Portland Chamber Orchestras roots stretch back to 1947, when Finnish immigrant Boris Sirpo, a composer and conductor, started teaching students at Lewis & Clark College and organized the ensemble.
Its now considered one of the countrys oldest chamber orchestras, and PCO, steeped in history in the Nordic and Scandinavian community, plans a big celebration this month. The orchestra will perform works by composers Carl Nielsen of Denmark and Jean Sibelius of Finland, each born 150 years ago.
Titled Northern Lights, the concert will be accompanied by an exhibition, Northern Lights: The light which can be heard, which highlights the beginnings of PCO and its legacy in the citys cultural heritage, as well as staged readings and visuals that usually accompany the PCO productions conducted by Musical Director/Conductor Yaacov Bergman. To further commemorate things, one of the performances will be at the Scandinavian Heritage Foundations new Nordia House, S.W. Oleson Road, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17; the second performance will be 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, at the Agnes Flanagan Chapel at Lewis & Clark
College.
The PCO folks are very excited about the concert.
The connection between the Scandinavian and Nordic community and Portland Chamber Orchestra has always stuck, says Bergman, PCOs conductor for 12 years who lives in New York and also heads the Walla Walla (Wash.) Symphony among others. The opening of the Nordia House was known to us, and the timing is such that we can celebrate the opening and celebrate the anniversary of the two composers.
Robert Kingdom, PCO president, says that the orchestra holds proudly its association with Lewis & Clark College throughout the years.
So, this is going to be a real joy for us, he says.
The music performed will be the Andante Festivo by Sibelius and Flute Concerto by Nielsen, with flutist Jessica Sindell accompanying on the folk-like concerto. Then, PCO plays Pelleas and Melisande, Incidental Music Op. 46, with a semi-staged and edited version of the Maurice Maeterlinck play.
The Portland Chamber Orchestra has been known for its collaborations under the guidance of Bergman, and therell be staged readings by four actors, as well as visuals in the form of paintings, lights and video, organizers say.
Its what makes Portland Chamber Orchestra unique, Kingdom says. (Bergmans) vision to incorporate theater and visual arts, thats what weve done quite a bit of.
It goes over well with live actors on stage, its something to look at when it relates to music. Response to video, he says, has been mixed.
Portland Chamber Orchestra allows for a varied approach to experimental arts and creative thinking, Bergman says, in bringing things that are not done before and collaborations. ... I love this sort of fusion. We do a lot of it, and it offers you an opportunity to be very creative and bring something very fresh to your audience, in balance with old tradition. All my life Ive been involved in this type of collaboration work, whether its dance or theater or visual art.
This is a fantastic collaboration, he adds, of the Northern Lights show. It has taken hours and hours of putting this together, cutting and pasting the play, taking an abbreviated approach. ... We are presenting a magnificent piece of theater.
Mary McDonald-Lewis serves as theatrical consultant and Bob Hicks as visuals producer.
McDonald-Lewis says PCO theater usually involves marrying the reading of text and acting with music.
The Maeterlinck play tells the story of Melisande, a woman found in the forest by the kings eldest son, Golaud, who brings her home to the castle. They marry, but she falls in love with the youngest son, Pelleas.
Portland is a storytelling city, McDonald-Lewis says. There are numerous collaborations throughout the city in every area we can imagine dance, music, fine arts and so on. That said, Portland Chamber Orchestra has always led the way when it comes to these exciting collaborations.
"This concert/show) is going to be moving, fascinating and revelatory."
The exhibition that joins the concerts is the first phase of telling PCOs story as it approaches its 70th anniversary. The exhibition will show at the Nordia House and the Diane Gregg Pavilion at Lewis & Clark College, throughout the concert season.
Tickets for the concert are $25 for adults and $20 for seniors (portlandchamberorchestra.org).
PCOs music has continued to get better through the years with the hiring of professional musicians and more sophisticated programming, Bergman says.
He says the orchestra seeks balance betwen classic and energetic music that can be fused with theater, art, dance, poetry, etc.
Kingdom says PCO takes pride in its diverse lineup of performances, highlighted by its annual Handels Messiah concert. He says the latest group of professional musicians, 20 to 40 local musicians depending on the performance, has allowed PCO to
improve.
Theyve really developed themselves into a cohesive unit, he says. They love Yaki. Hes not a tyrant, he knows how to extract the best out of them.
Venues are usually intimate, i.e. smaller, but PCO likes it that way, Kingdom says, referring to the orchestras slogan:
The Intimate Symphony with Infinite Imagination.
