Why "Fresh Blood"? Because it's essential for strength
and vitality. Scanning Portland's arts scene, Willamette
Week critics have metaphorically dubbed five individuals
as "fresh blood" for the continuing health of the arts.
These are individuals we feel will infuse the city's cultural
life with new ideas and approaches in their chosen disciplines,
insuring that Portland's art community continues to grow.
Last year we honored two separate groups of artists. In
"The New School" (Sept. 15, 1999), we analyzed and advocated
the work of many of Portland's most promising young artists.
In the Fall Arts Preview itself, we reviewed the important
work of our artistic elders (Gaynor Sterchi, Lajos Balogh,
Judith Barrington, et al.) whose contributions to Portland's
culture have been inestimable. This year we've decided to
concentrate on people new to the scene or their positions
who will be filling leadership posts in such important institutions
as Literary Arts, the Portland Art Museum and Portland Center
Stage, as well as two established artists who will be embarking
on new projects that promise to raise the bar in their respective
fields.
As we enter a new millennium, new definitions will become
necessary for the arts, as the modern urge is toward the
multidisciplinary. Contemporary artists continue to question
the validity of categorizing work as "dance," "theater"
or "visual art," stressing that such narrow distinctions
are arbitrary. Appreciating this opinion, we've asked our
five profiled artists to name work in other disciplines
that has had the most influence on their work.
Theater director Peter Brook said, "We live in an age which
is very frightened of value judgments--we even flatter ourselves
as being somehow superior if we judge less. Yet no society
can exist without ideals."
Willamette Week will continue to be idealistic in
its criticism, and here we pay tribute to the idealism of
five others.
|
Editor
Caryn B. Brooks
Assistant Editor
Byron Beck
Art Direction
Anne Reeser
|
Contributors
Lisa Lambert
Steffen Silvis
Bill Smith
Susan Wickstrom
|
INDEX:
Artist
Profiles
Fall
Listings
dance
visual
arts
stage
classical
stage
dance
trisha brown company
The long awaited return of Trisha Brown to Portland
State University is an important occasion for regional dance.
Not only does it mark an unofficial kickoff for an outstanding
year of contemporary performance, it also reestablishes
PSU's School of Fine and Performing Arts as a committed
presenter of world-class dance companies. And nothing is
classier than Trisha Brown. One of the creators of post-modern
dance, Brown was the first woman to receive the MacArthur
Foundation Fellowship in choreography. For the fall appearance
Brown, who is celebrating her 30th year in dance, will present
intricate company repertory works that are a testament to
her skills in technique, timing and trigonometry.
White Bird/Portland State University Dance Series
presents Trisha Brown Company at Lincoln Hall, Portland
State University, 1620 SW Park Ave., 224-8499. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday,
Sept. 21-23. $24.
house of art
IFCC's artist in residence for the 1999-2000 season,
choreographer Bobby Fouther, will bring his yearlong project
to a close with the aptly titled dance/theater piece
House of Art. Exploring issues of domestic violence,
substance abuse and the plight of the homeless, it will
feature local actress Brenda Phillips, dancer Dominique
Vasquez and musician Hakim Muhammed.
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N Interstate
Ave., 823-4322. 7:30 pm Friday-Sunday, Oct. 13-15. $10.
night, day & the golden hour
Portland-based dance maker Teresa Mathern is one of
a handful of artists who form the core of downtown's highly
independent dance space Conduit. For her latest show, Mathern
will hook up with Minh Tran on their former stomping grounds
at Portland State University. A former student of Mathern's,
Tran has made quite a name for himself in regional dance
circles lately. Their duet, Evidence of Division,
which they will put back on stage for this show, blew the
socks off of the local critics in 1999. Mathern will be
joined in her new piece Night, Day and The Golden Hour
by Tran and fellow dancers Jae Diego, Jenn Gierada and Rhonda
Summer in an exploration of the temper of darkness and light.
Tran will also perform a solo work, Optimum.
Lincoln Hall, Portland State University, 1620 Park Ave.,
725-3307. 8 pm Friday-Saturday, 3 pm Sunday, Oct. 13-15.
bill t. jones/arnie zane dance company
Over the years local audiences have come to expect the
unexpected out of Mr. Jones and his gang of adroit dancers
whenever they pop in town. You Walk?, a White Bird
co-commissioned piece, should prove no different. An evening-length
work based on the "influence of Latin culture on the New
World," it received mixed reviews when it played in New
York--but who cares? Able to twist a subject on its head
and then land it on its knees, Jones creates dances that
always make a statement, whether or not they actually have
anything profound to say. Jones will have plenty to talk
about in a post-performance discussion.
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 224-8499.
7:30 pm Wednesday, Oct. 18.
$17.50-$39.
stephen petronio company
The bald-headed bad boy of American dance is back in
town--and this time with new work. Stephen Petronio's West
Coast premiere of Strange Attractors, which White
Bird co-commissioned alongside San Francisco Performances,
will be presented in two parts over one evening. Amid
stellar dancing, it will showcase the collaborative input
of three one-of-a-kind artists: composer Michael Nyman,
sculptor Anish Kapoor, and British fashion designer Tanya
Sarne.
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 224-8499.
7:30 pm Wednesday, Nov. 15.
$17.50-$39.
bebe miller company
It's Miller time. Bebe Miller, that is. A soulful mover
and shaker, Bebe Miller spent time in Portland last year
(courtesy of a Portland Institute for Contemporary Art residency)
working on Verge. Miller's company will perform excerpts
of the piece within the walls of Wieden & Kennedy's
atrium alongside Rhythm Studies, Miller's first solo
works in 10 years. Topping off the evening is THREE,
a dance/film that reunites Miller with one of her favorite
dance partners, Ralph Lemon.
