It’s been another heatwave across Oregon the past couple days, with temps reaching close to 100 degrees in both Portland and Sunriver. Tuesday night was spent playing our sole pops concert at Summit High School in Bend, with guest artists vocalist Susannah Mars and saxophone player James Di Pasquale. Principal trumpeter Jeffrey Work and concertmaster Jun Iwasaki also made solo appearances.
Rehearsals are underway for this weekend’s concerts concluding the festival. The concerts will be at the Tower Theater in downtown Bend. My feelings about this are mixed, as the Great Hall in Sunriver is a much more intimate and acoustically friendly space, and it feels like we’re abandoning this little resort town to play concerts in the much larger Bend.
One of the pieces that we rehearsed this morning was the Suite #2 in b minor for flute and strings by J.S. Bach. Our flutist is principal flute Adam Kuenzel, who will be showing off his prowess on the wooden flute for this work. The Bach will be featured on Friday evening’s concert.
Adam Kuenzel warming up on his wooden flute.
On Saturday evening, SRMF and Oregon Symphony principal trumpeter Jeffrey Work will perform the Hummel Concerto in E major for trumpet and orchestra. He sounded awesome in the rehearsal – it is a must-hear for any and all trumpet aficionados who find themselves in Central Oregon this weekend.
Jeffrey Work works on his cadenza for the Hummel Trumpet Concerto.
All photos © Charles Noble.