February 13, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Music Director Carlos Kalmar’s second Classical season with the Oregon Symphony promises to be a season of extraordinary diversity, “unparalleled in its richness and the quality of its offerings,” said Artistic Administrator Charles Calmer. The 2004-2005 season, announced by Kalmar today, continues a focus on the orchestra’s ensemble abilities with a blend of core repertoire and 12 works never before performed by the Symphony, including the second half of the world premiere of Oregon composer Kevin Walczyk’s “The Corps of Discovery,” written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
In addition, the Symphony will team with Chamber Music Northwest and Reed College to present a two-week Brahms Festival, while presenting guest artists Leila Josefowicz, Stephen Hough, Yakov Kreizberg, Michael Stern, Louis Lortie, Nikolaj Znaider, Elmar Oliveira, Alban Gerhardt and Peter Donohoe, among others. Repertoire highlights include Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 3 “Eroica” and 6 “Pastoral,” Debussy’s “La Mer,” Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” Brahms’ “German Requiem” and Symphony No. 2 in D major and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Media support for the Classical series is provided by The Oregonian.
Kalmar continues to program a combination of familiar and newer works as part of his long-term goals for the orchestra. “We’ll be offering a renewed emphasis on fresh repertoire of wide appeal,” explains Artistic Administrator Charles Calmer. Kalmar’s passion for thematic programming creates startling juxtapositions of familiar and lesser-known works. “Music is an adventure,” he explains. “The adventure we offer the audience through the Symphony’s performances can be funny, sad, challenging, intriguing, intense and much more.” As with his inaugural season, all Kalmar’s concerts for the 2004-2005 season will feature an overall theme, which will connect each work on the program. In addition, Kalmar will also provide all the pre-concert talks for his concerts.
The Symphony will present Walczyk’s Louis and Clark tribute in partnership with the St. Louis Symphony; the first half will be premiered in the autumn of 2004 in St. Louis, the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, while the Oregon half will debut here in the spring of 2005.
Other works seeing their first performance by the Symphony will include: Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in C minor; Joseph Schwantner’s Percussion Concerto; Mendelssohn’s “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage;” Peter Maxwell Davies’ “An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise;” William Walton’s “Portsmouth Point Overture;” Alfred Schnittke’s “Moz-art à la Haydn;” and Benjamin Britten’s “Sinfonia da Requiem.”
During the last two weeks of February, 2005, the Symphony will team with Chamber Music Northwest and Reed College to present a festival featuring the music of Johannes Brahms. This festival will include Brahms’ groundbreaking work, “A German Requiem,” last performed by the Symphony in 1975, as well as his monumental Symphony No. 2 in D minor.
Kalmar considers the guest soloists for the 2004-05 season to be an exciting and talented group of rising international stars in the classical music world. Violinist Leila Josefowicz, whom the Chicago Sun-Times describes as “playing with a zest and fiery personality that has guaranteed her a distinctive profile among the current pack of twenty-something violinists” will return to perform John Adams’ technically demanding Violin Concerto on Jan. 29-31, 2005, and renowned English pianist Stephen Hough, a recent recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” grant whom The Guardian has called “the immaculate, perfectly poised pianist,” will play Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C, K. 467 on Feb. 19-21, 2005. Other soloists include pianist Peter Donohoe, whom critics have described as “an interpreter with a quite extraordinary feeling for musical phrasing,” who will make his Symphony debut with Barber’s Piano Concerto (May 14-16, 2005); violinist Nikolaj Znaider, whose playing has been characterized by critics as “dreamy” and “touching the heart…with wanton spirituality” will perform Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor on March 12-14, 2005; pianist Louis Lortie, who has earned praise for “the fresh perspective and individuality he brings to a deliberately broad spectrum of the keyboard canon,” will perform Rachmaninoff’s challenging Piano Concerto No. 3 on Oct. 2-4, 2004; cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, a protégé of Annie-Sophie Mütter whose phrasing has been described by critics as “echoing that of Casals” will perform Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B minor on Feb. 5-7, 2005 and violinist Elmar Oliveira, the only American violinist to win the Gold Medal at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky International Competition and the first violinist to receive the coveted Avery Fisher Prize, will perform Barber’s Violin Concerto on Oct. 16-18, 2004. Cellist Alban Gerhardt, who made his Symphony debut last year and whom critics have compared to renowned cellist Jacqueline du Pré, returns to perform Elgar’s Cello Concerto on Nov. 6-8, 2004.
Laureate Music Director James DePreist will conduct a concert in the fall of 2004, and the Classical season will also feature two returning guest conductors: Michael Stern, whose conducting credits include Chief Conductor of Germany's Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra and Yakov Kreizberg, the Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Netherlands Philharmonic and Netherlands Chamber Orchestras. In addition, Michael Christie, Music Director of the Colorado Music Festival and Chief Conductor of The Queensland Orchestra in Australia will take the podium as a guest conductor in March of 2005.
The Symphony’s Classical season will feature audience favorites such as Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, Elgar’s Cello Concerto, Strauss’ “Don Juan,” Respighi’s “The Pines of Rome” and “The Birds” and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Other repertoire for the season includes Mozart’s Symphony No. 35, “Haffner,” Wagner’s Act I Prelude to “Lohengrin,” Mendelssohn’s “Scotch Symphony,” Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and a number of American works, including Copland’s “Billy the Kid Suite,” John Adams’ Violin Concerto, both Barber’s Violin Concerto and Piano Concerto and Walczyk’s world premiere of “The Corps of Discovery.”
The Classical series is the Symphony’s flagship series and presents the finest symphonic music available to its audiences. It features a mix of classical works, famous masterpieces and lesser-known works performed by world-class guest artists. The Classical series is comprised of fourteen subscription concerts running from September 2004 through May 2005. Classical concert packages also are available in sets of seven concerts: the “A” and “B” series. Performance times are Saturdays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. and Mondays at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, located in downtown Portland at the corner of S.W. Main and Broadway. Pre-concert talks, free to ticket holders, are given one hour before each concert. These pre-concert talks feature professional musicians, professors of music, radio personalities and other experts speaking on works to be performed, lives of the composers and relevant historical information. As he did last year, Music Director Kalmar will be giving all the pre-concert talks for each concert he conducts. In addition to the pre-concert talks, Classical concerts regularly provide additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra. These activities include:
Saturday:
The conductor or guest artist comments on the program during the concert in “Symphony Interactive.” Media support for “Symphony Interactive” is provided by KINKfm102.
On the Tuesday preceding Classical concerts, a preview can be heard on KBPS All Classical 89.9 FM “Northwest Previews” at 6 p.m.
Subscriptions for the full Classical series (14 concerts) range in price from $196 to $924 for adults; $182 to $245 for students and seniors (Upper Balcony and Orchestra Section D). Subscriptions for the “A” or “B” series (7 concerts) range in price from $126 to $525 for adults; $112 to $140 for students and seniors (Upper Balcony and Orchestra Section D). 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. Classical subscribers receive full subscription benefits, including flexible ticket exchange and advance purchase for Special Event concerts at a discount. Single tickets for Classical and other Symphony concerts will be available to the general public at 9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 16, 2004.
