BRAVO! EW'S GUIDE TO THE WINTER/SPRING 2004 PERFORMING ARTS SEASON
Wynton Marsalis,
Mar. 5, Silva.
Wayne Shorter, Apr. 14, Shedd.
A Musical Renewal
MEGA ACTS LEAD US INTO SPRING. BY BRETT CAMPBELL
Here are some highlights of winter and spring shows, but as most clubs and venues don’t list performances until a few
days or weeks before the show, keep checking EW’s Calendar and music columns throughout the season for updated
and additional listings. For now, see Bravo listings to ponder the full season’s lineups.
EUGENE SYMPHONY
Cities several times our size would love to
have a symphony season this progressive, as
well as a music director this impressive.
Giancarlo Guerrero, already a smashing suc-
cess on every level in his tenure here, must
believe that Eugene audiences have adven-
turous ears, and we’re lucky that he chooses
so adeptly. The ESO’s Jan. 15 concert brave-
ly offers fascinating contemporary concertos
by one of today’s hottest composers,
Jennifer Higdon , and the 20th century titan
Witold Lutoslawski . The April 22 concert
— maybe the season’s highlight — is anoth-
er of Guerrero’s artful mixes of new and old,
with music of and an appearance by one
of the great living composers, John
Corigliano . His scores for Altered States and
The Red Violin are some of the finest ever
composed for film. In addition, perhaps the
greatest symphony ever written, Beethoven’s
mighty seventh, will be performed. The two-
year Beethoven cycle concludes with the first
and last symphonies on May 20, while clas-
sical music’s brightest star, Yo-Yo Ma ,
comes to town a week earlier.
OREGON MOZART PLAYERS
Most towns are happy to have one
extraordinary young classical music con-
ductor. Eugene has two — Guerrero and
20 JANUARY 8, 2004
OMP’s Glen Cortese , who also compos-
es. Cortese’s “Mannahatta,” based on texts
by Walt Whitman, opens the Jan. 10-11
concerts, along with flute music by Mozart.
Former Eugene Opera conductor Frank
Graffeo returns for his annual Candlelight
Concert on Feb. 27-28, and the OMP.
The Mozart Players tread on territory
staked out by OFAM (Copland’s
Appalachian Spring in January) and the
Eugene Symphony (Beethoven’s Symphony
#3 in May) — but that only seems fair, con-
sidering each of them is doing Mozart cham-
ber orchestra music (the overplayed Eine
Kleine Nachtmusik in OFAM’s January con-
cert and the great Piano Concerto #24 in the
symphony’s March 18 show).
OFAM/THE SHEDD
Get out your calendar and cancel all
nighttime appointments for the week of
April 12, because music lovers will want to
be at the Shedd. On the 13th, one of jazz’s
finest contemporary pianists and com-
posers, Brad Mehldau , performs, followed
the very next night by one of the greatest
jazz figures of the 20th century, tenor saxo-
phonist and composer Wayne Shorter .
And on Friday the 16th, the world’s greatest
bass player, Edgar Meyer (first call in
Nashville sessions as well as with classical
ensembles), plays a solo concert there.
(That same night, another great bassist,
jazzer David Friesen, plays Luna, and on
the 15th, the Ethos Percussion Quartet
plays with Indian musicians at the Hult
Center. What a week!)
OFAM also offers jazz’s single most vis-
ible figure, trumpeter/composer/bandleader
Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center
Jazz Orchestra at the Hult in March, the
astonishingly innovative trumpeter/compos-
er Dave Douglas with his quintet in May,
preeminent jazz chanteuses Diane Reeves
and Cassandra Wilson in February and
March, respectively, folk legend Joan
Baez in March, a classical concert at the
end of January and a Latin American
Baroque concert (hosted by Eugene fave
Maria Jette ) in April, and much more.
EUGENE CONCERT CHOIR &
VOCAL ARTS ENSEMBLE
The city’s premier vocal institutions
offer overviews of big band music (in
February), world music (in April — my top
recommendation for this group’s season)
and — to prove that last year’s massive
Berlioz Requiem was no fluke success —
another megamasterpiece, Verdi’s Requiem
to close the season in May.
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
If The Shedd will be my second home
this spring, the UO’s Beall Hall will be my
third. Far too many worthy shows are hap-
pening there to cover here, but the brightest
of the highlights include violinist Diane
Monroe playing a jazz show on Jan. 16 and
a classical show on the 22nd, the legendary
Juilliard Quartet in February, produc-
tions of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music
and Orff’s ever-popular Carmina Burana
in February, visits from new music per-
formers New Century Saxophone
Quartet and Ethos Percussion Quartet
(twice! including once with Indian musi-
cians) in March, classical music of South
India on Feb. 27, and much, much more –
often free or for a pittance.
As always, there’ll be plenty of fine
shows at clubs all over town (the best being
Sam Bond’s, Luna, and Café Paradiso), as
well as venues from the Hult Center, WOW
Hall and McDonald Theatre to the new
Downtown Institute for the Visual Arts and
the Atrium (which offers free concerts on
many Saturday afternoons), and newer
spaces like Cozmic Pizza, Indigo and more.
Look for an excellent Celtic festival in
March at several venues, and keep check-
ing EW’s calendar and columns for music
coverage.
ew