SYMPHONY ANNOUNCES 2002-2003 SEASON
FEATURING RETURNING MUSIC DIRECTOR CANDIDATES,
BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTO CYCLE,
EXCITING GUEST SOLOISTS AND WIDE-RANGING SPECIAL EVENTS
including … Joshua Bell * Canadian Brass * Mark O'Connor Trio * Katie Harman
Garrick Ohlsson * Christopher Parkening * Leila Josefowicz * Lou Rawls
Georgian State Dancers * Voice of the Dragon * and more!

Portland, Ore. … The return of three promising music director candidates leads the announcement of the Oregon Symphony's 107th season, highlighted by concerts featuring electrifying guest artists Joshua Bell, Leila Josefowicz, Christopher Parkening and Garrick Ohlsson. Diverse Special Events presentations will include Canadian Brass, The Mark O'Connor Trio and Miss America 2002 Katie Harman as well as two dance groups whose acrobatics have enthralled audiences around the world, the Georgian State Dancers and Voice of the Dragon.

Music director candidates Carlos Kalmar, Pavel Kogan and Tadaaki Otaka will return by popular demand to conduct exciting works chosen by the orchestra including Mussorgsky/Ravel's "Pictures at an Exhibition," Elgar's Symphony No. 1, and Schumann's Symphony No. 1. Repertoire for the season also incorporates Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, Mahler's Symphony No. 1, Ravel's "Bolero," Brahms' Symphony No. 4 and the complete Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle, performed by virtuoso pianists Piotr Anderzewski, Max Levinson, Lilya Zilberstein, Michael Roll and Horacio Gutiérrez. Leila Josefowicz, hailed for her honest, fresh approach to repertoire, will open the season with an exhilarating performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto Sept. 21-23, 2002.

Portland favorite Garrick Ohlsson will perform the world premiere of young American composer Michael Hersch's Piano Concerto, a work co-commissioned by the Oregon Symphony and the St. Louis and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras, on Jan 4-6, 2003. Other anticipated performances include two works that have been rescheduled to be in the 2002-2003 season: Christopher Parkening will perform Rodrigo's "Fantasía para un gentilhombre" Nov. 9-11, and James DePreist will conduct Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 Jan. 18-20 (postponed from January 2001).

The 2002-2003 Classical season also will feature guest-conducting appearances by Russian-born conductor Yakov Kreizberg, newly named Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic and, from 1995-2201, General Music Director of the Komische Oper Berlin. Paolo Carignani, General Music Director of the Frankfurt Opera and Chief Conductor of the famous Museum Orchestra of Frankfurt, also will appear as guest conductor.

Oregon Symphony concertmaster Michael Foxman, Principal Cello Nancy Ives, Associate Concertmaster Peter Frajola and Principal Viola Joël Belgique also will be featured soloists in concerts throughout the season.

The Symphony's 2002-2003 Bank of America Pops series will be highlighted with family-friendly programs that include performances by the legendary Lou Rawls; the return of "Yuletide Celebration," the highly popular holiday concert that received rave audience reviews last season; and "The Music Man," a semi-staged musical featuring local high school bands. The Pops series also will include a celebration of the music of Mancini and Mercer; from the same producers as "Yuletide Celebration," "Celtic Celebration" on St. Patrick's Day; Big Band performances by Shirley Nanette; and Broadway hits sung by The Oregonian's own Margie Boulé. New this season: Bank of America Pops Sunday concerts will begin at 7 p.m.

The innovative, multi-media Nerve Endings series, conducted by Resident Conductor Murry Sidlin, will include "Shadows and Voices: Tchaikovsky's Last Days," an inside look at that composer's fascinating life, "Le Jazz Hot," a look at how European composers adapted American Jazz to their cultures; and "Beware the Ives of March," which will explore the unique work of American composer Charles Ives. Nerve Ending is an increasingly popular concert series; all Nerve Endings performance this season were a sell-out.

