Clips & Articles: Music
I review the Seattle and Portland operas, and smaller opera companies, for Portland-based Oregon ArtsWatch and Artslandia, and for Classical Voice North America, the official web site of the Music Critics Association of North America, of which I am a member. I write about classical, chamber and jazz music for Oregon ArtsWatch, Classical Voice North America, and previously, for Oregon Music News, concertonet.com and Northwest Reverb. For more stories and music reviews, check the archives at www.columbian.com between 1995-2006. My 2005 National Endowment for the Arts and Columbia Journalism grant helped immensely in music coverage.
Closing the loop: Jeremy Denk’s acrobatic dexterity
Virtuoso pianist performs the complete J.S. Bach ‘Well-Tempered Clavier’ for CMNW at The Old Church.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch February 2022
The most beautiful moments of Chamber Music Northwest’s evening with virtuoso pianist Jeremy Denk and his masterful presentation of the almost two-hour long J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 were the end — and the beginning. Read More
The Jazz Scene, part one: Boy, has it changed
A brief overview of jazz in Portland
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch February 2022
“Boy, has it changed.”
Rita Rega is talking about Portland jazz, which she has watched, nurtured and promoted since 1985. “I have a pretty long view of this scene.” Read More
The Jazz Scene, part two: It comes alive at the 1905
When Jimmy Mak's disappeared, NoPo's 1905 arrived – and it's still Portland's only all-jazz spot.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch February 2022
One night, pianist Tom Grant is taming the Yamaha C3 with “Nice Work if You Can Get It.” And the next, it’s multi-instrumentalist —though primarily pianist and Portland State University Jazz Studies professor — George Colligan pulling another tune out one of his many musical hats. Read More
The Jazz Scene, part three: The ones who got away
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch February 2022
Young, talented and the future of jazz, they were mentored by Portland music royalty. They learned to bang out “Back at the Chicken Shack,” “Green Dolphin Street” and “Autumn Leaves,” to listen carefully to the jazz greats, to practice diligently and often, and to master the mysterious art of improvisation. Read More
Let us love: The ‘Sun Comes Out’ at Portland Opera
Queer-themed Canadian opera makes U.S. premiere at Hampton Opera Center.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch February 2022
When the Sun Comes Out opened in 2013 in Canada, commissioned by the Vancouver Queer Arts Festival. Now, a long eight years later, the new-music opera by Japanese-Canadian Leslie Uyeda with a gorgeous libretto by Canadian poet Rachel Rose, finally premieres in the United States. Read More
Other worlds beyond Earth: Seattle Opera’s ‘Orpheus’
A stunning staging with top-notch design and choreography brings Gluck's 1762 music into a thoroughly contemporary Underworld.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch January 2022
Since the 1600s, countless Orpheus and Eurydice operas have been staged. Today, several have been making the rounds, including Matthew Aucoin’s (with playwright Sarah Ruhl’s libretto) Eurydice, written from Eurydice’s point of view. Read More
It always works out: A joyful journey with David Krakauer and Portland Chamber Orchestra
Rock star clarinetist and PCO celebrate Hanukkah with klezmer improvisations and a Wlad Marhulets concerto
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch December 2021
Hanukkah, klezmer music, and David Krakauer united in Portland Chamber Orchestra’s “Joyful Journey” Dec. 4 at northwest Portland’s Trinity Episcopal Church. The exuberant musical trip through celebratory and revived Eastern European Jewish (Ashkenazi) music lived up to its billing. Read More
Contrasts and comparisons: Brentano String Quartet’s concert of Stravinsky miniatures
CMNW artists-in-residence perform the composer’s chamber works with complementary music by Cage, Machaut, Gesualdo, Verdi, and Beethoven
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch December 2021
The Brentano String Quartet’s “A Tribute to Stravinsky” Dec. 3 at Portland State University’s Lincoln Recital Hall invited the audience on a thought-provoking journey. But you had to listen up — and read up — and keep your mind wide open, because there was a lot to understand. Read More
Taming the French horn: Radovan Vlatkovic at Chamber Music Northwest
Vlatkovic, performing with CMNW co-directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim, gets a five-minute standing ovation.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch November 2021
French horns don’t get a lot of attention.
That is, unless one is tamed by Yugoslavian-born (now Croatian) Radovan Vlatkovic. He is embraced by horn musicians internationally, so no surprise that the entire Oregon Symphony’s horn section showed up to hear him Nov. 18 at Chamber Music Northwest’s sold-out Old Church concert in downtown Portland. Read More
‘Tosca’ review: Gorgeous singing, warhorse tale at Portland Opera
The singing's terrific and the crowd shouted "Bravo!" But the story in Puccini's 1900 hit can't keep up with 21st century times.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch November 2021
Portland Opera’s Tosca, which opened Oct. 29 in the Keller Auditorium with many of its 3,000 seats empty, possesses the makings of grand opera, including a stellar cast and creative team, many of whom were making their PO debuts. Added to that are opulent sets and costumes, moody lighting, and of course, Giacomo Puccini’s irresistibly sweeping melodic music. Read More
