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Weekend MusicWatch

By Brett Campbell
August 5, 2015
Music

It’s a big summer festival weekend—Britt, American, Byrd—but don’t forget several recommended indie classical shows among the mid-August Oregon musical highlights. Please let ArtsWatch readers know about other recommended events in the comments section below.

Tale in the Telling Trio
August 5
Turn Turn Turn, 8 NE Killingsworth, Portland.
Two of Portland’s most promising young jazz-oriented composers, Douglas Detrick (banjo, cornet, electronics), and Barra Brown (drums) join a couple of Classical Revolution PDX’s emerging stars Mike Gamble (guitar) and Patrick McCulley (saxophone) in what should be an intriguing exploration of the territories between contemporary classical composition and jazz improvisation.

ARCO-PDX debuted at Portland's Mississippi Studios.

ARCO-PDX performs in Eugene and Portland this weekend.

Cadence Festival of the Unknown
August 6
Classic Pianos, 3003 SE Milwaukie Ave. Portland.
Read my Willamette Week preview of this jazz-oriented monthly series’s latest show.

 

Teddy Abrams leads the Britt Festival Orchestra.

Teddy Abrams leads the Britt Festival Orchestra.

Britt Festival
August 5-8
Britt Pavilion and Performance Garden, Jacksonville.
Britt orchestra musicians give a free chamber music concert August 5. A superb all-American program August 7 includes a world premiere by Britt music director Teddy Abrams, American classics by Ives, Copland and George Antheil, and a fascinating original song cycle collaboration with the intriguing singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan (who’s worked with jazzer Dave Douglas as well as cultivating a fine rock career) and songwriter/violinist Jeremy Kittel setting words by Oregon Poet Laureate Peter Sears. The next day, the energetic Abrams merely leads Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony, another American classic by Samuel Barber, and performs with his own Sixth Floor Trio.

Cantores in Ecclesia performs at the William Byrd Festival.

Cantores in Ecclesia performs at the William Byrd Festival.

William Byrd Festival
August 7-9
St. Stephen’s Church, 1112 SE 41st Ave. Portland.
Cantores in Ecclesia, conducted variously by its director, Blake Applegate, British organist and longtime festival participant Mark Williams, and the acclaimed British choral conductor Jeremy Summerly, from the Royal Academy of Music, continues its complete traversal of the music of England’s greatest Renaissance composer. This opening weekend’s events include Friday’s mass in memory of long time Festival singer, conductor and lecturer David Trendell, who died last year, a talk by the ever authoritative singer and scholar Kerry McCarthy on Saturday, Sunday’s Compline service featuring Byrd’s Music for the Divine Office, sung by Cantores in Ecclesia.


Discordia
August 8, Cozmic Pizza, Eugene. August 9, Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, Portland.
ARCO-PDX
Read my Willamette Week preview of the electrified — and electrifying — chamber orchestra’s powerful program of 20th and 21st century music, including compositions by Oregonians Ernest Bloch and Kenji Bunch.

“Fine & Dandy”
Oregon Festival of American Music
August 7-9
Jaqua Concert Hall, John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts, 285 E Broadway, Eugene.
Read my Eugene Weekly preview of the festival’s annual summer musical, “Whoopee!” and its first week of shows, including Tuesday’s Gershwin romp.

 Stephanie Hawkins, Jim Ballard, Kaitlyn Sage and  Trevor Eichhorn make Whoopee! at The Shedd this weekend.

Stephanie Hawkins, Jim Ballard, Kaitlyn Sage and Trevor Eichhorn make Whoopee! at The Shedd.

Grand & Glorious: Opera’s Greatest Arias, Duets, and Ensembles
August 8
Portland SummerFest, Washington Park Amphitheater, Portland.
Keith Clark returns to conduct the annual Opera in the Park, starring veteran sopranos Angela Meade and Amy Hansen, mezzo-soprano MaryAnn McCormick, tenor Cameron Schutza, and baritone Luis Ledesma plus chorus and orchestra. Instead of presenting a concert version of a single opera, this time the free outdoor concert features some of opera’s greatest hits.

Music in Small Spaces
August 8
Beaverton Library Auditorium
The O.H.A.N.A. foundation brings music, dance, crafts and other aspects of Hawaiian culture the afternoon series.

Portland Festival Symphony 
August 8, U.S. Grant Park, August 9, Washington Park, Portland.
Begun in 1981, Lajos Balogh’s annual free, family friendly orchestra concerts in Portland parks continue with Saturday and Sunday performances of music by Bartok, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Septet
August 8
Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, 15771 NE Ribbon Ridge Rd., Newberg.
In this PDX Jazz concert, the venerable New York-based NEA Jazz Master and bandleader, one of America’s most important contributors to Afro-Cuban jazz, brings his scorching septet (and a personally selected a la carte food menu) to the Willamette Valley’s scenic Dundee Hills, in a benefit for Salud, an organization that provides access to healthcare for Oregon’s seasonal vineyard workers and their families.

Ben Leinfelder and Joel Kleinbaum perform with Alternate Destination. Photo: Gary Stallsworth.

Ben Leinfelder and Joel Kleinbaum perform with Alternate Destination. Photo: Gary Stallsworth.

Alternate Destination
August 9
Colonial Heights Presbyterian Church, 2828 SE Stephens St., Portland.
Read my Willamette Week preview of the world chamber jazz ensemble’s show.

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Want to learn more about contemporary Oregon classical music? Check out Oregon ComposersWatch. 

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