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.
Meaning and quality on a shoestring
Opera Theater Oregon's tribute to Guthrie and Hill features expressive performances and timely message
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch August 2019
We all know a bit about Woody Guthrie, the 20th-century American social-justice troubadour. Apostles and adopters like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Cash embraced and copied his music ad infinitum. During these 21st-century trying times, when social justice is taking a far back seat to greed and power-grabbing, why not celebrate Guthrie again? Read More
Refreshing and overwhelming
An interview with composer-violinist Jessie Montgomery, performed and performing this weekend at Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch August 2019
Rising-star—or risen constellation—composer Jessie Montgomery will light up Sokol Blosser Winery’s Dundee tasting room for two concerts Aug. 17 and 18, final weekend of this year’s Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival. Read More
Music in the wineries: a fine pairing
Old world and new meet and match in a rare and heady balance as the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival uncorks its fourth vintage
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch August 2019
Good wine is a natural companion to great music, perhaps better than strawberries and cream in Oregon’s midsummer. In pairing the two, the old world meets the new, and each enhances the other, says Leo Eguchi, co-founder of August’s Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival. Read More
Punk Papageno in Wine Country
Aquilon Music Festival reinvents Mozart’s eternal opera
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch July 2019
It was, until recently, an unfamiliar word to the Oregon arts scene. “Aquilon” roughly translates as “god of the northern wind,” and has a sensory connection to Alexander Pushkin’s 19th-century poem, “My Sister’s Vineyard.” The verse finishes with “as soon as the Aquilon blows, it brings with it” [rough translation] “the aromas of spices and exotic perfumes”—a heady thought. Read More
‘La Finta Giardiniera’: early blossoms
The young Mozart's relatively obscure comic opera, staged this year by both Portland State University and Portland Opera, showcases emerging singers
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch April 2019
Did Portland’s opera directors have the same dream at the same time?
Or is it the irresistible W.A. Mozart? The composer was 18 — younger than many of these student performers— when he wrote the opera, which premiered in 1775 in Munich. Read More
‘Il Trovatore’: clarity amid complexity
Soprano Angela Meade stars in Seattle Opera's vivid production of Verdi's violent tragedy
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch Jan. 2019
Il Trovatore (The Troubadour) at Seattle Opera’s McCaw Hall Hall through Jan. 26, is a death-soaked, secret-infused and passion-obsessed opera. Giuseppe Verdi’s gory tale of revenge and jealousy is one juicy piece — when it doesn’t stumble like a lame warhorse. Read More
Autumn Leaves: PDX Jazz’s fall season
Presenting organization brings internationally renowned jazz daddies and a mama to Oregon
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch Sept. 2018
It’s no surprise that the piano-driven Tord Gustavsen Trio’s Sept. 30 concert sold out weeks ago. But you still have more chances to catch cutting-edge jazz in Portland this fall, courtesy of PDX Jazz. Read More
‘Tango of the White Gardenia’: breaking the code
New made-in-Oregon chamber opera addresses bullying, identity and the spiritual healing power of art
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch Sept. 2018
For know-it-all critics and discerning music-goers, “community opera” can be code for bad music, lousy singers and shabby production.
Not this time. Read More
Sunshine and Ink
Two Voices Swell Onto Opera Scene
Originally Published in Classical Voice North America August 2018
More often than not, he plays the villains (Méphistophélès in Faust) and the weirdos (Bluebeard in Bluebeard’s Castle). She portrays the vulnerable tragic heroines (Violetta, Mimi, Marguerite). Read More
‘Porgy and Bess’ review: Catfish Row Northwest
Seattle Opera’s elaborate new production complements Gershwin’s American classic
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch August 2018
The stars, and there were several, could have carried Seattle Opera’s Porgy and Bess. But they didn’t have to. Conceived by Francesca Zambello, the production was spot-on in so many ways—emotionally attuned, musically uplifting, edgily designed and lit— that there was no need for the fine singers, several on the rise, to work overtime. Read More
