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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 2016)
MUSIC BY BRETT CAMPBELL THE ROMANTIC-SPOOKY SPECTRUM From the Eugene Symphony’s Mahler moment to Vox Resonat’s cemetery Day of the Dead concert T he brilliant banter between Beatrice and Benedict in Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing, one of theater’s most entertaining duets, seems ideal for a musi- cal setting. Sure enough, French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz, who created the trail- blazing Fantastic Symphony and other colorful orchestral works, wrote one (including the libretto, which adds some characters and subplots and jet- tisons others) in 1862. Yet in an opera world too often content to recycle the usual suspects, the symphony is sel- dom performed, except for its overture. Eugene Opera (also see Bravo story this issue) remedies that Oct. 28 and Oct. 30 when it brings LEYLA MCCALLA PLAYS MUSIC Berlioz’s sparkling Much Ado to the Hult Center’s FROM HER HAITIAN HERITAGE AT SAM BOND’S GARAGE Soreng Theater. This production features not only some of Oregon’s finest singers (Melina Pyron and Brendan Tuohy in the leads, plus Laura his symphonies, remaining popular ever since. Better Beckel Thoreson and Sandy Naishtat) but also two of still, the vocal quartet will sing contemporary songs writ- Eugene’s top actors, Bill Hulings and Steve Wehmeier. ten by some of Portland’s most accessible classical com- It might be your only chance to see this relative rarity posers. performed live in Oregon. Earlier on Oct. 22 at the University of Oregon’s Beall Some French-Shakespearean sparkle is just the anti- Hall, Russian String Orchestra plays Schoenberg’s dote to the late Romantic Germanic gloom that will no intense late Romantic tone poem Transfigured Night and doubt still hover over the Hult in the wake of Eugene Schubert’s string quartet Death and the Maiden, leavening Symphony’s Oct. 20 performance of Gustav Mahler’s the heaviness with a little Mozart. The next day, Oregon tragic 1904 6th Symphony. Actually, like all of Mahler’s Camerata comes to Beall to play 20th-century music by symphonies, this one seems to contain a whole galaxy of Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski, Russia’s Alfred emotions — he’d actually married and celebrated the Schnittke, the crazy-fun Stanford composer Mark arrival of two children just before writing the symphony, Applebaum and Brazil’s Heitor Villa-Lobos. mostly on a pastoral vacation — before he brings the big hammer down at the end. And at 4 pm Oct. 23 at the UO’s Lewis Integrative There’s more German Romanticism on Oct. 22 when Science Building, multidisciplinary artist Audra terrific Portland small choir The Ensemble and a pair of Wolowiec leads semaphore, a performance featuring crack pianists perform Brahms’ light-hearted Love Song CHOIR, Portland composer and sound artist Jesse Waltzes at Central Lutheran Church (1857 Potter Street). Mejia’s experimental vocal group, whose score is based Written for amateur musicians, these mega-pop hits of on data from a neuroscience lab. their day made Brahms a star and a lot more money than Halloween’s nigh, which means Eugene early music ensemble Vox Resonat’s Day of the Dead con- cert returns Oct. 29 to (shudder) the Masonic Cemetery Mausoleum at E. 26th and University. They’ll sing a powerful lament on the fall of the Roman Empire by the great Renaissance composer Dufay, and other suitably spooky Renaissance and Baroque music by Purcell, Josquin, the murderer Gesualdo, Byrd, Lassus and more. Other annual spookfests also return: Mood Area 52 performs its sizzling live score (electric guitar, cello, accordion, bass, horns, toy piano, percussion) to F.W. Murnau’s classic vampire flick Nosferatu Oct. 28 at Bijou Art Cinemas, while the same night’s annual Pipe Screams concert at First United Methodist Church (1376 Olive Street) features spooky classical music by costumed organists and choristers. You can repent your sins at the same church the next day at a free choral concert with music of Haydn, Vaughan Williams, Messiaen and more. On Oct. 27, The Shedd brings back one of the jazz’s most visionary and admired composers-bandleaders- trumpeters, Dave Douglas — but in a different configu- ration than the many we’ve seen there. This time, he’s playing new music he wrote for The Westerlies, the young Seattle-born, New York-based brass quartet that enchant- ed Broadway House last year and which will be joining Douglas and drummer Anwar Marshall. It’s a don’t- dare-miss double treat. Finally, this Friday, Oct. 21, you can hear a couple of former Carolina Chocolate Drops explore American roots music at Sam Bond’s Garage. Dom Flemons plays and sings Piedmont blues, spirituals and jug band music, while cellist-guitarist-banjoist Leyla McCalla plays and sings original and traditional music from her Haitian heritage as well as the Creole, Cajun, jazz and French influences that still simmer in and around her New Orleans home. And speaking of cellos, on Oct. 29 the cello-rock trio Rasputina plays the WOW Hall. ■ PHOTO BY DEVVON SIMPSON BARNO’S BACKYARD BALLROOM PRESENTS Many of us played in bands as teenagers. Far fewer collaborated with The Dead TOMMY STINSON'S COWBOYS IN THE CAMPFIRE SHISHO 32 October 20, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com Milkmen, got noticed by Dr. Demento or opened for Tommy Stinson of The Replacements. ShiSho, a folk-punk-comedy duo comprised of teenaged sisters Viviane and Midge Ramone, recently relocated to Eugene from Akron, Ohio. The pair has accomplished all those monumental things while still living at home with their parents. Viviane Ramone tells EW she realizes folk-punk-comedy is an unusual descriptor. “We were raised on punk music. We love punk music,” she explains. “We play acoustic guitar and accordion. There’s not a lot of technical finesse.” “We really try to capture the spirit of punk within the constraints of our acoustic or folky instruments,” Viviane continues. “A lot of our songs tell stories. We try to keep our songs lighthearted — a carefree attitude.” The siblings are settling into Eugene nicely. “Eugene is super cool!” Ramone says. “The Boreal especially has that DIY feel.” ShiSho’s Oct. 21 show is the pair’s first performance in town, and the inaugural event at a new house venue called Barno’s Backyard Ballroom. On top of all that, ShiSho is opening for legendary punk guitarist Tommy Stinson of The Replacements who, along with Chip “Slippy Fly” Roberts, will perform an all- acoustic set as Cowboys in the Campfire. ShiSho is excited to debut in Eugene alongside a bona-fide punk-rock legend. “Tommy is such an amazing songwriter!” Ramone says. ShiSho opens for Tommy Stinson’s Cowboys in the Campfire “Southern Dandies Tour” 7 pm Friday, Oct. 21, at Barno’s Backyard Ballroom, 3230 Fillmore Street; $20, tickets available at ticketfly.com. All ages. — William Kennedy
