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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2019)
4 // COASTWEEKEND.COM Visual arts, literature, theater, music & more Beethoven in a barn North Coast Chamber Orchestra performs at Seaside’s Circle Creek Conservation Center By KATE GIESE FOR COAST WEEKEND R evel in the joy of listen- ing to classical music outdoors with the sounds of “Music on the Land,” put on by two rather dispa- rate organizations: the North Coast Land Conservancy and the North Coast Cham- ber Orchestra. It’s part of the Conser- vancy’s summer-long 15th anniversary celebration of its Circle Creek Conserva- tion Center in Seaside. The orchestra performs at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at the Cir- cle Creek Barn. Neal Wallace Cory Pederson conducting the North Coast Chamber Orchestra. Pastoral music In partnering with the NCLC, the orchestra has put together a program of out- door-themed pastoral music from the 18th and 20th cen- turies including the 2nd “Pastoral” movement from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 as well as his “Moonlight Sonata,” Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” Copland’s “Out- door Overture,” Ciurlio- nis’s “In the Forest” sym- phonic poem as well as pieces by Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn. The orchestra is led by Conductor Cory Pederson. Pederson teaches music at Jewell School and is an instructor of brass, wood- winds and percussion for the Astoria Conservatory of Music in addition to con- ducting the Columbia River Symphony and the Lit- tle Ballet Theatre’s “Nut- cracker” Orchestra. Peder- son is also a trumpeter and percussionist. The orchestra recently performed its “Spring IF YOU GO What: North Coast Chamber Orchestra Neal Wallace Conductor Cory Pederson leads the North Coast Chamber Orchestra. When: Saturday, June 15 at 2 p.m. Where: Circle Creek Conservation Center, at the end of Rippet Road in Seaside. To reach Circle Creek from U.S. Highway 101, look for Rippet Road on the west side of the highway 0.7 mile north of the junction on U.S. Highway 26. Turn on to Rippet Road and follow it west and north for 0.5 mile, passing a gravel quarry on your left, to where it ends between two barns. Details: Tickets are $15 (free to children under 12) and are available at NCLCtrust.org/event/ concert-in-the-barn. Voices” program at the Asto- ria Elks Lodge #180 with the Neah-Kah-Nie High School expose local audiences to live classical music. “Just close your eyes and listen,” Pederson said. The orchestra also per- forms at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 16, at St. Catherine of Alex- andria Episcopal Church in Nehalem. Renovating the barn Carolyn Propst. The North Coast Chamber Orchestra performs at the Circle Creek Barn at the Circle Creek Conservation Center on Saturday, June 15. Choir. Pederson admits that selecting the music for the concert was a big job. He spent many hours listening to music, he said. “Dealing with instru- mentation was a struggle as well,” Pederson recalls. How many violas would be needed? How many French horns? When the logistics of hauling a piano to the barn was too difficult a keyboard was substituted. The weather is a worry, too. Moisture (should it rain) wreaks havoc with stringed instruments. The orchestra, which is the current performing ensemble of the North Ore- gon Coast Symphony, is an all-volunteer ensemble of musicians and seeks to Volunteers have cleaned and gutted the barn, arranged for updated lighting, and turned it into a rustic venue for conservancy events. The barn is a left over from when the property was a dairy farm. The barn is also a gateway for two nature trails: Legacy Loop and Wet- lands Walk. A large herd of elk often frequents the prop- erty. The public can walk the trails daily from dawn to dusk, unless otherwise posted. The conservancy pur- chased the former dairy farm and cattle ranch at the foot of Tillamook Head in 2014 and began the slow process of restoring its once-forested floodplain. Since 1986, the conser- vancy’s mission has been to conserve land for wildlife and to protect the habitat. “The organizational focus is on stewardship actions that have conservation at their core,” Executive Direc- tor Katie Volke said. Typical projects include land acquisition, facilitating habitat development or par- ticipating in outreach pro- grams within the community. “Our feet remain firmly rooted to the land as we look ahead to our goal — a fully functioning coastal land- scape where healthy commu- nities of people, plants and wildlife all thrive,” Volke said. CW
