Contact: Allison Griffin
Public Relations Associate
503-416-6347
April 2, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Under the direction of Music Director Carlos Kalmar, the orchestra will perform the upcoming classical program “Different Strokes” at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Sunday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, April 30 at 8 p.m.
Soloist Stephen Hough will be featured on Brahms’ Piano
Concerto No. 2.
Widely regarded as one of the
most important and distinctive pianists of his generation, Hough
was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2001 in recognition
of his achievements. A resident of London, Hough is a visiting
professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and holds the
International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal
Northern College in Manchester.
Many pianists consider Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 one of the most difficult concertos in the repertoire. The composer completed the piece twenty years after his first. The long pause between the two can be contributed to the negative reaction to Brahm’s first piano concerto, although its reputation has since been restored. The piano concerto is one of the longest and largest ever written; with an added fourth movement, it clocks in at just under one hour, and could be considered the first “piano symphony.”
Also on the program is the Oregon Symphony premiere of Stravinsky’s Concerto in D. Choreographer Jerome Robbins described Igor Stravinsky’s Concerto in D major for String Orchestra as “terribly driven and compelled,” and he made a ballet from it in 1951, titled The Cage, whose plot features male insects being devoured by a voracious female. The dry, rebarbative nature of the opening movement is offset by moments of calm and occasional humor, but the Concerto in D ends as it begins, in agitated edginess. The program will also include Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra.
Tickets start at $20 and may be purchased at the Oregon
Symphony Ticket Office, located at 923 S.W. Washington. Ticket
office hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets
can be charged by phone at (503) 228-1353 or
(800) 228-7343, Monday through
Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets may also be purchased at
Ticketmaster outlets or by calling (503) 224-4400. Discounted tickets
for groups of eight or more are available through the group sales
hotline at (503) 416-6380. Support for the concert is provided
by the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation. Media support
is provided by The Oregonian and KINK fm.
Images and guest artist bios are available at www.orsymphony.org/media.