January 6, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Oregon Public Broadcasting will air an Oregon Symphony Classical concert featuring Guest Conductor Yakov Kreizberg leading the orchestra in music of Beethoven and Bartók on Friday, Feb. 3 from 9 to 11 p.m. This broadcast is the second of nine OPB broadcasts of classical Oregon Symphony concerts from the 2005-06 season, which will air on OPB Radio the first Friday of each month through September 2006.
Kreizberg, Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Netherlands Philharmonic and Netherlands Chamber Orchestras and Principal Guest Conductor to the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, has appeared with the Symphony several times in recent seasons. He will lead the orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, in which Beethoven explored the rhythms and essence of different dance forms. The irrepressible energy of this symphony can be heard as Beethoven’s defiant assertion of will and his musical ability in the face of his encroaching deafness.
Kreizberg and the orchestra begin the concert with Bartók’s transcendent “Concerto for Orchestra.” Written in 1943 when the composer was gravely ill with leukemia, the music parallels Bartók’s state of mind regarding his illness. Its five movements showcase the different families of the orchestra as soloists as it progresses through various stages of grief, anger, denial and despair and concludes with a tremendous life-affirming finale.
In addition to the concerts, OPB and KBPS are collaborating to bring listeners interviews with musicians and conductors during the performance intermission. All broadcasts will repeat on KBPS in a nine-week series beginning July 23, 2006. KBPS programs classical music all day, every day at 89.9 FM in the Portland region and 90.1 in the Columbia Gorge.
Oregon Public Broadcasting is a statewide network of community-supported learning resources, including OPB Television, an affiliate of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and OPB Radio, presenting local news coverage and the programs of National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Radio International (PRI). For a list of OPB Radio frequencies, log on to www.opb.org.
For more information, please contact Carol Howard at (503) 977-7751 or carol_howard@opb.org, or visit the Symphony's website at www.orsymphony.org.
