Contact:
Carl Herko
Vice President, Media & Public Relations
503-416-6347
cherko@orsymphony.org
February 12, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE OREGON SYMPHONY IN MARCH:
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF A NEW WORK BY TOMAS SVOBODA
(PORTLAND, Ore.) – The Oregon Symphony’s lineup of March performances includes the final concerts of the season in both the Inside the Score and the Pops series as well as a Classical series concert that is sure to rank among Portland’s major musical highlights of the year: Mar. 14-16, when the orchestra presents the world premiere of Portland-based composer Tomas Svoboda’s newest work, Vortex for Orchestra. Complete details on all of the Oregon Symphony’s March concerts follow:
SUNDAY, MAR. 8:
“INSIDE THE SCORE” EXPLORES ELGAR’S ENIGMA VARIATIONS
- When and Where: 2 p.m. Sunday, Mar. 8; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
- The Performers: The Oregon Symphony, led by Music Director Carlos Kalmar.
- Tickets: $15 to $80; at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office, 923 SW Washington St., in downtown Portland. Ticket office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Tickets may also be purchased by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 during the same hours, or online at any time from the orchestra’s web site, orsymphony.org. Tickets are also available through ticketmaster.com or by calling (503) 790-ARTS.
- The Program:
- Edward Elgar: Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 36 “Enigma Variations” (along with short excerpts from other works selected by Kalmar to help shed light on the Enigma Variations).
- What’s So Special About This Concert:
- The “Enigma Variations,” written just before the turn of the 20th century, is English composer Edward Elgar’s most popular work and the composition that established his international reputation. It provided the jolt that lifted English music out of 300 years of obscurity.
- “Inside the Score” concerts feature short musical programs – about an hour and a half in length, with no intermission – aimed at giving audience members a unique insight into the music. Kalmar will first discuss the work, setting it in context and illustrating his points with other musical examples. The Oregon Symphony will then perform Elgar’s composition in its entirety.
- This is the final concert in the orchestra’s “Inside the Score” series. (It will be replaced next season by a Sunday matinee series of full-length concerts.)
- The presenting sponsor is the Portland Tribune.
SATURDAY-MONDAY, MAR. 14-16:
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF TOMAS SVOBODA’S “VORTEX FOR ORCHESTRA”
- When and Where: Three performances, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Mar. 14 and 15, and 8 p.m. Monday, Mar. 16; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
- The Performers: The Oregon Symphony, with Music Director Carlos Kalmar on the podium, joined by pianist Freddy Kempf.
- The Program:
- Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 3
- Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
- Tomas Svoboda: Vortex for Orchestra
- Tickets: $15 to $98; at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office, 923 SW Washington St., in downtown Portland. Ticket office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Tickets may also be purchased by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 during the same hours, or online at any time from the orchestra’s web site, orsymphony.org. Tickets are also available through ticketmaster.com or by calling (503) 790-ARTS.
- What’s So Special About These Concerts:
- Vortex for Orchestra, the newest work of Portland-based composer Tomas Svoboda, receives its world premiere performances at these concerts. Vortex for Orchestra was commissioned by the Oregon Symphony and is supported in part by a grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust.
- Svoboda describes his 23-minute-long Vortex for Orchestra as “a warning signal to those who may be responsible for all of this mess and chaos we are experiencing.”
- London-born pianist Freddy Kempf, one of the rising stars on world concert stages, returns to perform the brash and exuberant Third Piano Concerto of Sergei Prokofiev, the composer’s most popular. Kempf most recently appeared with the Oregon Symphony in November 2005, when he performed Prokofiev’s Second Concerto.
- The program opens with one of the genuine masterworks of the core orchestral repertoire, the ever-popular Symphony No. 3 of Johannes Brahms.
SATURDAY-SUNDAY, MAR. 21-22:
POPS SERIES CAPTURES THE SOUL OF NEW ORLEANS
- When and Where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Mar. 21, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Mar. 22; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. (NOTE: This concert will also be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday, Mar. 19, at Willamette University’s Smith Hall in Salem.)
- The Performers: The Oregon Symphony, with newly named Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik on the podium, joined by trumpet virtuoso and singer Byron Stripling.
- The Program:
- An anthology of classic jazz tunes from the Big Easy, including Fats Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” as well as a Louis Armstrong tribute and perennial favorites like “St. Louis Blues” and “Sweet Georgia Brown.”
- Tickets: FOR THE PORTLAND PERFORMANCES: $15 to $92; at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office, 923 SW Washington St., in downtown Portland. Ticket office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Tickets may also be purchased by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 during the same hours, or online at any time from the orchestra’s web site, orsymphony.org. Tickets are also available through ticketmaster.com or by calling (503) 790-ARTS.
FOR THE SALEM PERFORMANCE: $26 to $54, available from TicketsWest.
- What’s So Special About These Concerts:
- Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik returns for the last of the season’s four concerts in the orchestra’s shorter and more focused Pops season.
- Trumpeter/vocalist Byron Stripling, who has toured with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie and other greats from the world of jazz, makes his Oregon Symphony debut at these concerts. Tyzik calls Stripling “a consummate entertainer” and “one of the great trumpet players of our day.”
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CONTACT:
Carl Herko
Vice President, Media & Public Relations
(503) 416-6347
cherko@orsymphony.org