opportunity to interact with musicians and socialize while sampling the brewery's homemade pizza and handcrafted, award-winning ales in the pub's unique building, a 100-year-old former rope factory.

Fortissimo is an Oregon Symphony volunteer organization that offers educational resources, member benefits and networking opportunities. Fortissimo volunteer activities support the Oregon Symphony's efforts to reach new and younger audiences.

Tickets are $6 for Fortissimo members, $10 for the general public and may be purchased in advance at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday - Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at 503-228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at the door, if available. All proceeds from the evening benefit the Oregon Symphony.

Chien Tan

Violinist Chien Tan has had an interesting and varied musical career throughout North America. In 2001 she was an active participant in masterclasses held by Andres Cardenes and Gwen Hoebig, concertmasters of the Pittsburgh and Winnipeg symphonies respectively. She also appeared in chamber music concerts at Domaine Forget (Quebec) with Douglas McNabney and Kenneth Slowik. This summer she performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival, a highly-acclaimed orchestra which airs regularly on National Public Radio.

Canadian native, Tan was first introduced to the violin through public music school. By the end of high school she had been twice string finalist of the CIBC National Music Competition. After receiving degrees from CalArts and the Cleveland Institute, Tan spent five years in the Los Angeles area as member of the Pacific Symphony and Opera Pacific. She played in the Grammy Awards Orchestra in 1999, which backed up artists such as Vince Gill, Aerosmith and Celine Dion.

As a teacher, Tan enjoyed being an orchestral coach for various youth symphonies in Southern California. She was an instructor for the Community Arts Partnership program, which provided tuition-free training to students in the arts disciplines.

Past festival participation included ENCORE School for Strings, Aspen, Bowdoin, Scotia, and Mancini Institute. Her principal teachers were Elizabeth Baker (member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic), David Updegraff and David Cerone. She performed for Ruggiero Ricci and the late Yehudi Menuhin in masterclasses.

Tan joined the Oregon Symphony as principal second violin in 1999.

Joël Belgique

Joël Belgique is the principal violist of the Oregon Symphony. Born of French parents and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, he first studied viola with Mikael Boguslavsky before attending the Interlochen Arts Academy and National Music Camp. He went on to study with Heidi Castleman at the Eastman School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He later continued with distinguished violists Clyn Barrus and David Dalton at Brigham Young University where he received his master's degree in performance and pedagogy.

He has appeared as soloist with several orchestras including the Utah Symphony with Joseph Silverstein conducting, and the National Repertory Orchestra of Colorado. While at BYU, he traveled with the Chamber Orchestra on three international tours performing as soloist on many occasions. William Goodfellow, music critic of the Salt Lake Tribune wrote: "His gorgeously clean projection surpassed what I have heard from several more celebrated soloists." He was invited to perform the U.S. premiere of Laszlo Weiner's "Triple Concerto" honoring the short life of this composer on a special Holocaust memorial concert. He also performed as a soloist at the International Viola Congress in Lille, France.

Before coming to Portland, he played with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. While in California, he worked extensively in public schools as a coach and instructor. He also has participated in several music festivals throughout his career, including Round Top in Texas, the "Festival dei due Mondi" in Italy, and with the acclaimed Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego.

Since his stay in Portland, he has been involved in many chamber music performances, and has been active as a private viola instructor. He has recently been appointed on faculty at both Portland State University and at Lewis and Clark College. He has served as principal violist with the Ernst Bloch Festival Chamber Orchestra in Newport, Oregon. He also was featured in a recording of impressionistic music titled, "Waterlilies - Visions of Monet" which was released in conjunction with the opening of the Portland Art Museum's Monet exhibit.

Mr. Belgique plays on a 1938 William Moennig Jr., an instrumet formerly played in the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is married to Maralyn Belgique, a cellist/music educator, has a two-year-old daughter named Gillian, and has another due to arrive in May (name suggestions welcome).

Nancy Ives

Nancy Ives of Vancouver, Wash., joined the orchestra as Principal Cello Oct. 23, 2000. Ives has been involved in a number of local music ventures and already established herself as one of the area's cello greats. She has worked as Principal Cello of the Oregon Ballet Theatre, Assistant Principal Cello of Portland Opera Orchestra, and last summer she was Co-Principal Cello at Cascade Music Festival. She has also worked with the American Chamber Opera Company as Principal Cello from 1986-91.

Ives has a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, and Bachelor's of Music from the University of Kansas.

Before moving from New York City to Portland in mid-1997, Ives worked as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician from Maine to Virginia. She has been Principal Cello and a founding member of the Grammy-nominated Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and Principal Cello of the American Chamber Opera Company. She appeared with Laurie Anderson and Gal Costa at the BAM Next Wave Festival, with Nana Vasconcelos at The Knitting Factory and Merkin Hall, and recorded with rock star Lenny Kravitz. During several years on tour with "Phantom of the Opera," she performed a comedy routine about the cello in AIDS benefits across the country.

Janet Coleman

Janet Coleman has become well known in the Portland area for her spirited collaborations with singers and instrumentalists. She completed her undergraduate studies in Piano Performance at Willamette University and earned a masters in Accompanying from the University of Oregon where she won a Graduate Teaching Fellowship. Upon graduation she had the distinction of being named Outstanding Chamber Musician. Summer activities have included study at the Aspen Music Festival and performances at the Oregon Bach Festival and Chamber Music Northwest. Currently, Janet is involved in a wide range of performance projects and is on staff with the Portland Opera Company, Linfield College and Portland State University.