Wieden & Kennedy Atrium, 224 NW 13th Ave., 242-1419.
8 pm Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 16-18. $18.
the nut has finally cracked
Oregon Ballet Theatre's Nutcracker continues
its cash-cow tradition of filling up little ones' heads
with sugar-plum dreams of Imperialist Russia as OBT fills
up its bank account. But for two nights only, those dreams
might just prove to be nightmares. Artistic director James
Canfield is unleashing his subconscious with The Nut
Has Finally Cracked, a twisted retelling of the classic
that promises to be talked about long after the holiday
is over.
Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 222-5538.
The Nutcracker, Thursday-Sunday, Dec. 7-24;
The Nut Has Finally Cracked, Tuesday-Wednesday, Dec.
12-13. $5.50-$87.
streb
Kick-ass culture vulture/choreographer Elizabeth Streb
(she's the artistic director of the wonderfully out-of-control
dance company Streb) is at it again with her new work, Action
Heroes. Less a dance than a manic exploration of the
world of high-flying daredevils, Action Heroes slaps
together video projections, loud music and plenty of dancers/thrill
seekers bouncing off the walls. Be sure to wear ear plugs.
Chiles Center, University of Portland,
5000 N Willamette Blvd., 242-1419. 8 pm Wednesday, Dec.
13. $25.
holy body tattoo
From its description by The Vancouver Sun as
"harrowing, uplifting, angry and serene," it's hard to know
what to make of this Canadian company making its first appearance
in Portland. But it won't be hard to find out, once we get
the chance to see the U.S. premiere of Circa, a multimedia
piece inspired by circa 1930s Argentine tango. A physically
(as well as sexually) charged duet, HBT is known for playing
it rough.
Lincoln Hall, Portland State University,
1620 SW Park Ave., 224-8499. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday, Jan.
11-13. $24.
merce cunningham dance company
What defines a legend most in the world of contemporary
movement? Two words: Merce Cunningham. The creator of all
things good in the complex maelstrom that is modern dance,
Cunningham is the closest thing the art form has to a god.
To miss this evening of work, composed of several repertory
pieces, is to miss the chance to see one of the dance world's
most technically proficient choreographers in what most
likely will be his final (and finest) appearance in Portland.
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 224-8499.
7:30 pm Wednesday, Nov. 15.
$17.50-$39.
visual
arts
modotti and weston: mexicanidad
It's a story that would even put a lump in Ismail Merchant's
throat: At the turn of the century, an Italian-born silent-screen
siren manages a photographer's studio and falls in love
with the photographer himself. Within a year the two move
to Mexico and become swept up in a cultural movement that
inspires both to fight for social and cultural reform. This
is the story of Tina Modotti and her husband, Edward Weston.
The exhibition shows the photos from their years in Mexico.
Though the two photographed the same country at the same
time, they came away with two different visions. Modotti's
photographs are social comments that show the daily life
of Mexican natives; Weston's are steps in his own developing
aesthetic.
Douglas F. Cooley Gallery, Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock
Blvd., 777-7790. Aug. 21-Oct. 1.
photo americas 2000
Appearing in more than 50 spaces around town, Photo
Americas 2000 is sure to catch most Portlanders' attention.
The festival, in its first year, takes place Oct. 3-28.
It will include a portfolio review, where photographers
can speak with members of the profession about their work,
a fine-print auction, and exhibitions popping up all over
the city. It will also include workshops for photographers
and their fans. Photo Americas promises a diverse range
of work, emphasizing the latest camera technologies with
photography's future in the viewfinder.
818 SW 3rd Ave., #229, 236-2931. Oct. 5-28.
echoes: a century survey: an exhibition of painting,
drawings, collages, photographs and writings by arnold mesches
Arnold Mesches' paintings belie a certain tension. In
his work, bright colors look ominous, smiling people threatening
and jubilant celebrations deserted and eerie. Mesches has
made a career of stirring the personal and political in
oil-color images that drench the canvas. He draws his inspiration
from both his family and the political-social world around
him. Besides painting, he also builds collages with photographs
found in old albums or snapped with a Polaroid. The PNCA
and Oregon Jewish Museum (both venues will display parts
of the show) tout Mesches as an inheritor of the 20th century's
history; while that may be the case, the true power of his
pieces comes from bold colors and heavy brushstrokes. The
works seem almost liquid.
The Oregon Jewish Museum, 2701 NW Vaughn St., #715, 226-3600.
Pacific Northwest College of Art, 1241 NW Johnson St.
Sept. 7-Oct. 31.
counter canvas
Tagging in an art gallery! Yeah! PICA's fall show, Counter
Canvas, will address Portland's debate over billboard
restrictions by bringing outside art in and putting inside
art out. Local graffiti artists attack PICA's inner sanctum
for a site-specific installation while others decorate the
galleries with billboard-size images. Outside, artists Nan
B. Curtis and Marty Houston post a sequence of signs along
12th Avenue that contain a fractured abstract narrative
(pedestrians discover a different story from drivers). Helen
Lassick embarks on a special pamphleting project as well
(in case you hadn't been handed enough pieces of paper at
Pioneer Square). It promises to be a fun and thought-provoking
exhibition that will raise pertinent intellectual questions
(how do art and advertising differ?) and give the spraycan
masters a little respect.
Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, 219 NW 12th Ave.,
242-1419. Oct. 4-Nov. 26.
painting revolution: kandinsky, malevich and the russian
avant-garde
When Wassily Kandinsky came home one night and mistook
a realist painting in his studio for disconnected figures
and forms floating on a canvas, he started a revolution.
