MUSIC
BY BRETT CAMPBELL
TO THE MOON AND BACK
CIGARETTES
© SFNTC 4 2014
Space soundscapes, piano aficionados,
big-band jazz and more
I
f you’ve been thrilled by the images of the NASA comet rendezvous, check out First
Methodist Church at 13th & Olive this Friday, Nov. 21, at 7 pm for a harmonic
convergence of eight local organists and one famous astronomer, Bernie Bopp. Bopp
will narrate a performance that includes electronic sounds derived from signals from
space, projected visuals of the moon, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, as well as organ
music related to the solar system including Mars Aeliptica by Rafael Ferreyra, Saturn by
Bent Lorentzen, Neptune (from The Planets) by Gustav Holst, Hymn To The Moon by
Gloria Hodges, Missa Gaia by James Scott and more.
Ebony and ivory also take center stage at the UO’s Beall Concert Hall 7:30 pm
Saturday, Nov. 22, when prize-winning Washington-born pianist Stephen Beus returns to
his native Northwest (after triumphing in top competitions at New York’s Juilliard School
and around the world) to play Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Oregon Mozart
Players. The program also includes one of the most colorful masterpieces of the French
Baroque, Rameau’s five-act “musical tragedy,” The Descendants of Boreas, and one of
Haydn’s great Paris symphonies, The Queen.
On Friday, Nov. 21, Beus joins OMP music director Kelly Kuo at the ivories for music
by American composer Samuel Barber, Israeli composer Ronn Yedidia and more at
Eugene Piano Academy in a limited-seating fundraiser, advance tickets required.
Still another keyboard
instrument, the fortepiano
(the predecessor to the
modern instrument whose
sound makes up in clarity
what it lacks in richness and
volume), is featured in the
Oregon Bach Collegium’s all-
Schubert concert 3 pm
Sunday, Nov. 23, at United
Lutheran Church. Along
with Margret Gries playing
some of the composer’s
gorgeous Musical Moments
on the keyboard, baritone
Philip Engdahl and a vocal
quartet will sing some of
Schubert’s immortal songs.
Still more Romantic
piano music rings out at
Beall 7:30 pm Monday,
Dec. 1, when UO pianist
Alexandre Dossin joins
members of the Oregon
String Quartet (Fritz Gearhart,
Kathryn Lucktenberg and
Steve
Pologe)
in
JIM SNIDERO LEADS THE OREGON JAZZ
ENSEMBLE NOV. 21 AT BEALL CONCERT HALL
performances of Brahm’s
Scherzo in C Minor, Sonata
No. 2 in A Major and Trio
No. 1 in B Major, inaugurating “In Beall with Brahms,” a new cycle of his chamber music
performed over three seasons.
One of Oregon’s finest keyboardists, George Colligan, plays both jazz piano and organ
(not to mention drums and trumpet), teaches at Portland State University and has worked
with some of this generation’s most esteemed jazzers, including Jack DeJohnette and
Cassandra Wilson. For the Broadway Avenue House Concert (911 W. Broadway) Saturday,
Nov. 22, at 7:30 pm, Colligan will be joined by another pair of Portlanders, Chris Higgins
and Chris Brown, along with Eugene sax master Joe Manis.
There’s more recommended jazz on Broadway this Thursday, Nov. 20, when The Jazz
Station hosts trombonist Ron Bertucci’s Quintet (with local guitarist Olem Alves, saxophonist
Jesse Cloninger, bassist Milo Fultz and drummer Randy Rollofson) playing American
songbook standards, and on Saturday, Nov. 22, when the great saxophonist Tom Bergeron
brings his Brasil Band, featuring singer Rosi Bergeron, guitarist Don Latarski, keyboardist
Gus Russell, bassist Page Hundemer and drummer Ryan Biesack.
There’s still more jazz at the UO Friday, Nov. 21, when acclaimed saxophonist Jim
Snidero leads the Oregon Jazz Ensemble and big bands in concert at Beall. On Monday,
Nov. 24, at 7:30 pm, Beall hosts the Oregon Wind Ensemble in music by the fine
contemporary composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and other Brits including Gustav Holst,
Gordon Jacob and contemporary composers.
Portland’s Black Prairie, who returns Thursday, Nov. 20, to The Shedd, started out as a
side project for members of the Decemberists and friends. Lately, however, the outfit has
become one of the city’s most appealing bands in its own right, expanding from its
bluegrass base to more rocking and pop styles. The next night, Nov. 21, The Shedd hosts
another folky-bluegrass-based band, the vocal trio Red Molly. But my top choice for Nov.
21 is the Portland band Arabesque’s 8:30 pm performance at Cozmic of traditional Middle
Eastern music accompanied by some of Eugene’s top belly dancers. ■
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EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • NOVEMBER 20, 2014
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