THURSDAY 3/30
755 RIVER RD Kathyrn Claire &
The Lasses—7:30pm; celtic,
$15
AXE & FIDDLE DJ Rock n Roll
Damnation—8pm, n/c
B&B LOUNGE Karaoke—
9:30pm; n/c
THE BARNLIGHT Karaoke w/
Breezy Bee—9pm; n/c
BEERGARDEN Cross Current—
7:30pm; rock, n/c
BLACK FOREST White Wail,
Mammoth Salmon, Coyote—
10pm; n/c
BREW & CUE WDYK Trivia—
7pm; n/c
COWFISH DJ Diemos—9pm;
bass, house, n/c
DEXTER LAKE CLUB Karaoke w/
Jared—9pm; n/c
HAPPY HOURS Crystal Harmony
Karaoke—8:30pm; n/c
HI-FI LOUNGE Hyding Jekyll w/
Ekko Base—10pm; $5
JAZZ STATION Chance
Hayden—7:30pm; jazz, $12
LUCKEY'S Grateful Dead Family
Jam—10pm; dead covers, $3
MAX’S DJ Victor—10pm; Hits,
old standards, requests, n/c
MCSHANE'S Acoustic
Underground Open Mic—
7:30pm; n/c
OAKSHIRE PUBLIC HOUSE Jerry
Zybach—6pm; blues, n/c
OLD NICK'S Eugene Order of
Steel Happy Hour Bout—6pm;
n/c. Potbelly, Not A Part Of It,
Beast Of Eden, Davey Jones'
Locker Combo, Pacifico—9pm;
punk, $5
POKER LOUNGE Karaoke w/
Sassy Patty—7pm; n/c
SAM BOND'S GARAGE Elle
Carpenter, Caitlin Jemma,
Malachi Graham—9pm; folk,
acoustic, $5
SHADOWFOX Open Mic—8pm; n/c
TERRITORIAL VINEYARDS love
music—7pm; n/c
WILDCRAFT CIDER WORKS hay-
lo—6pm; R&B, n/c
WHIRLED PIES Molly Venter &
Goodnight Moonshine—8pm;
folk, $10-$12
WOW HALL Rebel SoulJahz w/
Eli-Mac—7:30pm; reggae, $17-
$20
FRIDAY 3/31
5TH ST CORNUCOPIA Bajuana
Tea—9:30pm; n/c
AXE & FIDDLE Because
Carlito— 8:30pm; n/c
EUGENE
ART
TALK
BLACK FOREST Black Delany,
Summer Eyes, Archway,
Novacane—10pm; n/c
BLAIRALLY Church of the 80s
w/Chris, Jen & John—8pm; 80s
vinyl, $3
THE BOREAL Impulse Control—
7pm; pop, $5
BREWSTATION Men from Surf—
7:30pm; surf rock, n/c
BRONCO SALOON Karaoke w/
Lindsey—9pm; n/c
COWFISH SPOC-3PO—9pm;
dance-pop, underground, $5
CRESWELL COFFEE The Hank
Shreve Band—7pm; $5
THE DAVIS DJ Crown—10:30pm;
hip-hop, dance, $5
DOC'S PAD Karaoke w/KJ
Power—9pm; n/c
DUCK BAR Karaoke w/Breezy
Bee—9pm; n/c
DRIFTWOOD BAR Karaoke w/
Slick Nick—9pm; n/c
EL TAPATIO CANTINA Karaoke w/
KJ Rick—9pm; n/c
FRIENDLY ST MARKET Meadow
Rue Acoustic Trio—6pm; n/c
HI-FI LOUNGE Dirty Revival &
Tripolee—10pm; funk, soul, $7
FRANCESCO LECCECHONG
CONDUCTS THE EUGENE
SYMPHONY IN HIS TRYOUT.
BY B O B K E E F E R
WHO GETS THE BATON?
We handicap the race among three musicians who want to
lead the Eugene Symphony
I
t’s all over now except for the hiring. Eugene Sympho-
ny’s yearlong music director search has all but ended,
once more attracting national attention as the orchestra
seeks to replace Danail Rachev when he leaves at the
end of this season.
Many of you know why this job is so hot. In case you
haven’t been paying attention, it’s because three of the last
four music directors went on from Eugene to play in the
musical big leagues. Marin Alsop (in Eugene 1989-1996)
is now music director at Baltimore Symphony, the fi rst
woman ever to lead a top U.S. orchestra. Miguel Harth-
Bedoya (1996-2002) leads the Fort Worth Symphony, and
Giancarlo Guerrero (2002-2009) conducts the Nashville
Symphony.
That’s like having your community college football
20
March 30, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
quarterback drafted into the NFL three seasons in a row.
Here’s a quick look at the three fi nalists who want
Rachev’s job. Each visited Eugene in recent months to
conduct the orchestra in concert.
Dina Gilbert (“Jeel-BAIR”), a French Canadian from
Montreal, was the fi rst to come to town; she just fi nished
a three-year stint as assistant conductor at the Orchestre
symphonique de Montréal. Energetic as a hummingbird
hopped up on nectar — and sometimes as fl ighty — Gil-
bert charmed musicians, staff, board members and the
audience alike with her youth and energy. She conducted
a program of Mozart, Korngold, Stravinsky and Dukas in
December.
