Bobby McFerrin jams with Thomas Quasthoff July 3, and guest stars with the Youth Choral Academy July 5
Singers Thomas Quasthoff and Bobby McFerrin, masterworks
by Verdi and Mendelssohn, in-depth exploration of the B Minor Mass, a celebration of Leonard Bernstein,
big-name pops concerts and a star-studded gala are among the headline events for the Oregon Bach Festival’s 40th
anniversary season, June 25-July 11 in Eugene, Bend, and Portland.
The major stars and events will include:
- Helmuth Rilling,
founding artistic director, leading opening weekend performances of Verdi’s
Requiem and final concerts of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, with both
works performed in Eugene and Portland.
- Thomas Quasthoff,
the bass-baritone who made his American debut at the OBF in 1995, as artist-in-residence for 10 days. He’ll perform
a solo recital of Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin song cycle with Jeffrey Kahane, and sing the title role
in both performances of Elijah.
- Bobby McFerrin,
who sold out 1994 and 2001 OBF concerts, will work with the
Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy, headlining their concert July 5, and jam with Quasthoff at the anniversary concert.
- Jamie Bernstein,
daughter of Leonard Bernstein, will host a “Bernstein on Broadway” concert and
present her acclaimed Bernstein Beat family programs, which
reveal the South American and Cuban influences on her father’s music in a bilingual presentation.
- Monica Huggett and
the Portland Baroque Orchestra, who will perform Bach’s Orchestral Suites in Festival concerts in Bend and Eugene.
- Bach’s B Minor
Mass explored in four parts as the subject of the Discovery Series of
lecture-concerts with Rilling, chorus, orchestra, and master class conductors.
In two other Discovery sessions, Kahane and Huggett will delve into Bach’s Orchestral Suites from
modern and period instrument perspectives.
- Celebration of the 200th anniversaries of Chopin and Schumann in recitals by Kahane and the wife-husband duo of Robert Levin and Ya Fei Chuang.
- The genre-bending
party orchestra Pink Martini and sizzling Latin band Tiempo Libre, both making
their OBF debut.
- An all-star 40th
Anniversary Concert led by Helmuth Rilling and featuring Quasthoff, McFerrin,
pianists Kahane, Robert Levin and Ya Fei Chuang, the OBF Chorus
and Orchestra, conductor Anton Armstrong, and the high-school singers of the Stangeland Family
Youth Choral Academy.
Tickets are now on sale with priority given to current contributing Friends of the Festival through March 12. Fully detailed season brochures are available late March.
See the OBF 2010 Major Concert Schedule on our "calendar" link.
