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.
Keeping the winter alive
Yardbird, Onegin and Portland jazz festival stir up the Northwest
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch March 2020
In a 1954 radio interview, jazz saxophonist and bebop shaper Charlie Parker said that he wanted to play music that was “clean, precise, something that was beautiful, has a story to tell.” He insisted humbly that “my prime interest is in learning to play music. I never want to lose my horn.” Parker said that around the time he played Seattle’s Civic Auditorium, now McCaw Hall. That was one year before he died at 34 in New York City. Read More
Breathing fresh air
Portland Opera’s ‘American Quartet’ of one-act operas
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch February 2020
An American Quartet sold out–and for good reasons. Portland Opera’s seven-performance black-box show, which opened Feb. 9 at Hampton Opera Center and closed Feb. 22, was witty, short, well performed, utterly charming, and for once the spotlight shone on American opera composers. Read More
Diving Into Opera, Jessie Montgomery Gains A Foothold
Originally Published in Classical Voice North America January 2020
Composer and violinist Jessie Montgomery is having a moment. Make that a lot of moments. At 38, she has surpassed rising-star status and secured a spot in the circle of risen constellations. Her music is in demand by orchestras, chamber ensembles, filmmakers, and dance groups. Read More
Vision 2020: Niel DePonte
A Portland musical standout for more than 40 years, the percussionist, composer and conductor thinks about the thorny issues ahead
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch January 2020
At the Oregon Symphony’s June 1 concert this year, Niel DePonte will play the famously energetic snare drum part in Maurice Ravel’s Bolero. The spring season will end his 42-year career as the symphony’s principal percussionist, a job he’s had since he was 24 years old. Read More
A game of reflections
Gaming-themed opera commissioned and staged by Portland State University places women's voices centerstage
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch December 2019
Mirror Game, a new opera commissioned by Portland State University’s Opera program, made its world premiere in PSU’s Lincoln Hall Studio Theater. The opera is an intriguing effort to bring women into the limelight in a male-dominated tech world. Read More
The warhorse dilemma
Portland Opera's Puccini production provides good performances but few surprises
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch November 2019
Portland Opera has staged the beloved Madama Butterfly seven times since 1967. I have seen the opera seven times since 1962 – not all at PO. This latest PO Butterfly opened Oct. 25 and wound up a four-performance run Nov. 2 at the Keller Auditorium. Why do I keep going back? Read More
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