Friday, we had the great pleasure of performing Bloch's Concerto Grosso No. 2 with Maestro Ken Selden and the PSU Orchestra. Ken and I were classmates at the New England Conservatory, in the studio of James Buswell, and it's great to see him doing such fine work here in Portland. When you get right down to it, people recognize quality when they see it, and they see it vividly with Ken, from the students to the general public. It was a lovely evening of music making, capped off by a great review on NW Reverb.
Next, on Saturday, we had a blast working with our dear friends from CityDance, Linda K. Johnson, Tere Mathern, Linda Austin, Cydney Wilkes, and Randy Gragg. Ziba headquarters was the site of our trip down memory lane, with the release of Randy's beautiful monograph, "Where the Revolution Began". It was so great to gather these great artists together again for the mini-performances that constituted this event, and to hang afterwards and reminisce about our epic CityDance project. I am forever indebted to Randy and Linda K for their great vision and expertise in assembling such a great cast for this project. That project absolutely had its heart in the right place, and I encourage everyone to support the cause of preserving the Halprin designed Portland Sequence by contributing to the conservancy here.
Finally, it's been a thrilling experience hearing Yefim Bronfman perform Bartok's 2nd Piano Concerto this weekend with the Oregon Symphony. The perfect match of strength and complexity, an absolute tour de force. Portland audience....if you don't come Monday and hear this great master....shame on you!!!!! ;-)