After that night, Kandinsky freed his art from the confines
of depiction, and began a legacy of abstract painting that
exists to this day. His ideas inspired artists all over
Russia, who were just finding a new national voice. Sure,
the Stroganoff exhibit was important because it put
the Portland Art Museum on the museum map. This Russian
exhibit is important because it contains works by some of
history's most astonishing artists. Kandinsky headlines
the show with Malevich, and other artists have brief features.
The painter Natalia Gontcharova is of particular note: She
was inspired by rays of light to slash through her paintings
with dynamic diagonals of color. Many of the pieces in the
exhibition were hidden away when Joseph Stalin ordered avant-garde
art to be destroyed in the 1930s. They only re-emerged in
1988 and have rarely been seen in the United States.
Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., 226-2811.
Nov. 1-Jan. 10.
sonia boyce
Sonia Boyce is a woman. She's black. She's British.
And she wants you to know all three of those things. Boyce
has been gaining acclaim for her art since she graduated
from college in the 1980s. She is part of a growing movement
in Britain to establish a black voice in the art world.
She will show installation pieces dating from 1995 and participate
in a spring residency at Reed. Her work has been both highly
praised and dismissed (one critic called Boyce's piece about
Grace Jones as exciting as a music-video backdrop). Boyce
herself has said of her work, "In one sense I am celebrating
the strength of black women; however, I try not to glorify
that strength because I'm constantly reminded of why black
women have to be strong." The exhibition promises to elicit
both debate and discussion.
Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College,
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., 777-7790. April 17-June 17.
empire of the sultans: ottoman art from the khalili
collection
These days, our televisions tell us of the fighting
in places like Bosnia and Iraq while letting us forget that
the human beings who live in the Middle East and Eastern
Europe possess a unique history and culture that consists
of more than bloodshed. Hopefully this exhibition will remind
those of us out west that the east also has art, literature
and music. The Ottoman Empire began at the end of the 1300s
and fell apart at the end of the 1800s. The area, ruled
by Islamic Turks, stretched from Greece and Egypt to Poland.
In its time, the empire saw as much drama, intrigue and
innovation as the British or Roman Empire did. This exhibition
will show more than 200 objects from those six centuries,
shedding light on a too-quickly forgotten dynasty in world
history. Look for the special devices used in astronomy
and the gold-leafed illuminated manuscripts.
Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., 226-2811.
Jan. 27-April 8.
quilts and pop culture
Artists from the Pacific Northwest combine two very
unlikely elements, quilts and pop culture, for the Art Gym's
fall show. The artists have taken the assignment at very
different levels. Mark Newport has created freedom quilts--which
were originally sewn by a man's female relatives when he
reached age 21--based on comic-book covers. Other artists,
including Marilyn Lanfear, have quilted more traditional
materials to address prevalent themes in our culture (one
of Lanfear's pieces is called Every Night She Latched
All the Windows & Locked All the Doors & Put the
Babies in Her Bed). All the works patch together parts
of the human experience to move us on an artistic level.
If the AIDS quilt has touched you, or if you cried at a
community-theater production of Quilters, this is
definitely the show to see.
The Art Gym at Marylhurst College, 17600 SW Pacific Highway,
636-8141. Nov. 5-Dec. 8.
words
myla goldberg
Bee Season, Goldberg's debut novel, was one
of this summer's undisputed hits. This New York writer will
read from her story about a 9-year-old underachiever, Eliza,
who wins a spelling bee that changes her life. Eliza's Jewish
family reacts to her success in different ways, setting
off a series of spiritual quests and emotional upheavals.
Some readers think this book drags a bit--especially those
not steeped in the Jewish tradition--but it fits neatly
into the current fiction trend of preteen girl protagonists
that this newspaper identified waaay last spring.
Powell's, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm Wednesday,
Sept. 20.
andrew vachss
Portland's favorite lawyer-turned-author has penned another
novel starring the intrepid man-for-hire Burke. Vachss will
present Dead and Gone, a thriller that lands Burke
right here in the Pacific Northwest, where he visits Portland's
downtown Borders. Vachss may be the hardest-working guy
in Portland; when he isn't writing hard-boiled crime fiction,
he toils tirelessly as a children's attorney.
Borders, 708 SW 3rd Ave., 220-5911. 7 pm Wednesday,
Sept. 27.
miles harvey
The genre of creative nonfiction should provide
a window to an obscure new world. Miles Harvey kicks glass
with The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic
Crime. In the spirit of The Orchid Thief, Harvey
tells the sordid true tale of cutthroat chicanery in the
world of rare books and manuscripts. As in any lucrative
business, there are good guys and bad. Harvey profiles Gilbert
Bland, a con man who posed as an academic, sneaked into
university libraries and cut plates from atlases, then set
up a map shop in a Florida strip mall. Harvey will read
from his highly compelling book.
Borders-Tigard, 16920 SW 72nd Ave., 968-7576. 7 pm Thursday,
Oct. 5.
larry colton
For a while, it seemed as though Colton was never
going to get this book published, but the former WW
writer persevered. At long last, he will present Counting
Coup: A True Story of Basketball and Honor on the Little
Big Horn. In his previous book, Goat Brothers,
Colton studied the habits of fraternity brothers. Now, he
turns his attention to a high-school girls' basketball team
in Crow, Mont., comprising white and Indian players. He
focuses on one Indian player to examine some of the challenges
facing the Crow Indians, such as racism, alcoholism and
sexism.
Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, 284-1726.
