This weekend’s concerts feature two of the most crowd-pleasing violinists in classical music, plus a pair of concerts that combine music with another art form. Beyond that, it might be a good weekend to catch one of the many appealing theater offerings on Oregon stages, because next weekend, the music scene really begins to heat up and it’ll be tough to squeeze all the artsy goodness in.
Oregon Symphony, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Friday, Smith Auditorium, Willamette University, Salem; Saturday-Monday, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland. Read my Willamette Week preview of one of the orchestra’s most compelling concerts of the season.
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg performs with the Oregon Symphony this weekend. Photo: Christian Steiner.
Eugene Symphony with Itzhak Perlman, Sunday, Hult Center, Eugene. Read my Eugene Weekly preview of the return of a classical music legend.
Oregon Bach Collegium, Sunday, United Lutheran Church, Eugene. Read my Eugene Weekly preview of the season’s first historically informed Baroque concert.
Douglas Webster and Friends, Saturday, The Old Church, Portland. In this fundraiser for one of Oregon’s most valuable musical venues, actor-singer Webster leads a multimedia tour of music on Broadway from the Hairy year (1969) the beautiful 19th century church was converted to godless secular arts worship to the present.
Beverly Serra Brooks, Sunday, Portland Piano Company. The Portland pianist combines art and music in a multimedia performance of Mussorgsky’s original piano version of his famous Pictures at an Exhibition (just performed in Ravel’s orchestral arrangement by the Columbia Symphony), which the composer wrote in memory of his artist friend Viktor Hartmann, after attending a posthumous exhibition of Hartmann’s paintings (including some owned by Mussorgsky himself). Brooks will be surrounded by a “creative re-imagining of original artworks” by Hartmann, created for this exhibition by eight contemporary Northwest artists.
Dianne Davies and The Davies Family, Sandra Miller, Iridescence Duo, Saturday, Temple Baptist Church, Portland. In this good-humored performance to benefit City Team Ministries, which provides hot meals, safe shelter, recovery programs and other help homeless Portlanders, Davies delivers her signature spoofs of classical music, while the organist and flute/piano duo play music by composer Colleen Adent and others.
KBOO 50th anniversary broadcast, Monday, KBOO FM. Some of Portland’s top musicians (tentatively including Third Angle New Music’s Ron Blessinger, jazzer Gordon Lee, Northwest New Music’s Diane Chaplin, Blue Crane Reed Wallsmith and more) honor the 80th birth year of one of America’s greatest composers, Terry Riley, and the station’s half century anniversary with a live performance of Riley’s proto minimalist 20th century classic, In C, broadcast over the airwaves and the intertubes at 11 pm.
Portland Opera Resident Artists season preview, Saturday, Multnomah County Library, Portland. In this free lunchtime performance, the newest crop of rising young singers performs excerpts from this year’s operas, including Show Boat, The Rake’s Progress, and more.
Portland Opera Open Chorus Rehearsal, Sunday, Director Park, Portland. A free preview of the opera’s season including choruses from The Bat, Carmen, and more.
Doug Scheuerell and Gurumukh Singh, Friday, Yoga West, Eugene and Saturday, Mandala Yoga, Portland. The veteran Oregon tabla master joins the singer in a performance of Indian Drupad kirtan music.
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