At their June 28 opening concert, the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus and Period Orchestra explore the universal human experiences of grief, healing, acceptance, and joy. Conductor John Butt leads Bach’s Cantata BWV 21 and the Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11. https://calendar.uoregon.edu/event/bach_ascension_oratorio
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Oregon Bach Festival’s Organi Institute, alum Greg Zelek will give a solo organ recital on July 8. Repertoire includes works of Bach, Florence Price, and Léon Boëllmann. https://calendar.uoregon.edu/event/greg_zelek_organ_recital
John Luther Adams’ latest work for chamber ensemble, Prophecies of Fire, will receive its world premiere on July 10. Sandbox Percussion will perform the piece, under the auspices of Chamber Music Northwest, which co-commissioned it. Gabriela Lena Frank’s Luciérnagas and Zapatos de Chincha are also on the program. https://cmnw.org/concerts-events/2024-summer-festival/special-event-world-premiere-of-prophecies-of-fire/2029/
To open the 40th season of Sun Valley Music Festival, Timothy Higgins has composed Fanfare, which will receive its world premiere on July 29. Then soprano Meechot Marrero returns to Sun Valley to sing a few of her favorite arias. The concert closes with Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony. https://www.svmusicfestival.org/event/opening-night-with-meechot-marrero/
The Sun Valley Music Festival commissioned a new cello concerto from Andy Akiho, which will be given its world premiere on Aug. 2. The soloist will be Jeffrey Zeigler, the former cellist of the famed Kronos Quartet, for whom the concerto was written. Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks completes the program, conducted by Alasdair Neale. […]
The Sun Valley Festival Orchestra will take on Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, which the composer himself nicknamed Tragic, saying it contained passages of “shadowy memories.” Music director Alasdair Neale conducts this Aug. 11 program. https://www.svmusicfestival.org/event/mahler-symphony-no-6/
On Sept. 27, members of the Seattle Symphony present the world premiere of Majel Connery’s Elderflora, a profound life portrait of an ancient tree, as part of the Octave 9 series. The composer will appear on voice and synthesizers, joined by electric cellist Felix Fan. The performance will also feature photos by Noah Kalina. https://www.seattlesymphony.org/en/concerttickets/calendar/2024-2025/24octave1
The world premiere of a new cello concerto by composer-in-residence Andy Akiho will be given Oct. 5-7 by Jeffrey Zeigler soloing with the Oregon Symphony. David Danzmayr also conducts Brahm’ Symphony No. 2. https://www.orsymphony.org/concerts-tickets/2425/brahms-second-symphony-moments-in-light-and-darkness/?performanceId=5838
In a themed program called “Scotland the Brave” on Oct. 5-6, the Spokane Symphony under James Lowe will play three works inspired by that country. First is Scottish composer Aileen Sweeney’s glimmering Glisk, followed by Christoper Rouse’s Celtic-flavored Flute Concerto (featuring Julia Pyke). The program ends with Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony No. 3. https://foxtheaterspokane.org/event/masterworks-2-scotland-the-brave/
The Nov. 2 program by the Anchorage Symphony will open with two meditative works. The first is “Athabaskan Prayer Song” from Echoes by former ASO music director Randall Craig Fleischer, inspired by Native American indigenous music. Then John Luther Adams’ An Atlas of Deep Time paints a mesmerizing sonic landscape. The program concludes with Beethoven’s […]
Renegade Opera in Portland, OR will premiere two short operas Nov. 9-10. Little Ones, by composer Danielle Jagelski and librettist Rhiana Yazzie, explores the life of Indigenous students at Native American Residential Schools in the 1980’s, a topic close to the hearts of these two Indigenous creatives. The Raven is a setting of Poe’s famous […]
Portland (OR) Opera presents a live performance of The Juliet Letters, orignially conceived as a 1993 album by Elvis Costello and The Brodsky Quartet. The genre-bending collaboration produced a unique song sequence for string quartet and voice, an intimate journey of hope, loss, and longing - all seen through the lens of love. (Nov. 15-24) […]