7 pm Tuesday, Oct. 10.
anne enright
Those dreamy Irish have always cut the world's literary
edge; if you don't believe it, go back and read James Joyce.
Now the Emerald Isle is sending us another find. Enright
waxes experimental in What Are You Like?, her first
U.S.-published novel. The tale begins in 1965 Dublin when
a mother dies giving birth. Twenty years later, her daughter
discovers that she has a twin whom her distraught father
gave up for adoption. This separated-at-birth story is told
in fragments that will surely drive traditionalists to scream
like banshees. But What Are You Like? heralds the
arrival of another language-loving Irish author, who is
actually a woman this time.
Twenty-Third Avenue Books, 1015 NW 23rd Ave., 224-6203.
7:30 pm Thursday, Oct. 19.
events
andrei codrescu
Christian fundamentalists who are waiting for the
Rapture will not experience it at this event. In
fact, NPR commentator Codrescu got into trouble for
poking fun at the Rapture; his bosses responded personally
to 40,000 angry letters. Not that Codrescu cares much; he's
intrepid in his quest to find the humor in American culture.
In his most recent book, The Devil Never Sleeps: And
Other Essays, the witty Romanian-born writer pisses
mightily on all things reverent. This event will benefit
Friends of the Lovejoy Columns.
First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave., 227-2583.
7:30 pm Tuesday, Oct. 3. $15-$50.
david m. kennedy
History junkies will get more than their fix at
the Oregon Historical Society's third annual Mark O. Hatfield
Distinguished Historians Forum. The topic this year is "Challenges
of Leadership." Forum organizers were trying for an all-Kennedy
lineup but had to settle for two Kennedys and a Smith. The
headliner, David M. Kennedy, is a Stanford University professor
and winner of this year's Pulitzer Prize in history for
Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression
and War, 1929-1945. Roger G. Kennedy (Burr, Hamilton
and Jefferson: A Study in Character) and Richard Norton
Smith (The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R.
McCormick) will round out the series.
First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave., 306-5229.
7:30 pm Thursday, Oct. 19. Series ranges from $30-$200.
northwest bookfest
The Pacific Northwest's biggest book bash isn't
in Portland, but it's only a train ride away. More than
200 authors will read, including such favorites as Sherman
Alexie, Kevin Canty, Ana Castillo and Ha Jin. There is definitely
something for everyone here, from the cooking stage to the
book-arts exhibition. This will be the first year the bookfest
will be held at the exhibition center adjacent to Safeco
Field and just a few blocks from the train station. Admission
donations will benefit regional literacy programs. Check
out www.nwbookfest.org for more information.
Stadium Exhibition Center, Seattle, Wash.,
(206) 378-1883. 10 am-6 pm Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 21-22.
$5 suggested donation.
14th annual oregon book awards
The Oregon Book Awards are everything an awards
show should be: inspirational, entertaining and short. Plus,
there's good grub afterwards. Rub shoulders with the state's
book-writin' elite as Literary Arts Inc. showers several
deserving authors and literacy lovers with accolades and
moolah. John Daniel, a two-time winner himself, will referee
the event.
Scottish Rite Center, 709 SW 15th Ave., 227-2583. 7:30
pm Wednesday, Nov. 8. $15.
jeanette winterson
Sexing the Cherry and Oranges Are Not
the Only Fruit; do her books sound juicy or what? English
lesbian and feminist Winterson is somewhat of a legend in
her own country. The press hates her because she's snotty.
The public loves her because she's snotty--and she writes
fantastic novels. She escaped her Pentecostal childhood
in a small mill town to become one of the most controversial
authors of her time. Winterson will appear as part of the
2000-01 Portland Arts & Lectures series that will include
Ursula Le Guin, Robert Pinsky and Terry Gross, among others.
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 227-2583.
7:30 pm Thursday, Nov. 9. $102-$180 for entire series, partial
series tickets available, individual tickets may be available.
joan rivers: still talking
If Oprah were planning a lecture series in Portland,
it would be just like Voices Contemporary Lecture Series.
After eight years, Voices has found its niche as the inspirational
yet entertaining series for smart women and the men who
love them. This year, the four speakers span the spectrum
of special ladies: novelist Anna Quindlen, NPR goddess Linda
Wertheimer, oceanographer Sylvia Earle and Joan Rivers.
Can we talk? Some people despise Rivers for her catty remarks
about celebrity fashion on the E! network. Others think
her daughter Melissa is a testament to how not to raise
a child. But truth be told, Rivers is a crusty old broad
who oozes chutzpah.
First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave., 243-3440.
7 pm Wednesday, Feb. 7. Series ranges from $129-$194.
the dalai lama: "ethics in the new millennium"
The World Affairs Council of Oregon is celebrating
its 50th anniversary with an unbelievable lecture series
featuring such world leaders as Gorbachev, Kissinger and
Queen Noor. Each of the luminaries will talk about a specific
challenge that the world will face in the next 50 years.
The Dalai Lama, who needs no introduction, will conclude
the series. We'll leave the "Hello, Dalai!" jokes for Jonathan
Nicholas.
Memorial Coliseum, 1401 N Wheeler St., 274-7488. 7 pm Tuesday,
May 15. $100-$375 for series.
classical
portland baroque orchestra: dido & aeneas
Purcell's short opera on the tragic love of the Carthaginian
Queen Dido and the Trojan prince Aeneas is a small-scale
early Baroque gem that still contains many of the elements
that would later make the oratorios and operas of Handel
and Bach so revelatory. It's got all the usual Greek tragicomic
elements we've come to know and love, such as those befuddled,
fickle mortals being hoodwinked by those vindictive gods
and sorceresses. The noble fool Aeneas has his leash jerked
every which way, but as usual, the fool survives to destroy
others. Purcell's take on all this is classic mannered English
Baroque--deliciously structured passages of verve and sublimity
that unfold with tragic grace and elegance. It's an opera
worthy of the Clinton era, as one of the final choruses
offers Big Bill a lesson: "Great minds against themselves
conspire, and shun the cure they most desire."
