March 3, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Oregon Public Broadcasting will air an Oregon Symphony Classical concert featuring Music Director Carlos Kalmar leading the orchestra in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with pianist Freddy Kempf on Friday, April 7, from 9 to 11 p.m. This broadcast is the fourth 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.
“Everybody in the business knows that probably the most difficult piano concerto is Rachmaninoff’s Third, which we programmed last season,” says Kalmar. “Well, I was talking to one or two pianists about this and they said, “Rachmaninoff Three’s a walk in the park if you compare it to Prokofiev Two.” Kalmar asked Kempf, a rising star in the piano world who is described by The Daily Telegraph as combining “a readiness to take risks” with “maturity and musicality,” to learn this demanding concerto especially for these concerts.
This concert will also feature Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C major. “Schumann is a great symphonist like Brahms and he’s underappreciated in America,” says Kalmar. “If this symphony were played regularly, it would become as popular as anything by Brahms.”
Also included on this concert is the Symphony premiere of British composer Thomas Adès’ “…but all shall be well.” Critics around the world have hailed Adès as a major voice in contemporary music. “‘…but all shall be well’ features a lot of unknown sounds,” says Kalmar. “The way Adès uses the instruments and what instruments he puts together is quite stunning.”
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; this concert will air Sunday, June 23, from 7 to 9 p.m. KBPS programs classical music all day, every day at 89.9 FM in the Portland region and 90.1 in the Columbia Gorge. Jefferson Public Radio, serving southwest Oregon and northern California, will also air the broadcasts in a nine-week series beginning June 2; this concert will be heard Friday, Aug. 6, from 10 a.m. to Noon.
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.
