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September 26 - 28, 2012
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OREGON DAYS OF CULTURE
11
By Saundra Sorenson
Pamplin Media Group
When Storm Large appeared with the Or-
egon Symphony at Arlene Schnitzer Concert
Hall last April, it was a pairing of two Port-
land institutions. Large performed old stan-
dards and favorite show tuneswith accompa-
niment from 120 of the state’s top musicians,
giving audiences a hint of what New York
audiences will see next May when the sym-
phony and Large head to the Spring Classical
Series at Carnegie Hall.
But it’s no easymatter transporting 76 mu-
sicians across the country, an endeavor that
requires a temperature- and humidity-con-
trolled truck to drive instruments from one
coast to the other. For that reason, it wasn’t
until the Oregon Cultural Trust awarded the
Oregon Symphony a $35,000 grant this year
that the group was able to accept the invita-
tion to Carnegie Hall.
And the invitation wasn’t one the sympho-
ny wanted to ignore.
“What makes this festival special is that
orchestras get invited based on their unique
programming,” Fullan said.
This time around, the Oregon Symphony’s
concert, entitled “Premonitions,”will bewhat
Music Director Carlos Kalmar calls “a very
Portland concoction.”
Largewill performKurtWeill’s “The Seven
Deadly Sins”—a definite departure from the
more familiar lineup at the Schnitzer. Com-
poser Weill is perhaps best known for pen-
ning “The Threepenny Opera” and other bal-
lad operas that often dealt with heavy politi-
cal themes. But “The SevenDeadly Sins” will
give Large a chance to have funwith cabaret-
style comic-drama as she performs the part
of a young woman on a journey through the
American South, encountering a new sin in
every U.S. city she visits. Large, who earlier
this year published her memoir “Crazy
Enough” about her itinerant early life and
somewhat wild lifestyle, seems a perfect fit
for the role.
Kalmar described themusic of “The Seven
Deadly Sins” as “songs in a slightly Broad-
way-esque style” by way of Germany. He had
workedwithLarge before and found her to be
a natural fit with the orchestra and the mate-
rial.
“She’s a real crowd-pleaser,” Jim Fullan,
Oregon Symphony’s vice president for com-
munications, said. “She just has this magne-
tism and this force that audiences really re-
spond to.”
Other selections in the “Premonitions”
concert represent several eras of musical
composition, and include Narong Prangcha-
roen’s “Phenomenon,” Arnold Schoenberg’s
“Accompaniment to a Cinematographic
Scene,” Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8,
“Unfinished” andMaurice Ravel’s “LaValse.”
Although this year’s selection might be a
bit unusual, theOregon Symphony’s aim isn’t
to emphasize Portland’s stereotype as
“quirky” to the Carnegie audience. Instead,
the group hopes to gain much-deserved rec-
ognition as a force in the national art scene.
“We hope to showcase the Oregon arts,”
Fullan said. “Portland is renowned for all
kinds of things, from food to Oregon wine.
But the fact is, the arts in Oregon in general
are really sophisticated and high-caliber, and
we hope to solidify Oregon as a cultural cen-
ter. We hope that translates to people putting
Oregon onto their travel plans.”
It won’t be the orchestra’s first time at
Carnegie, however. The Oregon Symphony
appeared there in May 2011, playing selec-
tions the New York Times described as “viv-
id” and “often wrenching.” In that same re-
view, the symphony was hailed as “a highly
polished precision instrument” that per-
formed with “a furious, incendiary energy.”
It is that commitment to excellence and
even experimentalism that marked the Ore-
gon Symphony as a worthy recipient of a an
Oregon Cultural Trust grant. The trust has
provided more than $1.5 million in grants to
nonprofit cultural, arts and humanities
groups throughout Oregon for the comingfis-
cal year. Funding is based on four specific
criteria: To be eligible for a grant, an organi-
zation must increase Oregonians’ access to
culture, preserve Oregon’s cultural and his-
toric heritage in some way, seek to develop
artistic work or build stability and generate
public confidence in said organization.
The Oregon Symphony and Storm Large
will perform their concert for Pacific North-
west audiences prior to leaving for Carnegie
Hall. They will debut at Benaroya Hall in Se-
attle on May 3, 2013, and at the Arlene
Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland on May 4
and 5, 2013. For more information about the
Oregon Symphony, visit orsymphony.org.
A $35,000 Oregon Cultural Trust grant helps send
Storm Large and the Oregon Symphony to Carnegie Hall
investment
SOUND
Music director Carlos Kalmar will take the Oregon
Symphony to New York City to play Carnegie Hall next
May with Portland songstress, Storm Large.
to by Crai
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