First Baptist Church, 909 SW 11th Ave., 222-6000. 8 pm
Friday, Oct. 27.
Reed College, Kaul Auditorium, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.,
294-6400. 8 pm Saturday, 3 pm Sunday, Oct. 28 and 29. $13-$35.
chamber music northwest: anonymous 4, the chilingirian
string quartet
Chamber Music Northwest presents a heavy-hitting one-two
quartet punch with the monstrously popular female vocalists
Anonymous 4 and London's Chilingirian String Quartet. Anonymous
4 has a knack for uncovering the hidden gems of the millennium-long
choral tradition and shining them to a chart-topping luster.
Violinist Levon Chilingirian has led his quartet to international
recognition in the competitive field of chamber music. The
pair of fours split a program that includes Anonymous 4
presenting the suitably unattributed, 1,000-year-old Mass
for the End of Time and the Chilingirian tackling Estonian
composer Arvo Pärt's Fratres and a quartet by
the father of the form, Haydn. Together they collaborate
on a special arrangement of Benjamin Britten's Missa
Brevis and on the raison d'être for the
concerts, The Bridegroom, commissioned from England's
reigning king of quasi-medieval composition, John Tavener.
Reed College, Kaul Auditorium, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.,
294-6400. 7 pm Sunday, Nov. 5. $5-$33.
oregon symphony: guest conductors
The selection of a new music director to lead a major
orchestra to its future can be a chaotic courtship--witness
the recent jilting of the New York Philharmonic, left at
the altar by Maestro Riccardo Muti after years of negotiation.
With James DePreist retiring in 2005, the Oregon Symphony
is already lining up suitors to replace the popular conductor
after his quarter-century reign. The first six of a possible
dozen candidates are scheduled to show off their wares this
season. They represent a field of veterans and hungry youngsters
that may just be up to the camera's flash. The nominees
are: Eugene Symphony music director Miguel Harth-Bedoya,
Syracuse Symphony music director Daniel Hege and music director
tri-athlete David Lockington of the Grand Rapids and New
Mexico symphonies as well as the Long Island Philharmonic.
Grammy nominee Ulf Shirmer (pictured here) of the Danish
National Radio Symphony Orchestra and a pair of Russian
conductors, Kirov Opera and Ballet director Alexander Polianichko
and Moscow State Symphony director Pavel Kogan, bring a
continental edge to the mix. Add the fact that the eventual
decision-making will be a collaborative effort between administration,
musicians and audience and these shows lift the music to
a level of high drama. Of course, the latter ingredient--with
audience members casting opinion ballots following each
candidate's performance--could turn the process into a charismatic
beauty pageant.
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 228-1353.
$15-$63.
Alexander Polianichko: 7:30 pm Saturday and Sunday, 8 pm
Monday, Nov. 4-6.
Daniel Hege: 7:30 pm Saturday and Sunday, 8 pm Monday, Dec.
2-4.
Miguel Harth-Bedoya: 7:30 pm Saturday and Sunday, 8 pm Monday,
Feb. 3-5.
Pavel Kogan: 7:30 pm Saturday and Sunday, 8 pm Monday, Feb.
17-19.
Ulf Schirmer: 7:30 pm Saturday and Sunday, 8 pm Monday,
March 24-26.
David Lockington: 7:30 pm Saturday and Sunday, 8 pm Monday,
April 7-9.
third angle: all-copland concert
Since Third Angle's mission is manifold--discovering
the bold new trends in American music and digging up chamber
music's past--it makes sense that on this, the 100th anniversary
of his birth, Copland's chamber music gets swept to the
forefront. To finish 1999, the group, with Oregon Symphony
resident conductor Murry Sidlin directing, released an excellent
chamber orchestra recording of the great composer's seldom-heard
opera The Tender Land. As a follow-up, Third Angle
offers the composer's abstract and populist small-scale
works: the Piano Variations, Violin Sonata and Eight Poems
of Emily Dickinson with the soprano Amy Hansen returning
after her excellent work on The Tender Land. The
concert concludes with Copland's original 1944 scoring for
chamber ensemble of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Appalachian
Spring.
Reed College, Kaul Auditorium, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.,
331-0301. 8 pm Tuesday, Nov. 14.
cappella romana
Hard to believe that Gregorian chant, something we now
consider ancient musical history, actually remained the
official soundtrack to Roman Catholicism up until 1962.
The gents of Cappella Romana, as the city's a cappella masters,
are hip to this and treat chant as a still-living contemporary
discovery. This concert offers the 1,000-year history of
chant from its synagogue origins and "old Roman chant" of
the empire to the Byzantine hold-over of Eastern Orthodoxy
and the dawning of the Renaissance. Pure voice, controlled
in tone and timbre, curvaceous in line, lifting to the heights
of a cathedral space and beyond.