Popular programs are also scheduled for the Kids Concert series, which will include the Magic Circle Mime Company's "The Listener," "Paddington Bear's First Christmas Concert" and Dave Kamin's "The Lost Elephant." The Symphony Sundays series will present five Sunday afternoon concerts to be announced June 2, 2002.

MUSIC DIRECTOR SEARCH

In June 2005, James DePreist will step down as Music Director and conductor of the Oregon Symphony after 25 glorious years, during which time the Oregon Symphony has made quantum leaps in artistic quality and community service. The search for his successor began in 2000-2001 and continues this season with the return of Carlos Kalmar, Pavel Kogan and Tadaaki Otaka - one of whom may become the next Music Director of the Oregon Symphony. In additions, candidates appearing during the Spring of 2002 may return on the 2002-2003 Symphony Sundays series to afford a second look.

Carlos Kalmar: Kalmar is the Music Director of the Grant Park Music Festival as well as the Music Director of the Vienna Tonkünstlerorchester. During his career he has been Music Director of the Hamburg Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic and, from 1996-1999, the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, Germany. After his first appearance with the Symphony in October 2001, The Oregonian wrote, "Kalmar brought what we think of as European elegance to his music making. The orchestra's string section played with a different sound and purpose. A violin player himself, he brought out color - particularly the darker hue - that contrasted beautifully with the wind instruments." And following his second appearance in February 2002: "His style is intense and propulsive. There's no relaxing going on onstage. Every section of the orchestra sounds engaged, on the edge of its seat. Yet for all his focus, his conducting is supple and graceful." Kalmar will perform works by Schumann, Barber and Strauss Dec. 7-9, 2002.

Pavel Kogan: A regular guest conductor throughout Europe and America, Pavel Kogan is now Music Director of the Moscow State Symphony Orchestras as well as Principal Guest Conductor of the Utah Symphony. Before turning his full attention to the conductor's podium, Kogan toured throughout Europe, Japan and the United States as a recitalist and guest violin soloist with many leading orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Following his first appearance with the Oregon Symphony in February 2001, The Oregonian wrote, "Kogan is athletic on the podium, with an intense and extensive physical vocabulary," and "Kogan was fearless when it came to unleashing the full might of strings to breathtaking effect." And after his return performance in January 2002: "Kogan's conducting and the musical results made a strong impression," "Orchestral virtuosity bubbled through…" and "The playing was secure both rhythmically and technically. It also had a vital sound to it, an electric quality that sounded crisp and alert." Kogan will conduct works by Grieg, Beethoven and Mussorgsky February 22-24, 2003.

Tadaaki Otaka: The BBC National Orchestra of Wales' Conductor Laureate, Tadaaki Otaka has also been Chief Conductor of the Sapporo Symphony and Chief Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. He has led the Tokyo Philharmonic's highly successful European tour and also was appointed Director of the Britten-Pears Orchestra in 1998. Following his first appearance with the Oregon Symphony in December 2000, The Oregonian wrote, "Otaka has expressive and easy-to-read stick technique and body language" and called him "a conductor with precise technique, a keen sense of proportion and - a quality not commonly associated with the conducting profession - a self-effacing personality." Otaka will perform works by Beethoven and Elgar April 5-6, 2003.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Hot acts including Canadian Brass (March 11, 2003) and Katie Harman, Oregon's own Miss America, in her Oregon Symphony debut (Valentine's Day, 2003) will headline the 2002-2003 Special Events presentations along with an appearance by the Mark O'Connor Trio on Nov. 22, 2002. O'Connor dazzled Portland audiences in 1999 with his fiddle playing and now will return with a special tribute to great jazz violinist Staphane Grappelli and Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. The Georgian State Dancers, whose fiery acrobatics and dancing based on the traditional dances of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia have enthralled audiences for years, will perform Sept. 1, 2002. Voice of the Dragon will give a stunning performance that combines American Jazz, pop culture, Chinese opera, ancient martial arts Feb. 10, 2003. The patriotic music of John Philip Sousa will be conducted by Keith Brion June 7 and 8, 2003, in a concert modeled after the shows that Sousa performed across the United States in the early 1900s. New Orleans jazz direct from the source will be presented in a concert by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band Oct. 4, 2002, and Take 6, a Grammy Award-winning ensemble, will perform gospel songs infused with the sounds of jazz, R&B and doo-wop June 15, 2002.

