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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