Oregon Symphony principal cellist Nancy Ives will be playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Portland Columbia Symphony under the direction of Huw Edwards.
The Elgar is probably my favorite of the many great concertos for the cello. I regret that it’s always immediately identified with the late Jacqueline du Pre. It seems to be one of those unfortunate situations where a piece of music and a performer’s personal circumstances are conflated (a la the movie Shine and Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto) – it makes for articles that tug at the heart strings but does little to enlighten us to what the piece has to offer.
Fortunately, Huw and Nancy have provided ample background on the piece in an interview with James Bash at Oregon Music News that you can read here.
Here are the concert details:
7:30 p.m. Friday, First United Methodist Church, 1838 S.W. Jefferson St.;
3:00 p.m. Sunday, Mt. Hood Community College Theater, 26000 S.E. Stark St., Gresham;
$30 adults, $25 seniors, $10 students, 503-234-4077,
columbia-symphony.org