St. Mary's Cathedral, 1716 NW Davis St., 725-3307. 8 pm
Friday, Jan. 5.
oregon symphony's nerve endings: "film-harmonic"
Despite this work's cheeky title, Nerve Endings takes
an adventurous stab at true multimedia composition. "Film-Harmonic"
is an experiment in flip-flopping the soundtrack process--letting
the sound inspire the vision. Four Portland filmmakers were
commissioned to create three separate shorts from favorite
classical works: Gus Van Sant adds cinematic scope to John
Adams' "The Chairman Dances" from the composer's Nixon
in China; Chel White brings "Neptune" from Holst's The
Planets into sharp focus; and Jim Blashfield and Joan
C. Gratz conjure images from French composer Hector Berlioz's
swirling soundscape "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath" from Symphonie
Fantastique. The consequent works will be played on their
lonesome and again as the camera rolls. The cynical may
suggest this is just MTV for the classical set, and the
crew will be hard-pressed to come up with anything as right-on
as Fantasia, but this cross-pollination shows hope
for the city's artistic health.
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 228-1353.
8 pm Friday, Jan. 12. $6-$37.
friends of chamber music: kronos quartet
Maybe it's a West Coast pioneer thing, but San Francisco's
Kronos is the group that, perhaps more than any other chamber-music
ensemble, has stayed true to its inventive origins in championing
new works and crashing the elitist barriers of its form.
The fearsome foursome have come a long way since their 1973
beginnings and the genre-bashing string-quartet recordings
of Monk and Hendrix that made them post-modern crossover
darlings. They may be older and wiser, but they've still
managed to cling to their youthful edge and appetite for
destruction of stuffy string-quartet preconceptions. Jazz
and African rhythms, Lutoslawski dissonance and Gorecki
ethereality, Hildegaard von Bingen chant and George Crumb
apocalypse--it's all sonic Play-Doh in their nimble hands.
Reed College, Kaul Auditorium, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.,
725-3307. 8 pm Friday, Jan. 26. $22-$27.
piano recital series: fazil say
In yet another exceptional series of solo piano concerts
that includes the revered Leon Fleisher, the presence of
the young Turkish pianist Fazil Say still stands out. Whereas
Fleisher is known for some of the most groundbreaking performances
of the past 40 years, Say may be the one to set the standard
for the next 40. Though many old purists are crowing over
ruffled feathers, Say, the first Young Concert Artists International
Audition winner, plays with pluck and panache and a wealth
of inventiveness. His rhythmic fire and often unorthodox
phrasing and tempos prick up the ear and force one to assess
the standard interpretations anew. Yet it's not an exercise
in deconstruction; in refreshing jaunts he manages, despite
his incredible facility, to erase any thought of gratuitous
technical flourish through the sheer soulful joy and wit
of his playing. Like the iconoclastic Glenn Gould, you love
him or hate him.
Portland State University, Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620
SW Park Ave., 725-3307. 7:30 pm Saturday and 4 pm Sunday,
Jan. 27 and 28.
columbia symphony orchestra
New artistic director Huw Edwards takes over the CSO
at a high-water mark. After 14 years with former director
John Trudeau steering the course, the semi-professional
"alternative" orchestra is known throughout the region for
solid playing and inventive programming. It has picked a
kindred spirit in Edwards. All of this season's programs
offer a balance of head-nodding recognition and piqued curiosity,
but the "Sense of Loss" strain of this concert perhaps shows
best the thematic approach to Edwards' concerts. Verdi's
Overture to The Sicilian Vespers, Howard Hanson's
"Requiem" Symphony and Elgar's Cello Concerto (a seemingly
disparate set of composers) team up to offer a night of
symphonic elegy.
First United Methodist Church, 1838 SW Jefferson St., 234-4077.
8 pm Friday, Feb. 16.
fear no music's piano riot
With Fear No Music you never know quite what you'll
get. Last year's Piano Riot romp by Jeff Payne, Phil Hansen,
Joel Blumenthal and the rest of this band of musical tricksters
featured musicians racing against tape loops, video and
bowling balls. In place of that performance's playful Satie
dual-piano film score, we'll hear (and see) George Antheil's
"Ballet Mechanique" with live synchronized accompaniment.
Lewis & Clark composer-in-residence Joe Waters is back
with another soundtrack/video collaboration, this time with
L.A. multimedia maven Matt Smith. A world premiere by Berlin
Prize winner Laura Schwendinger and new work by Tiffany
Barclay, a former participant in FNM's annual Young Composer
Project, round out another reach-for-the-sky program from
the city's most adventurous new-music ensemble. As always,
though there's more than a bit of Marx Brothers wacky high
jinks going on, there's also a helluva lot of inspired music.
Reed College, Kaul Auditorium, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.,
335-3386. 8 pm Friday, March 16.
trinity consort: bach's mass in b minor
In its inaugural season, Trinity Consort concentrated
on large-scale sacred choral-orchestral works--or, as Trinity
puts it, "Sacred Music in a Sacred Space." To open the consort's
toddler season, the group has picked a quartet that represents
milestones in sacred music. Featured will be the first Portland
performance with period instruments of Mozart's Requiem,
Bach's majestic Mass in B Minor and two oratorios by Handel,
a large scale, dual-chorus Messiah, and Israel
in Egypt, the first of a planned complete cycle of the
composer's infrequently heard oratorios. With upcoming scheduled
performances with John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie
and Philippe Herreweghe planned this season, countertenor
Daniel Taylor is creating the kind of stir that greeted
Andreas Scholl a few years back. He'll be joined by the
soprano Suzie Le Blanc, tenor Marc Molomot and the combined
70 voices of the Trinity Choir and Cathedral Chamber Singers.
With Milnes at the helm, this concert should rate with his
past Trinity collaborations--St. Matthew and St. John passions--and
increase Portland's reputation in the early-music scene.
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 147 NW 19th Ave., 222-9811.
7:30 pm Saturday and 3 pm Sunday, March 24 and 25. $15-$30.
portland opera: dialogues of the carmelites
In a surprisingly balanced season that includes romantic
show stoppers like Bizet's Carmen and Puccini's La
Bohème, Portland Opera offers one of the few
gems of 20th-century opera, Poulenc's 1957 tragedy Les
Dialogues des Carmelites. Set in a convent during the
terror of the French Revolution, the opera is an unorthodox
drama about class struggle, the cowardice of chaos and the
bravery of true faith. There's no traditional romance here--unless
you count the adoration the Catholic nuns hold for their
God--yet the passion is no less fervent. Poulenc's music
is French through and through--beautifully sonorous and
eerily melodic while avoiding the cerebral clichés
associated with 20th-century works. The ending is one of
the most gripping in all of contemporary opera. Rosalind
Elias plays the Old Prioress, and the torpid beauty of Anna
Panagulias, last year's athletic dervish of a Vixen in the
company's Janácek opera, returns as Blanche de la
Force.
Keller Auditorium, 1500 SW 3rd Ave. Various times, March
24, 26, 28 and 31. $26-$156.
oregon repertory singers: russia's maestro & masterpieces
Artistic director Gil Seeley and the ORS manage just
fine on their own, as last season's splendid world premiere
of Robert Kyr's Millennium Psalms proved. But in the spirit
of collaboration they bring conductor Vladimir Minin and
selected soloists of his Moscow Chamber Choir back to town
for a concert that reveals the ongoing Russian connection
in the Rose City. The internationally touted Minin last
worked his magic with the ORS in 1997, whipping the troops
into a choral frenzy with Rachmaninoff's stirring Vespers.
This year, Rachmaninoff's back in a program that includes
the well-known (Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky) and the unknown
(Sviridov, Grechaninov), revealing Czarist Russia to be
motherland for not only revolutionary foment but choral
masterpieces as well.
Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1624 NE Hancock St., 230-0652.
8 pm Saturday, April 21. St. Mary's Cathedral, 1716 NW Davis
St., 230-0652. 2 pm Sunday and 8 pm Monday, April 22 and
23.
portland youth philharmonic: elgar and lutoslawski
One of the most energetic and stirring performances
anywhere in Portland last season was PYP's "Territory Beyond"
concert, offering works by George Butterworth, John Mackey
and Shostakovich. The youth orchestra under conductor Huw
Edwards played this imaginative program with bristling intensity
and a sense of discovery all too often missing from the
city's peremptory professional run-throughs. In his six
years as artistic director Edwards has continually reached
for the next rung, offering varied, demanding programming
and excellent playing. This odd juxtaposition of Elgar's
English romanticism and Lutoslawski's barbaric yawp will
coalesce.
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 223-5939.
7:30 pm Sunday, May 6.
stage
the devils
Portland Center Stage's new artistic director, Chris
Coleman (see profile), launches the theater's new century
with a literate adaptation of Dostoevsky's novel about a
group of Russian revolutionaries planning large deeds in
a small town. Coleman will also be making his Portland directing
debut, though he has already staged the piece to critical
acclaim in his native Atlanta. The play is by Elizabeth
Egloff, an American playwright who has quickly become a
strong voice in the contemporary American theater scene.
Though this is the first play of Egloff's to be staged here,
Portlanders will receive another chance to see her work
later in the season at Sowelu (see The Swan below).
Portland Center Stage at the Newmark Theater, Portland
Center for the Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway, 274-6588.
7 pm Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2 and
7 pm Sundays, Sept. 26-Oct. 22.
popcorn
Theatre Vertigo has quickly become one of Portland's
most important theaters, both as a venue for serious drama
and as a company dedicated to the craft of acting. Though
still hunting larger audiences, the company has had a definite
influence on the theater community, where its productions
of The Gray Zone and Lion in the Streets continue
to be discussed. This season will be dedicated to dark comedy,
with Jeff Goode's highly praised Poona the Fuckdog: Stories
for Children, and Keith Reddin's The Brutality of
Fact. Topping the season will be Brit-com writer and
novelist Ben Elton's Popcorn. Elton was inspired
to write this excoriating satire of Hollywood morality,
which he adapted from his own novel, after being appalled
by the intellectually dishonest and shallow Oliver Stone
film Natural Born Killers.
Theatre Vertigo at the Russell Street Theater, 116 NE Russell
St., 306-0870. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 pm Sundays, Sept.
14-Oct. 18. $12.
life Is a dream
The Miracle Theater's dynamo of an artistic director,
Antonio Sonera, has left the theater to take over the post
of director of the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center,
leaving many wondering if Miracle can continue improving
upon Sonera's work, which turned the once-scorned company
into a noteworthy theater. Sonera's season stands as planned,
and he will direct two of the productions, including the
newest play by Jose Rivera, References to Salvador Dali
Make Me Hot. The boldest move by Sonera is to stage
a classic of Spanish drama, Life Is a Dream. Often
called the Hamlet of Spanish literature, the play
was written by Lope de Vega's great successor, Pedro Calderon
de la Barca (1600-1681). John Clifford's acclaimed translation
of Calderon's tale of a prisoner prince who briefly becomes
a king will serve as text. This builds upon last year's
inclusion of Lorca in the season, making Miracle the perfect
venue for staging important Spanish plays.
