pacificlectic : concert reviews & eclectic music news

The official press release is out… coming up next summer in Eugene Oregon (and beyond), the Oregon Bach Festival (OBF) is bringing in some great artists…

2011 Oregon Bach Festival, June 23 through July 10, 2011 in Eugene, Ashland, Bend, and Portland.

The headliners include:

• Yo-Yo Ma, as soloist in Osvaldo Golijov’s Azul, a showcase for cello written for the classical superstar. Jeffrey Kahane conducts this opening night concert Thursday, June 23, which also includes Bach’s Magnificat.
• Marin Alsop conducts a staged concert of Honneger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake. Directed by James Robinson, the inventive and versatile artistic director of Opera Theatre of St. Louis, the new production is slated for later performance in Carnegie Hall.
• Miguel Harth-Bedoya appears with his Caminos Del Inka ensemble. The collaborative group takes listeners on a musical and visual journey along the Inca Trail, with classical and folk music, authentic folk instruments, and stunning visual projections. Harth-Bedoya also conducts “Once More with a Twist,” small-group arrangements of such major works as Mahler’s fourth symphony.
• Matthew Halls, the versatile harpsichordist and conductor based in the UK but now earning accolades as a conductor with operas and the world’s major orchestras. Halls conducts the OBF choir and orchestra in music by Purcell, Handel, and Britten, and leads one of six Discovery lecture-concerts.
• Violinist Monica Huggett directs her Portland Baroque Orchestra in performances of Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas in OBF concerts in Portland, Bend, Eugene, and Ashland. South African opera newcomer Golda Schultz sings the title role.
  

Other artists and concerts include:

• Venezuelan conductor Maria Guinand, whose Schola Cantorum choir appears with OBF forces and headlines their own concerts
• Pianist Shai Wosner, who enthralled audiences as a last-minute fill-in for Jeffrey Kahane last summer
• Cellist Alban Gerhardt, performing the cello suites of Bach and Benjamin Britten over three concerts
• Jamie Bernstein, presenting cabaret and children’s classical concerts.
  

The full Festival schedule will be available February 14, 2011, when tickets go on sale.

More surprises to come.  Keep your eyes on OBF’s website, their Facebook page, and their Twitter… as news comes out.

~Dan – np: Charles Mingus – Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus