EW’S GUIDE TO THE OREGON BACH FESTIVAL 2010
The Secret Lives of Musicians
THE UO’S BARNHART RESIDENCE HALL HOUSES HUNDREDS OF BACH FEST FOLKS
T
hey descend from all over the
country, hauling luggage, returning
to their bikes, desk lamps, blankets
and best friends. They rush into each
other’s arms, laughing and happy. They
take over Barnhart Residence Hall, eating
three meals a day in its cafeteria, sometimes
getting busted by 21-year-old R.A.s for
being too loud after quiet hours begin.
That’s right: The Oregon Bach Festival
chorus and orchestra are here, and don’t
you forget it.
“I think the local businesses really
benefi t from our presence,” says Helen
Van Wyck, an alto and music professor at
Trinity College in Illinois. She’s lived the
OBF dorm life for 25 years and knows how
to get around downtown Eugene. “A lot of
people buy or rent bikes from Blue Heron,
GUY FEW
and Full City defi nitely knows when we’re
in town.”
Van Wyck gives up the pet names:
The dorm residents call the 7-11 “the
Siebenhaus,” a jokey name “because of
its authentic German atmosphere” and
because the chorus and orchestra both have
a mix of German and U.S. members. The
OBFers occupy three fl oors of the residence
hall, located on Patterson between Franklin
and 11th Ave.
Guest musicians like Guy Few and
the Portland Baroque Orchestra also take
advantage of the dorms instead of staying
with OBF fans. Some musicians rent
houses and bring their families for a month
in Eugene.
Dave Goudy, OBF artistic administrator,
gets to help the adults understand that no
air conditioning in Oregon summers maybe
isn’t as bad as it would be in their home
states, among other details, for the more
than 200 OBF-associated people staying in
160-180 rooms of the residence hall.
Some of those people are the teens
of the Stangeland Family Youth Choral
Academy, but they don’t come into much
contact with the adults. Van Wyck says,
“They’re not supposed to use the elevators,
and they don’t come onto our fl oors.” The
teens, about whom you can read an OBF
’07 story at http://wkly.ws/mc (PDF), stay
busy almost all of the time anyway, as do
the musicians.
Sure, the adults gather and talk late
into the night (occasionally, as with last
year, so loudly that they have to be busted
by R.A.s), but they also take care of their
voices. “We eat well — we eat too much!”
in the cafeteria, Van Wyck says, but the
musicians also exercise in groups. She says
a lot of people run in the mornings along
the river, or ride the bikes they rent (or keep
in town over the winter; Van Wyck’s bike
goes home with a chorus member friend
from Portland, along with her desk lamp),
by Suzi Steffen
OBF CHORUS
and of course unless they’re in concert
dress, they walk a lot.
“It’s really close walking to the Hult
Center; our farthest walk is to Beall
Hall,” says soprano Jessica Rossi, who’s
been singing with the chorus for the past
half-decade. In addition, the Downtown
Athletic Club gives the musicians a
discount for the three weeks they’re in
town, and Rossi (who lived in Eugene for
fi ve years and is now a grad student at the
Longy School of Music in Boston) takes
advantage of the offer.
Goudy, who started dealing with the
housing for the musicians last year, says
that “old-timers have their strategies,
whether they want the east side or the west
side, where the train sounds are, other
things you don’t think about until you
suddenly awaken with the sun pouring in
at 5 am, and the room heats up 10 degrees
in fi ve minutes.”
Rossi’s strategy for dealing with the
hot days and cooler nights means bringing
some fans and blankets from her parents’
house to the dorm. So why doesn’t she
stay with her parents? “The dorm life
is a different experience, and it’s more
inclusive. The focus is more on music.”
Though she says the singers don’t
sing together at night after rehearsing and
performing all day, they also don’t stop
discussing the reason they’re all in Eugene.
“We do sometimes stay up late talking about
what awesome, funny things Mr. Rilling did
that day,” Rossi says. “I’m thrilled, shocked
and honored every year I get to come back
because I learn so much from him.”
Barnhart weaves its way into the tales
of the OBF. “This is what people talk about
when they’re waxing nostalgic for the Bach
Fest,” Goudy says. “They’re talking about
going into the dining room, sitting down
next to people from all over the country
and from different fi elds.”
Van Wyck agrees. “The best thing is
that we’re all together,” she says. “I was
describing the festival to someone who
had never heard of it, and they said it
sounds like the best possible version of
summer camp. You live with people you
really love, and you make high-quality
music together. These are like soulmates,
lifelong friends.” ◆
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OBF’10 | 3