2008-2009 SEASON
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Musical Revolutionaries, October 10 & 12
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Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra opens its season with a tribute to American composer, Elliott Carter, who turns 100 this year. Known as a radical for his complex and cerebral works, the Elegy for Strings is an early work full of chromatic harmonies and poignant intensity. Shostakovich's music has much to do with the turmoil of revolutionary Russia and his monarch-and-jester battles with Stalin. The Cello Concerto No. 1 was penned for his close friend Mstislav Rostropovich. Our close friend, Ariana Falk returns to Portland from Boston to play this 20th-century masterpiece. Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is revolutionary music for a Revolutionary age: ceaseless energy, driving rhythms, no slow movement, and a startling combustive finale.
Carter, E
Elegy for Strings
Shostakovich
Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107
Ariana Falk, cello
Beethoven
Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
Friday, Oct 10, 7:30 pm
(6:45 preconcert talk)
1838 SW Jefferson St, Portland, Oregon
Sunday, Oct 12, 3:00 pm
(refreshments following)
28986 SE Haley Rd, Boring, Oregon
Orchestral Voices, November 21 & 23
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Orchestral music essentially began in the church and then flourished through accompanying opera. This concert illuminates orchestral pieces connected with the human voice. Johann Strauss' glittering overture to the Viennese operetta Die Fledermaus launches this concert and another masterpiece premiered in Vienna-Mozart's overture to The Magic Flute-opens the concert's second half. Vaughan Williams came to the forefront of composers in 1913 with his amazing Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis for string orchestra. CSO is then joined by local wunderkind, PYP Concertmaster Brandon Garbot, for contrasting opera-inspired violin works by Massenet and Sarasate. We come to the close of our performance with Wagner's Prelude to his opera Die Meistersinger, a work based on the art of singing; a fusion of poetry and the melding of the traditional with the new.
Strauss, J
Overture to Die Fledermaus
Vaughan-Williams
Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
Sarasate
Carmen Fantasy
Brandon Garbot, violin
Mozart
Magic Flute Overture
Massenet
"Meditation" from Thais
Brandon Garbot, violin
Wagner
Prelude to Die Meistersinger
Friday, Nov 21, 7:30 pm
(6:45 preconcert talk)
1838 SW Jefferson St, Portland, Oregon
Sunday, Nov 23, 3:00 pm
(refreshments following)
28986 SE Haley Rd, Boring, Oregon
Holiday Gift of Music, December 5 & 7
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Special ticket prices for these two performances only: adults/seniors $10 and children are FREE. Reserve your tickets today - these concerts will sell out! An instrument petting zoo is available one hour before each concert.
Prokofiev
Peter & the Wolf
Puppets by Tears of Joy
Narrated by Bill Barry
Stephenson, James
Holiday Overture
Kid Favorites
Rudolph, Sleigh Ride, Frosty
Finnegan
Christmas Singalong
Star Carol, Psalm 92, & Silent Night
Friday, Dec 5, 7:00 pm
1838 SW Jefferson St, Portland, Oregon
Sunday, Dec 7, 3:00 pm
Mt. Hood Community College Theater, Gresham, Oregon
Symphonic Valentines, February 13 & 15
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As our February concerts bookend Valentine's Day, CSO performs works composed as tokens of love and affection. Brahms wrote his Academic Festival Overture in appreciation for his Honorary Doctorate bestowed by the University of Breslau. Amazingly gifted Portlander Rosa Li takes on Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 that was composed to illustrate his love and ardor for Delphine von Schauroth. Mahler described his passionate work for strings, Adagietto from his Fifth Symphony, as a musical love letter to his wife Alma. Tchaikovsky's brilliant Fantasy-Overture Romeo & Juliet captures the joy and pain of these "star-crossed lovers." To honor Oregon's 150th birthday we perform our annual commissioned work, penned by Taylor Brizendine, a graduate of West Linn High and currently a student at the Herb Alpert School of Music at the California Institute of the Arts School.
Brahms
Academic Festival Overture, Op.81
Brizendine, Taylor
Hymn of the Earth, In Honor of Oregon's 150th Birthday (World Premier)
Mendelssohn
Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25
Rosa Li, piano
Mahler
Adagietto from Symphony No. 5
Tchaikovsky
Fantasy-Overture Romeo & Juliet
Friday, Feb 13,7:30 pm
(6:45 preconcert talk)
1838 SW Jefferson St, Portland, Oregon
Sunday, Feb 15, 3:00 pm
(refreshments following)
28986 SE Haley Rd, Boring, Oregon
Renovation Celebration, March 20 & 22
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CSO has performed at First United Methodist Church for over twenty years and to honor the recent renovation of the organ, Jonas Nordwall joins the orchestra for a rare performance of Rheinberger's Organ Concerto No. 2. To honor Franz Joseph Haydn who died 200 years ago, the combined choirs of FUMC and First Unitarian Chamber Choir fill the stage for his uplifting Nelson Mass, a work full of optimism and dance-like energy. Portland native, Rebecca Anderson, comes home from the lauded Curtis Institute in Philadelphia to play the "Spring Concerto" from Vivaldi's beloved Four Seasons.
Vivaldi
"Spring" Concerto from The Four Seasons
Rebecca Anderson, violin
Rheinberger
Organ Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 177
Jonas Nordwall, organ
Haydn
Mass in D minor, "Lord Nelson"
First United Methodist Chancel Choir and First Unitarian Chamber Choir
Friday, Mar 20, 7:30 pm
(6:45 preconcert talk)
1838 SW Jefferson St, Portland, Oregon
Sunday, Mar 22, 3:00 pm
(no pre-concert talk)
1838 SW Jefferson St, Portland, Oregon
Bohemian Rhapsody, May 8
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The CSO season comes to a close with Bohemian overtones as we enjoy a musical boat trip down the Moldau, courtesy of Bedrich Smetana, the father of Czech music. Antonin Dvorak's eighth symphony is not played as often as the 9th (New World) but is much more cheery and draws its inspiration more from the Bohemian folk music that Dvorak loved.CSO welcomes local mezzo-soprano Angela Niederloh back to our stage for Mahler's gorgeous Songs of a Wayfarer, which are full of Bohemian coloration. Who can forget her wonderful singing and interpretation of Mahler's Ruckert Lieder with us in 2006, or how she wowed audiences with her recent title-role performance of Rossini's Cinderella at the Portland Opera.
Smetana
"The Moldau" from Ma Vlast
Mahler
Songs of a Wayfarer
Angela Niederloh, mezzo-soprano
Dvorak
Symphony No. 8
Friday, May 8, 7:30 pm
(6:45 preconcert talk)
1838 SW Jefferson St, Portland, Oregon
Tickets
You may purchase tickets through CSO at (503) 234-4077 or cso@pacifier.com
Tickets are also available at the door one hour before each performance.
Purchase and print tickets online from our partner
An additional fee may apply.
Single Tickets:
Adult: $30
Senior (60 and over): $25
Student (13 and over): $10
Child (12 and under): $5
Family Pass: $65 (good for 2 adults and all children in the family)
Season Ticket Package:
Includes five tickets good for any subscription concert at either location.
Purchase Season Ticket Package now.
Adult: $120
Senior (60+): $100
Student (13 and over): $40
Child (12 and under): $20
Wild Card Ticket Package:
Use these three-ticket packages in any combination for subscription concerts at either location. Purchase Wild Card Ticket Package now.
Adult: $81
Senior (60 and over): $66
Student (13 and over): $21
Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra
PO Box 6559
Portland, Oregon 97228