45th Parallel, a new chamber music series curated by Oregon Symphony violinist Gregory Ewer, presents its inaugural concert on Saturday evening, January 16th at 7:30 p.m. at the Old Church in downtown Portland (1422 SW 11th Avenue). Seating is limited, and the concert is likely to sell out, so don’t get turned away at the door – buy your tickets now! The first season of concerts is sponsored by our great friends over at KQAC-FM, AllClassical.org.
It’s been a lot of work, but also a lot of fun, to put together the two pieces I play on for this concert. The Verdi string quartet was entirely unknown to me before getting the music for it last month, and I think that it will be a very enjoyable piece for lovers of both the string quartet and opera repertoire. As cellist Justin Kagan remarked (and he spent 8 years playing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), “it’s like all the hardest bits of Verdi’s operas crammed into one piece”, and it’s also got some beautiful melodies that are entirely operatic in their scope (and given to the cello, for the most part). The Tchaikovsky Souvenir de Florence is the big finish to the concert, and there’s little to say that hasn’t already been said about this piece. It’s a sprawling, dense, and athletic piece which makes a lot of demands upon the players, but for the audience, it’s an enjoyable virtual trip through the picturesque vistas of summertime Italy.
Link for tickets.
Link for map.