The Miracle Theater, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays,
Sept. 15-Oct. 14.
measure for measure
Although her intelligent and fluid production of the
Scottish play was marred by inadequate acting, Nan Doherty
proved that there was someone at the helm of Tygres Heart
who understood that the play's the thing and concept comes
second. Doherty now launches her first full season as the
company's artistic director, with productions of Twelfth
Night and King Lear, the latter which she will
direct with Gray Eubank as the mad king and Laura Smith
as both Cordelia and the Fool. But the season starts powerfully
with a new adaptation of Measure for Measure written
and directed by the famed director-theorist Charles Marowitz.
Marowitz is one of the leading critics of our age, and his
work as director (most famously with the Royal Shakespeare
Company) has earned him a high reputation. That someone
of Marowitz's stature is coming to work in Portland is a
sign that the theater community is continuing to mature.
Tygres Heart Shakespeare Company at the Winningstad Theater,
Portland Center for the Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway,
288-8401. 7 pm Thursdays, 8 pm Fridays, 2 and 8 pm Saturdays,
2 pm Sundays, Sept. 29-Nov. 5.
interrupt--interactive hypermedia
The new century will demand new definitions in the arts,
and the current ghettoization of disciplines under the stale
rubrics of "theater," "dance" and "visual art" must be challenged,
even in these pages. One company that is in the vanguard
toward a total art is Liminal, now in its third year of
disrupting boundaries. The group, which includes many of
Portland's most serious and intelligent young performers,
has finally found a home at the Metropolitan Art Studio.
Its first piece, Interrupt, shares affinities with
the troupe's Handke piece seen at Reed two years ago, in
which the audience will find itself in an interactive environment
where technology and performance mesh. One continuing project
this season will be the company's Tableaux Vivants,
which will be designed for both public and private viewings.
This revival of the "living pictures," which originated
in 14th-century Europe, is bound to be anything but courtly.
Liminal at the Metropolitan Art Studio, 2808 NE Martin
Luther King Jr. Blvd., 890-2993. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays,
Oct. 26-Dec. 3.
house taken over
While Imago is not the first theater in town to present
a season of past successes, it's the first to offer a retrospective
that's artistically viable. Imago is Portland theater's
finest achievement, so the chance to revisit past pieces
is exciting news. Along with its stalwart Frogs, Lizards,
Orbs and Slinkys (henceforward to be called Frogz),
artistic directors Carol Triffle and Jerry Mouawad will
remount their vertiginous version of Sartre's No Exit
with Drammy-winner Marc Weaver re-creating the role of Inez.
In early spring, Triffle's mesmerizing Oh Lost Weekend
returns, after accidents limited its first run last
season. But for the ardent Imago enthusiast, the rebuilding
of House Taken Over is especially welcomed. Named
one of the best plays of last season, Imago's adaptation
of Julio Cortázar's short story is theatrical genius,
especially with its mansion made of 130 foamcore panels
continually shifting on a cat's cradle of sliding tracks.
If you see only one play this year, see this.
Imago Theater, 17 SE 8th Ave., 231-9581. November-December.
eric bogosian
Though billed as a Powell's reading of his latest novel,
Mall, the versatile actor-writer-director is expected
to give a dynamic interpretation of his tale about a group
of people whose various plights bring them together, rather
explosively, in a suburban shopping center. As no producer
has stepped forward to bring Bogosian here to perform, it's
probably as close as we'll get to seeing the famed performance
artist in action.
Powell's Books at the First Congregational Church, 1126
SW Park Ave., 228-4651. 7:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 18. Free.
the gimmick
In a bold move, Chris Coleman has scheduled the company's
first production to be performed off-site. Dael Orlandersmith's
lone-actor piece is about two young black people finding
their way out of ghetto poverty through the work of James
Baldwin and Picasso. Again it's a piece that Coleman is
familiar with, having directed the off-Broadway production
last year. The Obie Award-winning Orlandersmith will come
to Portland to perform the piece herself.
Portland Center Stage at Self Enhancement Inc., 3930 N
Kerby St., 274-6581. Jan. 21-Feb. 25, 2001.
the revenger's tragedy
Stark Raving has had a rough past year. What stage successes
it enjoyed were quickly overwhelmed by much-needed personnel
changes and problems in securing the stage it's called home
for three years. Because of the latter problem, the company's
important New Rave Festival of new work will be moved to
the IFCC this October, though, historically, the festival
has always launched its season. But this year, the company
will start with two of George Walker's Suburban Motel
plays and will end the season with two more in the Motel
series. Between these will be a stage adaptation of
Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market and Gunter Grass'
Max. The play to watch for, however, is a rare staging
of one of the great Elizabethan revenge dramas, The Revenger's
Tragedy. The play is one of the genre's finest works.
Stark Raving Theater at Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont
St., 275-8358. 7:30 pm Wednesdays-Saturdays, 4 pm Sundays,
March 2-24, 2001.
the swan
Last season, Portlanders had an opportunity to see two
plays by an interesting new American playwright, Tim Blake
Nelson. This season audiences will get the same opportunity
with Elizabeth Egloff. Her adaptation of Dostoevsky's The
Devils opens PCS's season, while an earlier play, The
Swan, closes the season at Sowelu. As with Theatre Vertigo,
Sowelu Theater continues to set the pace for Portland's
theater community, and its artistic director, Barry Hunt,
has proven that a theater dedicated to new work and experimentation
can be both an artistic and financial success. The company
begins its season with a new British play by James Stock,
Blue Night in the Heart of the West. Egloff's critically
acclaimed play is an unabashedly poetic telling of a woman
living on the Nebraska prairies who has a transformative
encounter with a swan.
Sowelu Theater at the Back Door Theater, 4319 SE Hawthorne
Blvd., 230-2090. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays,
4 pm Sundays, March 16-April 21, 2001. $7-$15.
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