MUS I C
BY BRETT CAMPBELL
JED BARAHAL
FRIENDLY
CLASSICS
Reinventing the classical
music experience
C
lassical music’s recent struggles have less to do
with the music itself than the stuffy, archaic,
expensive way it’s too often presented in
America. High-priced tickets, long concerts
(with often pointless intermissions and under-
rehearsed repertoire), silly “rules” about when
it’s OK to applaud (that many of the composers themselves
wouldn’t have recognized) and a solemn atmosphere with
players wearing 19th-century formal attire, endless
repetition of a few stale warhorses, a stage presentation
that shows disdain for the audience … it’s a wonder
anyone under 60 wants to go at all.
Fortunately, classical musicians around the country have
been reinventing how and even where classical music is
staged. For the past four years, Chamber Music Amici has
been bringing classical music closer to its community by
shaking up the long-calcified format. Instead of two-plus hour
endurance contests which overwhelm both the performers’
rehearsal and focus capabilities, not to mention the audience’s
attention, CMA’s shows last an hour with no intermission (a
most welcome trend I’m seeing elsewhere) — and they’re
followed by an onstage party with refreshments that allows
the enthusiastic audience members to connect with the musi-
cians and with each other. Thanks to a deep pool of experi-
enced core and guest artists, the instrumental combinations
change with every concert, keeping the experience fresh for
players and listeners alike. Though the ensemble has made a
home in Wildish Theater, contributing to downtown Spring-
field’s cultural revival, it also offers outreach programs at
public schools and retirement centers, bringing the music to
the people instead of forcing them to worship at the temple of
classical music. It even sponsors an annual poster art contest
(deadline Dec. 5) for local artists.
Crucially, the company keeps ticket prices relatively
low (resulting in sold-out concerts that broaden the
audience base while keeping it out of debt) and, most
importantly, doesn’t compromise the quality and integrity
of the music itself, relying on experienced players to
deliver satisfying performances that appeal to both newbies
and experienced listeners.
On Monday, Dec. 3, at the Wildish Theater, Chamber
Music Amici violinists Sharon Schuman and Pilar Bradshaw,
violists Fritz Gearhart and Holland Phillips, pianist Victor
Steinhardt and a special guest, California-born, Portugal-
based cellist Jed Barahal , perform one of Mozart’s
delightful violin sonatas, a cello sonata by 20th- century
Portuguese composer Luiz Costa, and Max Bruch’s string
quintet in A minor. They also perform the program on Nov.
30 at Cascade Manor and Dec. 1 at Oakland’s MarshAnn
Landing winery. On Dec. 5 and 6, the group hosts a pair of
house concerts in Eugene featuring Barahal performing
maybe the greatest solo instrumental music of all — J.S.
Bach’s suites for solo cello. Next month, the Amici website
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November 21, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
(chambermusicamici.org) will feature a documentary
(including interviews with Dave Frohnmayer, Peter DeFazio
and others) about The Emperor’s New Clothes, a
collaboration with the Eugene Ballet Company we told you
about last year that brought 2,000 students to free
performances of composer Peter Schickele’s setting of H.C.
Andersen’s fable. The group has built a teaching curriculum
around the story and performance — another way Chamber
Music Amici connects classical music to its community.
Several Amici performers hail from UO faculty, past
and present, and another group of UO musicians —
graduate students who specialize in ancient music history
— have formed a new project called Audeamus that is
revamping early music performance traditions. At 3 pm
Dec. 2, at United Lutheran Church, you can hear them
perform medieval music from famed manuscripts including
the Cantigas de Santa Maria, Codex Calixtinus, and the
Red Book of Montserrat.
On the UO campus, there’s an abundance of student
chamber music at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on
Nov. 30, the annual Holiday Choral Concert on Dec. 1 at
Beall Concert Hall, the popular Gospel Choirs show on
Dec. 2. And probably the most interesting concert of the
month features the combined Oregon and University
Percussion Ensembles in music by Bach, Haydn (as
you’ve never heard them), the great Mexican composer
Carlos Chavez and rollicking contemporary works by
Daniel Levitan and Illinois composer James Romig.
Finally, on Nov. 30, The Shedd opens its final theatrical
production of the season: a full production of the 1983
stage adaptation of the great Gene Kelly film, Singin’ in
the Rain — an appropriate theme for December in
Oregon. ■