An advocate for new music, she likes to conduct
soundtracks for video games and fi lm; she talked with me
JAZZ STATION Butch Pereira &
the Gin Joints—7:30pm; jazz,
$12
JERSEY'S Karaoke w/Sassy
Patty—9pm; n/c
KEG TAVERN Karaoke
w/J'Lynn—9pm; n/c
LUCKEY'S Ready Steady Soul Club
Whole Lotta Soul Dance Party!—
10pm; rare soul DJs, $3
MOHAWK TAVERN Piksix—9pm;
n/c
NOBLE ESTATES Scott Austin—
6pm; pop, americana, n/c
OAKSHIRE PUBLIC HOUSE
Fiddlin' Sue Band—4:30pm;
bluegrass, folk, n/c
O BAR Karaoke w/Jared—9pm;
n/c
OLD NICK'S Pillorian, Felled, An
Empty Room, Randall Collier-
Ford—9pm; doom, metal, $8
OREGON WINE LAB Gumbo
Groove—7pm; n/c
SAGINAW VINEYARD Mike
Davis—6pm; acoustic guitar,
n/c
SAM BOND'S GARAGE Major
Powers & The Lo-Fi
Symphony—9:30pm; $5
TERRITORIAL VINEYARDS live
music—7pm; n/c
WILDCRAFT CIDER WORKS The
Singer & The Songwriter—6pm;
jazz, folk, n/c
WHIRLED PIES Dan Cioper—
6pm; singer-songwriter, n/c
WHITE HORSE SALOON Karaoke
w/KJ Mike—9pm; n/c
WOW HALL Leftover Crack,
Starving Wolves, Bad Cop, Bad
Cop, Not A Part of It—9pm; $15-
$18
SATURDAY 4/1
5TH ST CORNUCOPIA IRooster &
His Barnyard Bucketeers—
9:30pm; n/c
AXE & FIDDLE BriCauz—
8:30pm; n/c
BEERGARDEN Fiddlin' Big Sue
Band—7:30pm; old-time, n/c
BLACK FOREST Racetrack
Romeos, The Slants—9pm; n/c
BREWSTATION Steel Wool—
7:30pm; soft rock, n/c
in a short interview about the preparation involved in con-
ducting an orchestra. “Our job is 99-percent done when the
concert starts,” she said. “I spend 70 percent of my time
reading scores. The public doesn’t see all the preparation
we need to do before getting there.”
Ryan McAdams led the orchestra in January, just a
week after the presidential inauguration, in a program that
included works by Mozart, Barber and Brahms. Confi dent
and articulate, he spoke at length in our interview about
performing familiar works in unfamiliar ways.
“We did this Don Giovanni on the Lower East Side in
a dilapidated synagogue with no sets,” he said. “The cos-
tumes were simple, large pieces of fabric. And the audi-
ence felt this was new, cutting-edge material.” Opera News
called the unusual production “by far the most enjoyable
and thought-provoking Don Giovanni New York has heard
in many a year.”
Then, earlier this month, Francesco Lecce-Chong
showed up and led the orchestra in a program of Liszt,
Bartók, Mozart and Ricard Strauss. The 29-year-old con-
ductor, who fi rst took the podium at age 16 to conduct a
middle-school youth orchestra, initially struck me as the
Goldilocks choice, positioned between Gilbert’s manic en-
ergy and McAdams’ corporate suave.
Lecce-Chong came across in an interview as talented
and genuine, and his ideas for attracting a younger audi-
ence — that Holy Grail of orchestras around the world
— had more to do with better performances and less with
Millennial-baiting gimmickry.
At that point I fi gured the race was an even match be-
tween Lecce-Chong and McAdams, Gilbert having fallen
behind due to nerves and inexperience. The symphony
would do fi ne, I fi gured, with either one in charge.
Then I showed up at the Hult Center for Lecce-Chong’s
concert. From the moment the music began — the program
was pieces from Liszt, Bartók, Mozart and Ricard Strauss
— you could hear something fundamentally new and dif-
ferent going on in the concert hall.
Lecce-Chong’s music was, well, music! He seemed
to give the orchestra its voice in a way I haven’t heard in
some time. And by the time he got to the Strauss — the
suite from Der Rosenkavalier — my mind was fl oating
somewhere in a dream of post-war Vienna.
My take: Lecce-Chong’s our guy, no doubt about it.
He’s got the resume, he’s got the manner, but most of all
he’s got the music.
I’m not the only one to be so impressed. Former NPR
music critic Tom Manoff, who was at the concert, summed
things up in a blog post: “Gilbert is a rookie; McAdams is
a talent; but Lecce-Chong has the real gift. He’s going to
be a fast-rising talent in the music world. He’s the obvious
choice for Eugene right now.”
The symphony expects to announce its selection in
early May.
Send comments, ideas, complaints and suggestions to bob@eugeneweekly.com.