Along with a composer best known for film soundtracks and another writing scores for imaginary ones, a nonpareil classical guitarist, a pair of veteran string quartets, trio of top pianists, and several excellent choral concerts lead the itinerary in this week’s Oregon music.
Oregon Symphony, Saturday and Monday, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland.
Guest conductor Michael Francis leads the band in one of Stravinsky’s prettiest, most dramatic, yet most under-performed ballet scores, Orpheus, plus Richard Strauss’s fizzy tone poem, Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, and film composer Erich Korngold’s throwback Violin Concerto, starring soloist Simone Lamsma.
Jason Vieaux performs in Portland. Photo: Tyler Boye.
Jason Vieaux, Friday, St. Anne’s Chapel, Marylhurst University.
Read my Willamette Week preview
The Ensemble, Saturday, Riverside Community Church, Hood River, and Sunday, Reed College Chapel Portland.
A quintet of Portland’s finest singers, plus pianist/tenor Chris Engbretson, perform a splendid program of French music by Poulenc, Ravel, Faure, Debussy and more, including their great medieval musical ancestors Josquin, Jannequin, and Machaut.
The Sphinx Virtuosi perform Saturday at Portland State University.
The Sphinx Virtuosi, Saturday, Lincoln Performance Hall, Portland State University, Monday, Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall, Ashland, and Tuesday, Ross Ragland Theater, Klamath Falls.
America’s only black and Latino string orchestra plays music by Gabriela Lena Frank, John Corigliano, Aaron Copland, a world premiere by Jessie Montgomery, and more.
Oregon Repertory Singers, Vancouver Symphony, Saturday and Sunday, First United Methodist Church, Portland.
Read my Willamette Week preview
Emerson Quartet, Sunday, Beall Concert Hall, University of Oregon.
Read my Eugene Weekly preview.
Philharmonia Quartett Berlin, Monday and Tuesday, Lincoln Performance Hall, Portland State University.
Still going strong after three decades, the foursome plays a career-spanning trio of quartets by Beethoven on Monday, and by Bartok, Mozart, and Brahms the following night.
Eric Vloeimans Trio, Tuesday, The Old Church, Portland.
The Dutch trumpeter brings an unusual chamber jazz trio (cello and accordion) for a very cool program of film score music to both real and imaginary films.
Kitka, Saturday, Unitarian Fellowship, Ashland, and Sunday, WOW Hall, Eugene.
Kitka performs in Eugene and Ashland.
NW LoopFest, Friday, Analog Café, Portland, Saturday, Caprice Vineyards and Milagro’s, Ashland.
Performers from the US, Mexico, Sweden, France, Japan, Italy, Canada, and Slovakia perform loopy music (that is, using analog or digital loops of sounds, a la Bill Frisell, Zoe Keating, and zillions others) on Chapman stick, saxophone, guitar, vocals,
keyboards, clarinet, flute, mandolin, Chinese instruments, drums, electronics, home-made instruments, and bass.
Jefferson Baroque, Saturday Newman Methodist, Grants Pass, and Sunday, First United Methodist, Ashland.
The historically informed ensemble and singers perform Vivaldi’s most famous Gloria and a couple of concertos.
Rhonda (Ringering) Rizzo, Friday, Portland Piano Company.
The pianist plasy music by Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Amy Beach.
Randy Porter, Saturday, Michelle’s Piano, Portland.
One of the city’s pre-eminent jazz pianists leads a trio in music from his new album, Mental Block Party.
Michael Allen Harrison, Friday, The Old Church, Portland.
One of Oregon’s most popular pianists performs in this fundraiser for one of the city’s most important performance venues.
Metropolitan Opera National Council Oregon District Auditions, Sunday, Lincoln Performance Hall, Portland State University.
Open to the paying public, these auditions offer 40+ arias sung by young would-be stars aspiring to make the big show in New York and become the next Angela Meade or Renée Fleming, both former winners in the Met’s regional competitions.
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