Oregon Symphony News Releases

March 2010

March 9, 2010

The Oregon Symphony In April: Three Of The World’s Top Violinists,
One After Another
Portland just may become the center of the violin universe for a few weeks in April as the Oregon Symphony brings to town not one, not two, but three of the world’s most prominent violinists in what promises to be a dazzling display of virtuosity. First up: Pinchas Zukerman, in his first concerts with the orchestra since 1995. Midori and Itzhak Perlman follow closely behind – and, oh yes, there’s a pretty terrific Pops program sandwiched in between on April’s concert calendar, too.

February 2010

February 9, 2010

The Oregon Symphony In March: The Calendar
Glitters With Rare Gems, Well-Done
One thing’s for certain about the Oregon Symphony’s Classical calendar for March: Audiences leaving the concert hall will legitimately be able to say, “Well, I’ve never heard that before!” The March line-up features only two programs -- five compositions in all – and four of the five are Oregon Symphony premieres. The fifth? That would be opera composer Gioachino Rossini’s theatrical Stabat Mater, which the orchestra has performed before, in fact … but only once – way back in 1925.

January 2010

January 31, 2010

Oregon Symphony Unveils Its 2010/11 Season:
Stellar Lineup Features Music’s Brightest Stars
Highlights Include A-List Soloists, a Broad Range of Premieres
and – in its 115th Season -- the Orchestra’s Carnegie Hall Debut
Music Director Carlos Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony today announced the orchestra’s 2010/11 concert season. It’s a stellar lineup that begins with a one-night-only gala performance on Sept. 16 featuring violin superstar Joshua Bell and just builds from there, bringing many of the music world’s biggest names to Portland along the way before it wraps up May 21-23 with a weekend of concerts celebrating the orchestra’s own musicians upon their return from the orchestra’s Carnegie Hall debut in New York.

January 31, 2010

Oregon Symphony’s 2010/11 Season Includes 23 Premieres For The Orchestra
The Oregon Symphony’s 2010/11 concert season will include the premiere performances by the orchestra of 23 works never before performed in its 115-year history. Taken together, the premieres represent a third of all the music the Oregon Symphony will perform in its major concerts throughout the year. Of the 16 concerts on the classical subscription series, 15 will feature works the Oregon Symphony has never before performed (the one-night-only gala concert Sept. 16 with violinist Joshua Bell also includes a premiere).

January 31, 2010

Inside The Oregon Symphony’s 2010/11 Season:
Living Composers … And Other Rarities
In addition to the masterworks from the core orchestral repertoire that make up about a third of all the music the Oregon Symphony will perform in its 2010/11 season, the concert lineup is generously studded with what might be considered rarities: seldom-performed gems, Oregon Symphony premieres and a significant number of pieces by living composers.

January 14, 2010

Violinist Chee-Yun Will Sub For Arabella Steinbacher With The Oregon Symphony Jan. 23-25
Korean-born violinist Chee-Yun will make her first Oregon Symphony appearance in a decade Jan. 23-25, performing Antonin Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in place of the previously announced soloist, Arabella Steinbacher, who has withdrawn because of illness. Complete concert details and a biography of violinist Chee-Yun follow.

January 14, 2010

The Oregon Symphony In February: It's Going To Be One Sizzling Month
In Portland
The skies may be dark and gray, the weather grim and Gothic, but the Oregon Symphony does its best to heat things up on the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall stage throughout February with seven different concerts that promise a little something for everybody: big-name headliners, major Classical masterworks, even one weird and wonderful evening amid the cabarets of Weimar Germany. Oh, yeah: and Storm Large, too, all glammed up for her symphony orchestra debut! How’s that for an eclectic lineup?

December 2009

December 10, 2009

The Oregon Symphony in January: A Return to the Classics – with a Bit of Homespun Humor
Following a month of nearly non-stop holiday music, the Oregon Symphony gets back to basics at the start of the new year with three Classical programs on its January concert calendar, all led by Music Director Carlos Kalmar. But it’s not all serious stuff – how could it be, with humorist Garrison Keillor making two appearances on the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall stage?

November 2009

November 6, 2009

The Oregon Symphony in December: Classical Rarities -- and a
Big Helping of Holiday Delights
The Oregon Symphony welcomes the winter season with a December concert line-up that opens with a program of seldom-played Classical works, centered around what promises to be an unforgettable performance of Béla Bartók’s Second Piano Concerto by one of the world’s premier pianists, Yefim Bronfman. Then it’s a full-speed-ahead sprint to the holidays with four consecutive seasonal programs that are sure to include something to warm the heart of every listener as 2009 nears its big finish.

October 2009

October 21, 2009

Oregon Symphony Is Awarded $1.45 Million In Grant Support
From Four Foundations
The Oregon Symphony, Portland’s largest performing-arts organization, announced today that it has been awarded new grants totaling $1.45 million by four foundations in support of its ongoing activities.

October 8, 2009

The Oregon Symphony In November:
One Out-Of-The-Ordinary Concert Event After Another
The Oregon Symphony's concert calendar for the month of November showcases the breadth and depth of musical experiences to be found inside a modern concert hall in the 21st century, from a multimedia extravaganza of video game tunes, to a guest appearance by legendary Jethro Tull rocker Ian Anderson, to a Pops program highlighting great Hollywood film scores. Oh, there's an extraordinary program for fans of classical orchestral music too, but one thing's for certain: It's not all just classical music anymore!

September 2009

September 11, 2009

Oregon Symphony Association And Local 99 Of The American Federation Of Musicians Announces The Results Of Concessionary Bargaining
The Collective Bargaining Agreement between the parties which was to expire in June 2010 has been extended until June 2011.

September 1, 2009

The Oregon Symphony in October: The Classical, Pops and Kids Series
All Begin Anew
The Oregon Symphony’s 2009/10 concert season goes into high gear in October with the opening events of its Classical concert series – always one of the major highlights on Portland’s fall arts calendar – as well as the season’s first Pops and Kids series performances. Also this month: Portland’s first performance ever of American composer Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety,” and concerts featuring one of music’s most popular masterworks of all time, the Beethoven Fifth Symphony.

August 2009

August 14, 2009

Oregon Symphony Concert Tickets to Go On Sale Monday
with a New Way Of Buying Online
Single tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 17, for all of the Classical, Pops and Kids series concerts in the Oregon Symphony’s 2009/10 season, and when they do concertgoers will have a new way to buy – online, directly from the Oregon Symphony – for the first time ever.

August 3, 2009

The Oregon Symphony In September:
New Season Kicks Off With A Free Outdoor Concert
After its annual summer hiatus, the Oregon Symphony launches into its 2009/10 concert season in September with a bang – literally – as the orchestra returns to downtown Portland’s Tom McCall Waterfront Park for its only absolutely free concert all year, a pull-out-all-the-stops extravaganza that culminates in a rousing performance of the Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture complete with military cannons and fireworks. The orchestra then moves a few blocks farther downtown to its usual home, the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, for two more September concerts that promise to be no less thrilling.