Oregon ArtsWatch

ArtsWatch Archive


News & Notes: OPB arts hour, PBO recording, FIDDLER extended, MORE

October 1, 2013
News & Notes
News & Notes: Hot off the presses!/Wikimedia

News & Notes: Hot off the presses!/Wikimedia

As we wrote earlier today, ArtsWatch is committed to providing fresh arts news and commentary every day because THE ARTS ARE EVERYDAY! Seems obvious. What took us so long?

The problem with any daily arts news report in Portland and Oregon? Way too much news… So, right to it.

OPB announces “State of Wonder”

The April Baer-hosted radio hour devoted to the arts hasn’t really been a secret enterprise, but today OPB made it official. Although the show won’t begin until Nov. 2, “State of Wonder”  is posting audio segments from a variety of pilot shows previously recorded on its Facebook page.   And once it starts, like all OPB shows, the program can be streamed anytime on opb.org and mobile users can download the latest episodes on demand using the OPB News app.

A little editorial comment? ArtsWatch is excited that “State of Wonder” is ramping up, and we’re  confident that Baer will find the right blend of discovery, gravity and fun as she explores arts and culture around the city and state. Welcome aboard!

Portland Baroque Orchestra announces a new recording

On Friday, PBO starts a two-weekend-long program of Bach oboe and violin concertos featuring ace oboist Gonzalo X. Ruiz and five violinists from the orchestra. We fully expect those to be excellent, and if you want know more about these seminal oboe concertos, you can read David Stabler’s interview with Monica Huggett, PBO’s artistic director director.

PBO is going to be recording the concertos at St. Anne’s Chapel at Marylhurst for release before the Oregon Bach Festival in 2014. And it may be the recording that launches PBO’s own label, according to executive director Tom Cirillo.  PBO used Avie Records for its wonderful recording of Bach’s St. John Passion, but this time Cirillo says he’s both shopping for a label and considering going it alone: “It’s a little loose right now.”

An independent recording means lots of in-house marketing, of course, and lots of distribution work, but increasingly, that’s the way classical music groups are going, Cirillo said, because these days so much distribution is electronic. And PBO wouldn’t have to pay fees to a label for a service it could easily provide itself.

Center Stage adds eight ‘Fiddler’ performances

After I read Bob Hicks’s review of “Fiddler on the Roof,” I figured Center Stage would extend the run of the musical. Sure enough, they’ve carved out eight new shows, Tuesday, Oct. 29 to Sunday, Nov. 3, and now there’s much less of an excuse for missing Tevye in action.

And while we are on “Fiddler,” the cast will break character for an evening of cabaret to benefit Our House of Portland and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, 7:30 Monday, Oct. 21, at the Armory. Tickets are $20-$40, and these guys can really sing.

More and more

Design Week figures prominently in Brian Libby’s Design Calendar on his Portland Architecture site.

The Oregon Arts Summit is Monday at Portland’s Oregon Convention Center.

Artists Repertory Theatre’s Michael Mendelson burns down “Mistakes Were Made.”

Bag & Baggage’s “The Great Gatsby” examines the emptiness of Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age characters.

Philadelphia’s major investment in the bricks-and-mortar part of the arts has succeeded, but what about ongoing support for those arts centers, museums and organizations?

Music director Osmo Vänskä resigned from the Minnesota Orchestra as the Top Ten symphony continues its death spiral.

Composer Aaron Jay Kernis, co-founder and director of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Composers Institute, has also resigned.

Cut arts funding? Not Edinburgh.

Oregon ArtsWatch Archives