You’ve been keeping up on the Oregon Symphony’s “Sounds Like Portland Festival” events, right? The amazing live music smorgasbord featuring but a sample of our region’s creative artists and organizations? If not, you can catch up with the whole shebang here. Or just jump right into this reflection of one special event, in one very special auditorium featuring a stellar lineup of the creative folks in our community – the “Sound of Us.” 

The concert at Benson Polytechnic High School auditorium was preceded by a brief pre-concert chat between the concert organizers, Resonance Ensemble Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon and Fear No Music Artistic Director Kenji Bunch. And then came Bora Yoon – and the audience, which included many Yoon fans judging by the enthusiastic response to the artist’s entrance, was ready to hear new sounds. 

That is exactly what Reed College assistant professor/composer/performer Yoon offered. Sons Nouveau began with an inviting acoustic and electronic massaging of voice and viola gently wafting over the orchestra-level audience. Watching Yoon in real time – in live performance – was mesmerizing. The varied timbres in her sound design are meant to elicit a physiological response. Even within the 1,000 seat auditorium through stage speakers the sound did go more than skin deep. Here is Sons Nouveau.

For Yoon’s second offering, Seek and Find, a vocal trio took the stage for a challenging chamber piece with a delicately balanced foundation of electronics above a steady pulse – perhaps a heartbeat – set on groupings of text by Rumi. The three singers, positioned far apart as the work started, slowly merged. And so did the music. What began as several independent ideas converged and ended in a major chord. It was the first of several works showcasing solo talents of Resonance musicians and these three singers set a high standard for the rest of the evening. 

One more piece by Yoon was performed in the first half. Twelve choristers formed a shallow curve for Semaphore Conductus with Yoon’s sonic gardens positioned far stage left and right. The piece traces the evolution of communication over the centuries with sound devices as characters, including conductor FitzGibbon as semaphorist. The intent was to activate Benson’s sonic atmosphere with signals broadcast from conch and megaphone in opposite balconies, the gramophone horn on stage right, from the 12 “beams of light” choristers on stage, radio signals and even static interference. 

Unfortunately, Yoon’s only pathway between stage left (sound board, viola, turntable, etc.) and right was an awkward squeeze between the large screen and the backdrop curtain. This distraction was perhaps the reason why I totally missed catching the role of the “walkie-talkie-trio” listed in the program. Dang, that was one of the big items on my “program curiosities” list. I wondered if the choristers were also distracted as there was a noticeable lack of confidence. But I can imagine the powerful impact this work will have in a more resonant hall and a more accommodating stage set up.

Illuminating

Some audience experiences are enhanced by well-prepared introductory remarks which illuminate something about the upcoming music – case in point, walkie-talkies. Curiosity and fascination can also be nurtured by not knowing what to expect. Of course, sometimes words are offered to fill “dead air” during extensive stage movement and tech prep. Tricky to strike a balance. But as is their usual excellent practice, Resonance did provide very thorough digital “know before you go” notes written by the composers. And those notes helped illuminate what we were to hear in Stacey Philipp’s wonderful work for piano quintet, Converge, Disperse.

Fear No Music performed Converge, Disperse between Yoon’s second and third pieces on the first half, a pleasant shift of focus to the five performers on stage center: Emily Cole (violin), Keiko Araki (violin); Amanda Grimm (viola), Nancy Ives (cello), and Stephen Lewis (piano). 

In the first moments of Converge, Disperse the piano converses with the upper strings as rivulets of icy glacial water pursue their goal to ultimately converge with the Columbia River. The lower voices stick a toe into the waters, but it is not yet their time. Several triplet motifs propel the flow; the music was constantly going somewhere. Lower voices enter as more robust waters of the Kootenai River Tributary and then the Snake River converge; momentum is magnified by texture and pace; bow meets string to depict sparks as water flows through hydroelectric dams and urban energy of our vital and proud Portland is mirrored in the ripples of the Willamette.

Woosh! The waters were finally set free joyfully and then dispersed with peace into the Pacific Ocean. This work was stunning. 

A part of history

I kept imagining the imposing Edison gramophone horn used by Yoon in Semaphore Conductus was also drinking in the sound of us in the audience with its outstretched blossom. Our audiences are so much part of the Portland soundscape. And one of the strengths of Resonance and Fear No Music is their intentional but genuine direct connection to the audience. It’s not just “we will perform for you now,” it’s “join us as we share what we love to do.”

