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Weekend MusicWatch: Pianos aplenty, singalongs galore

By Brett Campbell
July 18, 2014
Music

Chamber Music Northwest, Thursday-Tuesday, Kaul Auditorium, Reed College, and Portland State University. Read my Willamette Week preview of CMNW’s slate of concerts. Read my ArtsWatch interview feature with composer David Del Tredici about his new Bullycide, which receives its Northwest premiere Monday and Tuesday and provides a passionate musical response to an American tragedy. And don’t forget next Wednesday’s final Club Concert at Alberta Rose Theater featuring the vibrant young musicians of CMNW’s Protege Project performing arrangements of opera favorites.

Piano!PushPlay! returns to the Portland Art Museum with a CD release concert. Photo: Benji

Piano!PushPlay! returns to the Portland Art Museum with a CD release concert. Photo: Benji

Piano!PushPlay!, Friday, Portland Art Museum Roberts Sculpture Garden. Read my Willamette Week preview of the plucky piano-pushers’ CD release performance, and read my ArtsWatch story about P!PP!.

You can pick up produce and the sounds of Jack Gabel's music Monday at Pioneer Courthouse Square.

You can pick up produce and the sounds of Jack Gabel’s music Monday at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Photo: Chris Leck Photography.

Jack Gabel & Friends, Monday, Pioneer Courthouse Square Farmers Market, Portland. Score some healthy homegrown blueberries and other summer edible delights while enjoying the music of one of Oregon’s finest composers, including works (often featuring electroacoustic accompaniment) for flute (Tessa Brinckman), cello (Diane Chaplin), sax (Tom Bergeron), piano (Art Resnick) and the premiere of a new composition for piano, percussion and electronics featuring Third Angle New Music pianist Susan Smith and percussionist Ian Kerr.

Oregon Coast Music Festival, Tuesday, Marshfield High School Auditorium, Coos Bay. The festival’s orchestral program, led by James Paul, features Shakespeare-inspired music by Ralph Vaughan Williams (his London Symphony), a suite from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and more.

Abbey Bach Festival, Wednesday, Mt. Angel Abbey, St. Benedict. The annual intimate summer celebration of Baroque music and more kicks off with Ensemble Caprice, featuring the fabulous flutist Matthias Maute and other historically informed performers playing and singing music by Bach(s), Vivaldi, Telemann and Handel.

Portland Summer Ensembles, Thursday, The Old Church, and Saturday, St. Anne’s Chapel, Marylhurst University, Portland. Thursday night’s faculty concert features former Oregon Symphony concertmaster Jun Iwasaki and friends performing Brahms’s String Quintet in G and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring ballet score arranged for two pianos and percussion. PSE students perform Saturday.

The Sacred Music of Mikagura, Saturday, Portland Art Museum. Read my Willamette Week preview of this performance of traditional Japanese sacred (Shinto) music and dance.

Mitsuki Dazai and Randall Havas, Saturday, Beaverton City Library Auditorium. The excellent Music in Small Spaces series brings the veteran Oregon koto (13-string zither) virtuosa and shakuhachi (bamboo flute) musician, who’ll play Japanese traditional music to accompany a traditional nihon buyo (a dance based on historical and mythological tales) and modern dance featuring dancers from Fujinami Kai School of Portland.

Cathedral Park Jazz Festival, Friday-Sunday, Cathedral Park, Portland. Read my Willamette Week preview of the 34th annual summer celebration of jazz.

Northwest String Summit, Thursday-Sunday, Horning’s Hideout, North Plains. The annual celebration of picking and grinning, features legends like Sam Bush, Danny Barnes and Darol Anger, younger players like the Infamous Stringdusters and the Shook Twins, and more bluegrass, newgrass, and various other offshoots of the American acoustic string band tradition.

Hunter Noack & Paul Roberts, Friday, Portland Piano Company. The London-based Oregon native joins the British-born frequent Oregon visitor in music (Noack on piano) by Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Bach and Ravel, with Roberts interpolating poetry readings. Renowned teacher Roberts gives a master class Saturday at PPC.

Midnight Serenaders, Tuesday, Lan Su Classical Chinese Garden, Portland. The 1920s-30s-style sextet swings the lovely Old Town garden’s Tuesdays by Twilight series.

Sing A Song of Portland, Sunday, 200 SW Ankeny, Portland. The ever-inquisitive folks at Know Your City lead an ambulatory journey through parts of the city’s music scene and history including a mobile sing along.

Summer Sings, Wednesday, Portland Community College Cascade Campus. Portland Youth Philharmonic music director David Hattner leads anyone who wants to sing in a performance of Mozart’s mighty Requiem, sponsored by Portland Symphonic Choir. Scores provided.

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