April 13, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Singers from Estacada High School and Junior High Choirs, along with community singers and the Estacada High School Band, will perform side by side with Oregon Symphony musicians in a special Symphony concert to celebrate a two-year Community Music Partnership (CMP) with Estacada on Saturday, May 12 at 7 p.m. in the Estacada High School Gymnasium. This year the general public is invited to also attend the dress rehearsal at 3 p.m. earlier that day. CMP funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Family Foundation and the PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning.
Musicians from all over the community will join the Symphony, led by Resident Conductor Gregory Vajda, for an evening of orchestral and vocal performance. The Estacada High School Band, directed by Steve Christensen, will sit in with the Symphony to perform Gustav Holst’s First Suite in E-flat Major, while the Estacada High School Choirs and members of the Estacada Junior High Choir, directed by Rendell Frunk, will join community singers from the area to sing selections from Mack Wilberg’s “Anthem of Peace” and Douglas E. Wagner’s “American Tribute.”
Vajda and the Symphony will present Johannes Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture” and Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 in A major, “Italian.” After intermission, Vajda will lead the Symphony in Aram Khachaturian’s Suite No. 1 from Gayane.
While in Estacada, the Symphony will also present two free youth concerts for Estacada school children. The concerts are scheduled for 9:30 and 11 a.m. on Friday, May 11, also in the Estacada High School Gymnasium. Resident Conductor Gregory Vajda will conduct the youth concerts, which will feature a musical program called “Melody Medley,” where students will explore the concept of theme and variations along with how one melody can be altered depending on how, when, where and by which instrument it is played.
These Symphony concerts are among the more than 350 activities which have taken place in Estacada since January through the CMP, the Symphony’s most far-reaching community engagement initiative. Activities have included “informances,” ensemble performances, master classes with Symphony musicians, instrument “petting zoos,” and other student events, as well as three chamber music concerts for the community presented by Symphony ensembles. Groups of Symphony musicians and staff have visited Estacada multiple times each month to present activities.
“We are a town that knows the power the arts have in building community, and this is happening with our partnership with the Symphony,” said Jane Reid, chair of Estacada Together. “Our demographics may be changing, but few students have ever attended a Symphony performance. This opportunity is one that they will remember for the rest of their lives.”
“We hope that the excitement and energy generated through year one of the partnership will cause a ripple effect throughout the community, encouraging continued collaborations between the schools and local artists and arts organizations along with a sustained relationship with the Symphony,” said Emilia Smith, Director of Education and Community Engagement.
The Symphony’s CMP, now in its fifth year, has worked previously with communities in Baker City, North Bend, Redmond and Klamath Falls.
The second year of the partnership will focus on the development of a sustainability plan to further develop Estacada music programs through local resources and collaborations, as well as to explore creative sources of additional funding after the Community Music Partnership concludes in June 2008.
Tickets for the May 12 dress rehearsal are $3 for students/seniors, $5 for adults and $10 per family (parents with minor children). Tickets for the evening concert are $8 for students/seniors, $10 for adults and $20 per family. Tickets for both events may be purchased in Estacada at The Artsmith, Figaro’s Pizza and Estacada High School, and will also be available at the door. For more information, contact Estacada Together at 503-630-4013.