The audience at Benson on this rainy Friday evening was witnessing Portland’s musical arts history. This concert was the first community event to take place in the beautifully renovated auditorium. What a wonderful nod to the original Classical-revival style of the original 1916 Benson High School. It’s a clean, crisp acoustic with no sonic impediments – especially nice for the Fear No Music instruments – and very comfortable seating. And then there are the BATS. No, not the Fledermaus variety. The Benson Auditorium Technical Staff. 

Yet flutter about they did. This team of twelve Benson students led by Noah Johnson-Green, Zahra Faruqui and Faculty Club Advisor Heidi Sprecher could be seen coordinating the entryway, operating the sound board, cueing and performing the numerous stage changes and not – well hardly – complaining at all when their pizza dinner didn’t arrive until intermission. Benson Polytechnical is serving the future of the arts well with this student technicians program. And the relationship that Resonance has formed with Portland Public Schools is win for students and for the community. 

Two of the three a cappella works that concluded the first half begged for the choristers and soloists to be able to sing with a deeper curve near the lip of the Benson stage. With minimal ring time, and no room for a shell, a “sound cathedral” needed to be formed by the choir – converge and disperse sonically. This design might have aided the cohesion in both Cecille Elliott’s It’s So Quiet, a Resonance commission, and Caroline Shaw’s so quietly. Both works were well presented in Resonance’s Grrrl Choir concert last February. Kudos to soloist Maria Collingsworth whose strong, beautiful tones probably turned heads of passersby on NE 12th Avenue. 

Composer/performer Lisa Neher treated us to her own aria, I Want to Be Soft. It needed no preface; the work explained itself as Neher stood alone, still, uncomplicated, vulnerable yet projecting power through voice. Neher’s own texts and keen sense of piano/vocal partnership brought one of the purest moments of this concert to the stage. The gift of quiet also elicits a physiological response.

Pianist Stephen Lewis was a masterful multitasker. We enjoyed his musicality with the choir and solo artists, in Fear No Music’s piano quintet and quartet and at the soundboard with Bora Yoon. Well done.

The second half began with a solo work by Yoon, Houses We Carry Within, with words projected overhead.

Is home a person
Is home a place
Is home a state of mind?

Yoon as soloist and conductionist again employed various timbres sending signals into the air that sparked my curiosity. Metal tubes dropped like pick-up sticks to the floor. Was that shattering glass? Is that a heartbeat or footsteps on the way home? Is the unsettling feeling, the implied randomness, about the fear of not finding home? My questions went happily answered but the questions posed in the text above were all answered in the affirmative at the end of the work.

Yoon’s contributions to the concert concluded with a powerful duet from her opera Handmaiden, “All I Can Say Without Speaking” (read more about the opera here). Two women whose love cannot be acknowledged share their intimacy at a distance. Thank you soprano Emma Rose Lynn and mezzo-soprano Rachel Hauge for the superb artistry and thank you Bora Yoon for sharing the depth of your creativity. 

Renée Favand-See’s “Zero at the Bone” is one section of what was originally a vocal cycle, Ten Moons, commissioned by Northwest Art Song and premiered in 2019. With the help of context provided in program notes Favand-See’s string quartet adaptation remarkably relays the whole story. Random “thoughts” pop out, move through stinging dissonance as they do in intimate conversation, but settle in unison. A brief heart beat and continuity and flow was aided by motivic and structural anchors that quell the emotions which stem from a grief that seeks harmonic resolution. Lovely cello lines serve as therapist, intermediary, higher power? From the keyboard a delicate child-like tune appears only for a moment before the stillness. 

Stories and otherwise

In recent phone conversation with OAW, Stacey Philipps said her job “is always in service to the text.” So does that mean there is always a story in choral music? I think two works in this concert suggest not: Yoon’s Semiphore Conductus, which excerpts texts of new and old Latin proverbs, and Stacey Philipps’ Sospire, respire in which the composer honors 17th century composer Barbara Strozzi. 

