Of summer music festival
Rilling returns for round eight
By BOB WEBB
Of the Emerald
The University’s Summer Fes
tival of Music begain in 1970
when Helmuth Rilling came here
to do a workshop and a concert
He has returned to Eugene frorr
his native Germany every sum
mer since then and this year is nc
exception. Rilling will again serve
as guest conductor when the
Eighth Annual Festival of Musk
opens with a performance ol
Bach's Cantata BWV 34 at 3:3C
this afternoon.
In 1970 nearly all the perfor
mere were students and Eugene
area residents. In 1976, about 9J
per cent of the festival particip
ants were from outside the
Eugene area and represented 1 i
states and three countries.
"The festival has now grown tc
four workshops and 15 concerts,’
said Royce Saltzman, festiva
coordinator, “and involves from
175 to 200 musicians."
Professional artists, singers
and instrumentalists from 2C
states, Canada and Germany will
perform this year under Rilling s
direction. The 90-voice Festival
Chorus will perform
Mendelssohn’s oratorio, Elijah; a
70-voice choir, the Bach Mass in
B Minor and Cantata 201, and a
Chamber Choir, the afternoon
cantatas. An additional 60 musi
cians comprise the Festival Or
chestra, 35 of whom will partici
pate in the smaller orchestra re
quired for the two major Bach
wonts.
Featured soloists for the Sum
mer Festival are Delcina Steven
son, Michael Sells and Douglas
Lawrence from Los Angeles;
Philip Frohnmayer and Louis
Welcher from Salt Lake City;
Alyce Rogers from Portland —
and Dorothy Bergquist, James
Miller and Neil Wilson from
Eugene.
The festival will also feature a
six-member chamber group, The
Musical Offering from Los
Angeles.
“The quality of Riding's work
continues to attract fine
musicians for the orchestra and
choir,” explains Saltzman. “In
strumentalists represent various
symphony organizations on the
West Coast, and many of the sin
gers come from major colleges
and universities throughout the
United States.”
Festival audiences have also
increased, from 500 in 1970 to a
total of 2,700 for the six evening
concerts last year. Attendance at
the afternoon cantata series to
taled an additional 2,500. Tickets
sold out for three evening perfor
mances.
Emerald photo
Heimuth Rilling
This year, for the first time, the
Festival will take a performance
to Portland: Bach's Mass in B
Minor, in the Civic Auditorium, on
Saturday. Saltzman said the Port
land concert expresses the "desire
to expand the festival’s outreach
and visibility."
Johann Sebastian Bach is trad
itionally the musical focus of the
Summer Festival of Music, “since
he, more than any other com
poser, has influenced musical
thought and compositional tech
nique from the eighteenth century
to the present," said Saltzman.
Other composers who will be
featured this summer are Felix
Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and
Robert Schumann.
Helmuth Rilling has been ac
claimed internationally as one of
the great interpreters of Bach.
The past seasons here at the fes
tival have made him known for his
sensitive interpretations of such
major choral works as the St.
Matthew Passion of Bach, the
Missa Solemnis of Beethoven,
and the great requiems of Mozart,
Brahms and Verdi.
In Germany, Rilling conducts
five choirs, and the Bach
Collegium Orchestra of Stuttgart
which he founded in 1965. The
choirs include the distinguished
Gaechinger Kantorei and the
Figuralchor of the Gedaechtnis
kirche (Memorial Church) of
Stuttgart, and the Frankfurter
Kantorei.
In the next two weeks, a series
of eight cantatas will be per
formed on as many afternoons
(see schedule below) with $1
for a single admission. Tickets for
the entire series may be pur
chased for $5. Senior citizen’s can
tata series tickets are $2.50 with
a single admission of 50tf. There
is no reserved seating for the can
tata series.
There is reserved seating for
the six evening concerts and the
lecture-rehearsal (again see
schedule). Festival series tickets
for these concerts are $30, $20,
and $15. Single admission tickets I
for Bach's Mass in B Minor and
Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah are
$7.50, $5 and $3.50. General
admission to all other concerts is
$5, $3.50 and $2.50.
Tickets will also be sold for the
lecture-dress rehearsal of
Mendelssohn s Elijah for $1.50
with no reserved seating.
Tickets for all of the above may
be purchased at the door or from
the Summer Festival Box Office
located in the music school build
ing. The box office phone number
is 686-3764.
SCHEDULE OF CANTATA PERFORMANCES
Cantata performances will be conducted in
Beall Concert Hall by advanced conducting stu
dents under the supervision of Helmuth Rilling.
Tuesday, July 5, 3:30 p.m. — Bach Cantata BWV
34
Wednesday, July 6, 3:30 p.m. — Bach Cantata
BWV 23
Thursday, July 7, 3:30 p.m. — Bach Cantata
BWV 74
Monday, July 11,3:30 p.m. — Bach Cantata BWV
19
Tuesday, July 12, 3:30 p.m. — Bach Cantata
BWV 40
Wednesday, July 13, 3:30 p.m. — Bach Cantata
BWV 73
Thursday, July 14, 3:30 p.m. — Bach Cantata
BWV 73
Friday, July 15, 3:30 p.m. — Bach Cantata BWV
147
SCHEDULE OF FESTIVAL CONCERTS
All in Beall Concert Hall
Friday, July 8 — 8:30 p.m. — Bach: Mass in B
KAinrtr
Saturday, July 9 — 8:30 p.m. — Chamber music
Concert
The Musical Offering
Sunday, July 10— 3:30 p.m. — Lecture Concert:
Bach Cantata 201
Thursday. July 14 — 8:30 p.m. — Orchestra Con
cert
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Hayden
Mozart: Horn Concerto, K. 417
Schumann: Symphony No. 4 in D Minor
Friday, July 15 — 8:30 p.m. — Chamber Music
Concert
The Musical Offering
Sunday, July 17 — 8:30 p.m. — Mendelssohn:
Elijah
LECTURE-REHEARSAL
Saturday, July 16 — 2:30 p.rm — Mendelssohn:
Elijah
PORTLAND CONCERT
Saturday, July 9 — 8 p.m. — Bach: Mass in B
Minor
VOLKSWAGEN
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