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.

‘How about no doors?’: Joe Kye and Denzel Mendoza on top of Mount Tabor
Mobile venue SoundsTruck NW hosted an improv-based concert co-sponsored by IRCO and Montavilla Jazz.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch August 2023
Hard to say who or what was the biggest attraction at the “Mount Immigration” concert Aug. 20 on top of Mount Tabor. The newly minted and released mobile SoundsTruck NW, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/composer/storyteller Joe Kye, or Illegal Son? Throw into the winning and informal mix of attractions the summit of Portland’s magnificent Mount Tabor with its wide city view. With families, couples, dogs, babies and bikers hanging out on the ground at the free concert, the summit was an ideal site for the SoundsTruck NW. Read More

Kissing in the shadow: Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz at the 1905
The singer and guitarist performed a sizzling set of jazz standards and pop classics at Portland’s struggling jazz club.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch August 2023
What a difference a night makes when the well-seasoned duo of vocalist Kate McGarry and gonzo guitarist Keith Ganz travels from North Carolina to perform at the 1905 jazz club in Portland’s Mississippi neighborhood. Read More

The choice between duty and love: Mozart’s forgotten ‘Shepherd’
In the first of two summer productions, OrpheusPDX staged a gender-bent version of “Il Re Pastore.”
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch August 2023
Three sopranos and two tenors. Does that chorus-less combination without basses, baritones and mezzos to anchor and harmonize, make a satisfying opera?
If it’s an aria-rich piece by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, of course. Written when he was 19 in 1775, The Royal Shepherd (Il Re Pastore) is a rarely heard Mozart opera–unlike his Cosi Fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and the tireless The Magic Flute. Read More

Chamber music hidden gems
Midsummer evening treats: Five surprises from CMNW 2023
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch August 2023
Due to the relentlessly imaginative programming of Chamber Music Northwest co-artistic directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim, audiences are regularly hearing new music and new artists. Not that Mozart and Brahms and Beethoven are left out, but even instruments rare in the classical repertoire have been featured. Read More

Over-the-top: Aquilon Festival’s ‘Don Giovanni’
The warhorse-at-a-winery production featured students from the festival’s Young Artists Showcase–and a last minute replacement.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch July 2023
ST. PAUL, Ore. – The best thing, if unfortunate, that occurred during W.A. Mozart’s well-worn Don Giovanni July 21 at Lady Hill Winery, was a student singer’s laryngitis.
It meant that Aquilon director/baritone Anton Belov had to step up and perform the role of the legendary Don Giovanni, the cad with the charm and endurance to seduce thousands of women, coupled with a streak venomous enough to kill off a man or two. Read More

Enjoying ‘The Little Things’: Kian Ravaei at CMNW
A conversation with the Protégé Project composer.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch August 2023
Kian Ravaei, 24, wrote a composition that moved Chamber Music Northwest Festival concert-goers to stand up and applaud for minutes — not once, but twice. The seven-movement 20-minute piece–The Little Things, based on Emily Dickenson’s poetry–was played twice by the Viano Quartet, once at a July 25 recital at Lincoln Recital Hall and again, July 26, at the New@Night Proteges United concert at the Armory. Read More

Wine and chamber bliss
This year’s festival features a commemorative wine, named and bottled in honor of composer-in-residence Kareem Roustom, paired with music by Roustom, Hawa Diabaté, Caroline Shaw, Kenji Bunch, and Beethoven.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch August 2023
The gods knew that savoring music and wine at the same moment was a worthy endeavor. Now in its eighth summer, the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival trades on that concept with its well thought-out mix of exciting new and venerable “old” classical music enhanced by spectacular Oregon wines. Read More

There is joy in replanting: Kareem Roustom at WVCMF
A Q&A with Roustom, composer-in-residence for this year’s Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch July 2023
Syrian-born Kareem Roustom’s music is front and center at this season’s 8th Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival during the first three weekends of August at three wineries near Portland. Concerts are Saturdays and Sundays in the early evening at Appassionata Estate/J. Christopher Wines, Sokol Blosser Winery and Archery Summit. The music is served with glasses of wine to match its vibe. Read More

Their edgier sides: New@Night with Catalyst Quartet, Stewart Goodyear, and Anthony McGill
The second of Chamber Music Northwest’s new-music themed concerts presented multi-composer miniatures for string quartet alongside music by Goodyear, James Lee III, and Adolphus Hailstork.
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch July 2023
Chamber Music Northwest’s New@Night concerts at the Pearl District’s Armory allow musicians to show us their edgier sides and their edgier works. Forget black tie, just settle in and relax – though you will be challenged by the music at these very informal events. Read More

Bonds Of Duty, Family, Asian Tradition Clash In Operatic Tale Of A Teen
Originally Published in Classical Voice North America June 2023
SEATTLE — “Bound” is a multi-layered word that can go in boundless directions: bound to tradition, bound to the law, bound to the past, bound to duty, bound to family, bound to conflicting values.
The one-act, 60-minute opera Bound, playing through June 18 (I saw it June 10) at Seattle Opera’s intimate Tagney Jones Hall, touches on all those meanings. Read More