In program notes about Sospire, respire Philipps said she referenced Stozzi’s “alliterative, rhythmic, sound-based lyrics” and “further expands on her powerful artistic vision of featuring the voice as pure sound, freed from the bounds of text and released into the emotional realm.” And so she did, beautifully. Audible breaths, sighing and whispers from singers and a sweet cello role – melody-like, continuo-like – which blended with such richness to the vocal sounds. In my notes I scribbled “is this a madrigal?!” Label or no label, representational or abstract, it was good music performed very well.

It is a wonderment that this concert was the first time Fear No Music and Resonance joined their organizations in concert. And the final two pieces showcased the strength of that union with works by two more favorite Portland composers. 

Sydney Guillaume’s moving Réfugié, mon frère is in Resonance’s repertoire but this performance, with this audience in this space, with carefully curated screen images reminded us that “we are all travelers on the roads of the earth” (from the text by Sydney’s father, Gabriel T. Guillaume). Watch a performance from Resonance’s March 2020 SAFE HARBOR concert here:

How ideal, then, to close with choristers, violin and cello performing Joan Szymko’s poignant Be It Therefore Resolved an affirmation of the power in the songs and sounds of US. Here is Oregon poet Kim Stafford’s full text of “Proclamation of Peace”, set in full by Szymko. And listen to Be It Therefore Resolved sung by the Congressional Chorus who commissioned the work here. What a gift to hear this work performed live.

What’s It All About

In the pre-concert opening chat Katherine FitzGibbon posed a question to Kenji Bunch: “what is the Oregon Symphony’s Sounds Like Portland Festival?” His response: “it’s hard to answer.” Yes. Perhaps hard because we think the answer must be profound. But after this concert I submit the answer might lie simply in these words from program notes written by Lisa Neher.

“The entire reason I make art is to open myself up and share, and to receive and empathize with the experiences of my community. We weren’t meant to go through life walled off from one another. We can’t do it all alone.”

Two of Portland’s most respected contemporary musical arts organizations issued an invitation. We came together, we shared the music of a sampling of incredibly talented Oregon-based composers performed by stellar musicians from our community. Just us, just the sound of us.

Connections

The Beautiful Life

Artistic Director Diana Retallack and Eugene Concert Choir and Eugene Vocal Arts open season 51 by offering you “La Bella Vita” – The Beautiful Life. Join them on a “musical journey through centuries of Italian artistry” (ECC media) including the “vibrant splendor of Vivaldi’s Magnificat (RV610)” (ECC media). Mezzo-soprano Ágnes Vojtkó performs a lament from Monteverdi and selections from Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle bring a romantic charm. But the program pivots into the avant-garde with composer Luciano Berio’s neo-baroque setting of Paul McCartney’s Yesterday. Take a moment for that to sink in – Berio, Sir Paul, neo-Bachish – cool! Even more cool when sung by soprano Arwen Myers. It’s a bit of a teaser really. ECC is ending their spectacular choral season, seven great shows, with Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio next May.

This concert also offers a treat for the historically inclined. Hear retired University of Oregon faculty organist Barbara Baird perform on a rare 1870s harmonium restored by a U of O student. 

Italian music and culture in La Bella Vita (“The Beautiful Life”), is performed by Eugene Vocal Arts with the Eugene Concert Orchestra and guest soloists. Performances will take place Saturday, November 15, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, November 16, 2:30 p.m., in the Soreng Theater at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts. Get tickets and find out more about this concert and ECC’s entire season right here.

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Celebrity Organ Recital

World renowned organist Amanda Mole appears in concert at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral on Friday, November 7. The celebrity organist meets Trinity’s celebrated Rosales organ for a “mixture of introspection, elegance, and fire” (Trinity media). Enjoy a variety of works by J. S. Bach, Nico Muhly, Mozart and Calvin Hampton. Sounds pretty good already but Mole will also perform Max Reger’s chorale fantasy Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. For a sneak preview of the artistry of Amanda Mole listen here.

You’ll be hearing more about the Rosales organ in the year ahead. The carefully crafted instrument is turning 40 and its electrical components are as old as its pipes. Is Canon for Cathedral Music Katherine Webb anticipating improvements? “Imagine,” said Webb in recent email to OAW, “a 40-year-old computer today, you get the drift of how excited we are for these upgrades.” More to come about this momentous anniversary year.

The Rosales will resound in the hands of Amanda Mole on Friday, November 7, 7 pm at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Tickets and additional information are here.