We played our matinee concert in Astoria on Sunday the 8th, and it was, like last year, a great success. The audience was at least a third larger than last year (with extra seating needing to be added), and just as enthusiastic. We love playing in Astoria, and are excited to return again next season! Many thanks to Marge Bloomfield, Thron Riggs, Betsey Ellerbroek, Brenda Penner, and Steve Forrester for their dedication to presenting great chamber music in Astoria! We can’t wait for next season’s concert!

July

Gorge Music Festival Concerts

Our first concerts of the summer take place at a new music festival started by former Oregon Repertory Singers director Gil Seeley in the Columbia River Gorge in White Salmon, Washington, and Hood River, Oregon on July 22 & 23, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.

• News story from the White Salmon Enterprise – link.

Program:

• Schubert – Fantasie in F minor for four hands piano
• Piazzolla – Le Grand Tango for cello and piano
• Piazzolla – Four, for Tango for string quartet
• Schumann – Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44

Additional artists: pianist Karen Eddelman and Ron Potts.

July 22 venue: Bethel Congregational Church, 480 East Jewett Blvd. White Salmon, WA
View Map

July 23 venue: Riverside Community Church, 4th & State Streets, Hood River, Ore.
View Map

September

Parallels: Music of Daniel Ott & Benjamin Britten

On Friday, September 30th, we’ll be presenting a concert at the Community Music Center exploring the parallels between two wonderful composers who have had similar courses in their early careers: the great British composer Benjamin Britten, and rising star American composer Daniel Ott.

Program (subject to change):

• Daniel Ott – String Quartet No. 1
• Benjamin Britten – Phantasy for oboe and string trio
• Daniel Ott – Camera Obscura for oboe and string trio
• Benjamin Britten – String Quartet No. 1

Additional artists: Erin Gustafson, oboe, and Daniel Ott, composer-in-residence.

March

March Music Moderne

We join Bob Priest’s modern music circus in March (March 23rd at 7:30 pm., to be exact) at the Community Music Center, for a second year in a row, and we’ll be presenting some wonderful works for strings.

Program (subject to change):

• Sergei Prokofiev – String Quartet No. 1 in B minor (1930)
• Claude Debussy – Sonata for cello and piano (1915)
• Osvaldo Golijov – Tenebrae for string quartet (2003)
• Ludwig van Beethoven – String Quartet in F major, Op. 135 (1826)

Just adding concerts as they come up – the first to be scheduled for this coming season is our first ever performance in Astoria at the lovely Liberty Theater. The concert will take place at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 27, 2011. Program TBA.

We’ll be performing on the Salem Camerata Musica series at the Salem Public Library on Sunday, April 26 at 2:30 p.m. in Loucks Auditorium.  Admission is free.  For directions, see the Camerata Musica website.

Program:

W.A. Mozart – Adagio & Fugue in C minor, K. 546
Béla Bartók – String Quartet No. 4
Felix Mendelssohn – String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13