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Weekend MusicWatch: Guitar Army

By Brett Campbell
October 23, 2014
Music

OK, maybe not an army, but nearly a brigade of guitarists invade this weekend’s Oregon music stages — and not just rock-oriented ones. Oh, and there’s a pair of platoons of puppets, and a squadron of spooks, too.

Oregon Symphony, Friday, Smith Auditorium, Willamette University, Salem, and Saturday-Monday, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland.

Award-winning Spanish (of course) guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas, who’s lived in New York for more than a decade, stars in Joaquin Rodrigo’s inevitable (but irresistible) Concierto de Aranjuez, the haunting Baroque-flavored concerto that’s understandably the world’s most popular guitar concerto. The orchestra also plays more Spanish music, an arrangement of Albéniz’s Navarre, and a decidedly non-Spanish flavored work, German composer Felix Mendelssohn’s haggis-meets-sauerkraut “Scottish” symphony #3. Best of all, the show opens with Three Latin American Dances by the excellent American composer Gabriela Lena Frank, who returns to Portland from her Bay Area home after her successful recent showcase with Third Angle New Music.

Oregon Guitar Quartet performs Friday and Saturday at Portland State University.

Oregon Guitar Quartet performs Friday and Saturday at Portland State University.

Oregon Guitar Quartet, Friday, Lincoln Hall, Portland State University.

Read my Willamette Week preview

 

Cappella Romana, Saturday, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Portland.

Read my Willamette Week preview

Obo Addy Legacy Project performs Saturday at Portland State University.

Obo Addy Legacy Project performs Saturday at Portland State University.

Concert For Ebola Relief, Saturday, Lincoln Hall, Portland State University.

The OGQ, the fine world music group Al-Andalus Ensemble, and Obo Addy Legacy Project join forces to raise funds for Doctors Without Borders, whose services are urgently needed in treating the ebola crisis in Africa.

Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre, Portland Symphonic Girlchoir, Sunday, Parkrose High School, Portland.

The band leads kids and adults on a family friendly symphonic safari through music by Mussorgsky, Grieg, Bartok, Weber, and John Williams. Costumes encouraged!

Cascadia Loud Band, Friday, Community Music Center, Portland.

Musica Maestrale’s Hideki Yamaya, Laura Kuhlman, Brandon Labadie, Gayle Neuman, and Phil Neuman play shawms, dulcians, sackbutts, recorders, viol, and bagpipes in a period instrument performance of music from the English Renaissance by King Henry VIII, William Byrd, Thomas Tallis and more.

Bach Cantata Choir, Sunday, Rose City Park Presbyterian Church.

The chorus celebrates its 10th anniversary by performing music by the great Baroque composers Bach, Buxtehude and Zelenka.

Bach Cantata Choir Sings Sunday.

Bach Cantata Choir sings Sunday.

 

Chamber Music Amici, Monday, Wildish Theater, Springfield.

The ensemble composed mostly  of top-notch present and former University of Oregon faculty featuring one of the great Romantic piano trios, by Brahms, a sparkling Classical trio by Haydn, and a contemporary piece by an Oregon composer, David Bernstein, who founded Cascadia Composers, that proves that contemporary music needn’t be scary at all..

Ensemble Primo Seicento, Sunday, Central Lutheran Church, Eugene.

The historically informed group plays music for violin, cornetto, trombone, voices, and organ by the pioneering early Italian Baroque composers Riccio, Castello, Neri, G.M. Cesare, G.P. Cima, Picchi, and Frescobaldi.

Pianist Paul Roberts plays and talks Thursday at Portland's Old Church. Photo: Peter Schutte

Pianist Paul Roberts plays and talks Thursday at Portland’s Old Church. Photo: Peter Schutte

Paul Roberts, Thursday, The Old Church, Portland.

The long time frequent Portland visitor returns with a recital elucidating the musical connections between Spain and France, including music by Isaac Albeniz, Debussy, Manuel de Falla Maurice Ohana, Federico Mompou, Enrique Granados, Maurice Ravel and more.

Orion Weiss, Salzburg Marionette Theater, Sunday, Lincoln Hall, Portland State University.

Read Jana Hanchett’s ArtsWatch preview

Ananda Shankar Jayant, Friday, Winningstad Theatre, Portland.

The ten-member Indian dance troupe performs bharatha natyam dance ballet, accompanied by live violin and percussion music by virtuoso Indian musicians.

Phusiri Marka, Friday, Beall Hall, University of Oregon.

The Chilean ensemble plays panpipe, tarka, and orquesta music by the Aymara people of the Andes.

New West Guitar Group performs in Eugene and Ridgefield, WA.

New West Guitar Group performs in Eugene and Ridgefield, WA.

New West Guitar Group,Jazz Station, Eugene, Friday, Old Liberty Theater, Ridgefield, WA, Saturday.

The next generation of guitar whizzes plays originals to groovy covers of everyone from Simon & Garfunkel to The Police.

Xylouris White, Saturday, Bunk Bar, Portland.

Cretan folk lutenist meets Australian post punk drummer

Pius Cheung, Sunday, Beall Hall, University of Oregon.

The recital features the new taiko-inspired Nian2 plus more of the UO percussion prof’s original compositions.

Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, Friday, the Shedd, Eugene.

The great Scottish fiddler and American cellist bring their traditional sounds and a slate of new tunes from their new album, Abundance.

Eliot Grasso, Saturday, Beaverton City Library Auditorium, Beaverton.

With help from guitarist Glen Waddell, the University of Oregon faculty member and piper plays traditional Irish music.

Two Man Gentlemen Band, Thursday, Duff’s Garage, Portland.

Read my Willamette Week preview.

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