the meat in the orchestral sandwich

TAPESTRY STRING QUARTET

Special Guests,

Tom Swafford and Matt Swafford

At The Old Church

February 24th at Noon

Ved en ung Kunstners Baare*                          Carl Nielsen

*At the Bier of a Young Artist

For String Quartet

Remember – From Warner Bros. “TROY”       James Horner

Arr. Peggy Swafford

Tom Swafford, Tenor

Adagio for Trumpet                             Tomas Albinoni

Arr. Peggy Swafford

Matt Swafford, Trumpet

Quartet No. 1 in A Major                               Alexandre Borodin

Moderato/Allegro

Andante con moto/Fugato

Scherzo/Trio

Andante/Allegro resoluto

TAPESTRY QUARTET

Catherine Noll, 1^st violin

Janet George, 2^nd violin

Peggy Swafford, viola

Gayle Budd O’Grady, cello

Classical Revolution will present a Haiti Benefit Concert on January 24th at 7pm at the Kennedy School. More info on their website.

Mattie Kaiser, Classical Revolution organizer writes-

Dear Revolutionaries,
It is time to use our power for good…
On January 24th at 7pm at the Kennedy School, Classical Revolution PDX and friends will perform free benefit concert to raise funds for Haiti Relief. We’re are still ironing out the details, but are seeking any corporations and individuals willing to provide donations and/or matching funds. We are also interested in those willing to donate goods and services for a silent auction to be held that night.

If you would like to help out or donate anything to this cause, please contact Miriam or email Mattie directly at classicalrevolutionpdx@gmail.com. Otherwise, please do attend the concert!

Another excellent agency with personnel already on the ground in Haiti is Doctors Without Borders.

The 2010 International Viola Congress will be held June 2010 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Check out the stellar slate of guest artists at their website: www.ivc2010.com.

If you’re able to handle a large (17.5 inch) viola, this could be a very good deal for you.  A violist in the Cleveland Orchestra is selling his Helmuth Keller viola on eBay.  Check out the details here.

TAPESTRY STRING QUARTET

Special Guest, Harris Orem, English Horn

May 6, 2009

Old Church 12:00 Noon

Quartet No. 7 (1960) Opus 108* Dmitri Shostakovich

Allegretto

Lento

Allegro

Berceuse Armas Jarnefelt

Arr. Peggy J. Swafford

Guest, Harris Orem, English Horn

String Quartet No. 1 (1952) Einojuhani Rautavaara

Presto

Andante

Vivace Assai

TAPESTRY QUARTET

Catherine Noll, 1^st violin

Janet George, 2^nd violin

Peggy Swafford, viola

Gayle Budd O’grady, cello

From Dorianne Reinhardt-Paul:

I’m sad to report that on Thursday, Oregon violists lost another wonderful member of our community. Anna Rapp – violist, teacher, former principal violist and my former stand partner at Maryhurst – lost her battle with cancer on Thursday morning and passed away quietly in her sleep. She was 72, as I discovered much to my shock last year – you wouldn’t have known it from looking at her or talking to her, she was so full of life and energy. Anna just exuded joy. She was one of the most positive, glass-half-full people I have ever met. I don’t think I ever saw her have a bad day. She absolutely LOVED the viola, loved playing the viola, and was so happy for every opportunity she got to play. She was a real inspiration to me – every time I think of her, I am challenged to grab hold of my life and live it to the fullest. She will be deeply missed, and will be yet another person I think of each time I open my viola case.

***
The Marylhurst Orchestra has a concert tomorrow.

VIOLA DAY 12-5pm this SATURDAY the 11th of April, 2009

Lewis & Clark College’s Evans Music Center

The masterclass with Charles Noble will be from 12-2 and we will hear Walton, Bartok, Bloch, Bach and some orchestral excerpts.

The memorial recital for Kjersten Oquist begins at 3pm and will include movements of a Mendelssohn quartet, a Schubert quintet, a performance by talented 13 year old singer-pianist-composer Ian Harris, works by Piazzola, Vieuxtemps and more. Friends and colleagues of Kjersten from the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theater, Portland Opera and the freelance community will perform. We will conduct a raffle with prizes from Badbeards Coffee, Cupcake Jones, iTunes, and author Martin Goldman.

Oregon Symphony Principal and Fear No Music violist Joël Belgique will perform in the recital. “Please join us in celebrating the viola in Oregon and help us remember and recognize a true loss to our community of musicians in the passing of Kjersten Oquist. Hope you can be there.”

DIRECTIONS: Take Terwilliger Boulevard East from Barbur. Follow signs to stay straight for Lewis & Clark College. To get to the music complex & parking for Evans, take the second left after the roundabout. It will look like you are entering a parking lot and if you stay straight you’ll head down a steep hill past a running track. Keep straight all the way to the parking lot at the end there and you should be able to find a spot. From the last parking lot, when you turn to look back up the hill you’ll see a small square cream building on your left up a small driveway. That’s the back of Evans Music Center and the main hall is on the second floor. We’ll put up some signs to help you out.

Join us on Saturday April 11th, 2009 at Lewis & Clark College from 12-5 pm!

We’re organizing a ton of excellent events for our upcoming Viola Day.

The masterclass will be with Charles Noble, assistant principal violist of the Oregon Symphony. There are a few spots left so if you or your student would like to play, please contact Miriam.

The benefit recital for the family of Kjersten Oquist is turning into quite the event, with performers stepping forward and demonstrating the generosity of musician’s spirits. We have a few spots left there, too, if anyone would like to play. Excellent items have also been donated for the raffle, and we would be more than happy to have more. We’ll be selling $5 raffle tickets and announcing the winners at the recital, with all proceeds to benefit the Oquist fund.

Questions? Contact Miriam: miriamenglish@hotmail.com or 503-341-1071 during reasonable hours. Thanks!

Here are four clips from the masterclass in Salem in February of 2009.
Mara spoke about strategies for shifting accurately, developing great tone, practice strategies, phrasing and bow distribution. Performers here were playing Bach, Seitz, The Swan and a Reger suite.

We are happy to announce our next big event: the Portland Viola Day at Lewis & Clark’s Evans Music Center on Saturday April 11th from 12 to 5pm.

We’re planning a masterclass, luthier presentations, demos, play-in and a benefit recital for the family of Kjersten Oquist.

Please contact Miriam if you’d like to donate a raffle item, play in the master class or participate in any way.

We aim to interest a wide variety of skill levels and ages, and hope to see you there.