Annual Symphony traditions are back by popular demand with the return of "Yuletide Celebration," an innovative, family-friendly Broadway-style holiday pops show, "Gospel Christmas," with stirring performances by Charles Floyd and the Northwest Community Gospel Chorus that sell out every year, and the traditional after-Thanksgiving Baroque concert Nov. 30, 2002. The Symphony lets its hair down April 1, 2003, with a hilarious April Fools' Concert conducted by Murry Sidlin.

SYMPHONY SERIES

The Symphony offers five subscription series to choose from: the Classical series, the Symphony's flagship series, presenting classical works ranging from traditional to contemporary and featuring the superstars of the classical world; the popular Bank of America Pops series, featuring some of the best songs written over the past century with emphasis on Broadway and the Big Band era, performed by popular music's brightest stars; the innovative, multi-media Nerve Endings series, "classical music done in a very unclassical way"; the Kids Concert series, designed to introduce kids (and adults) to the wonderful world of the symphony orchestra; and Symphony Sundays, affordable Sunday afternoon performances of popular, light classical music for the entire family. For those who prefer to create their own series, the Symphony provides Music Max, which may be redeemed for 12 tickets to any of the Symphony's series concerts (Special Events excluded). In addition to series concerts, the Symphony presents Special Event concerts to fulfill a wide range of tastes.

All concerts will be held at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, located in downtown Portland on the corner of S.W. Broadway and Main, unless otherwise noted.

COMMUNITY CONCERTS

In addition to a full season of concerts at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, the Oregon Symphony addresses the needs of the larger community through the annual Meyer Memorial Trust/NEA Regional Tour, several "run-out" concerts (one-day, out-of-town concerts) and free, local community concerts such as "Oregon Symphony in the Neighborhoods," in which the Symphony partners with the City of Portland and the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) in a neighborhood revitalization project built around three Symphony concerts performed in neighborhood parks.

SUBSCRIBER BENEFITS

Subscribers get the best seats, don't have to wait in line for tickets and don't run the risk of concerts being sold out. They also receive first-choice seating and discounts on all Special Event concerts. Subscribers can exchange subscription tickets to fit their taste or schedule, and save as much as 33 percent on single ticket prices, as well as saving 20 percent on additional single tickets to Classical, Bank of America Pops or Nerve Endings concerts. Additional information on subscriber benefits may be obtained by calling the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office at 503-228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 or by visiting the Symphony's Web site at: www.orsymphony.org.

TICKET INFORMATION

Subscriptions to the Oregon Symphony's 2002-2003 season are available in several packages. Subscriptions for all 14 classical concerts are as low as $165; a seven-concert Classical series costs as little as $110. Bank of America Pops subscriptions start at $105; Kids Concerts at $15; and Nerve Endings at $35 for adults, $15 for students/young adults (25 and under). Seniors and students are entitled to discounted subscriptions to Classical series concerts. The Symphony also offers Music Max, a flexible 12-concert package, for $330. Music Max may be redeemed for 12 tickets to concerts on the Classical, Bank of America Pops, Nerve Endings, Symphony Sundays or Kids Concert series.

Subscriptions may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office in downtown Portland at 923 S.W. Washington, or charged by phone at 503-228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 weekdays (and Saturdays, Sept. through May) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Subscription orders also may be placed online at www.orsymphony.org beginning March 15, 2002. Single tickets to all 2002-2003 Symphony events will be available to the general public at 9 a.m. on Aug. 19, 2002.