Go West Redux…

Here I am again on the West coast where for some reason my sleep disorders love to haunt me.  This weekend I participate in a series called Inside The Score with the Oregon Philharmonic.  You know the gig – pick a big piece of music, talk about it, play it, go drinking.  It’s Brahms Symphony #1 on the docket.  But something else has caught my ear and my eye this weekend.  Portland is one of those towns where there’s a whole lot of other stuff going on.

The head of the orchestra, Elaine Calder, schlepped me out to a modern chamber music concert last night.  The ensemble is called 3rd Angle and is run by Ron Blessinger, a violinist in the Oregon Sym.  Everything about this evening was fascinating to observe.  First, the venue, a wonderful old church now know as The Old Church in downtown Portland that was rescued in 1969 from the wrecking ball.  It’s a perfect urban environment for music and holds a fully restored Hooks & Hastings tracker organ.  Beautiful to behold.

The concert itself was tremendous. Fabulous played, it was Postcards from around the world.  It included a premiere of Thomas Svodoba’s 10th String quartet, music by Thomas Ades, Chen Yi, Reza Vali, etc.  Like any concert I liked some pieces more than others but I must admit the totality of the concert was just excellent.  One thing stood out though.  The special guest was the new 2nd flute of the symphony Alicia DiDonato.  WOW!!!  A recent transplant from Boston, I’m sure all the modern music ensembles in New England are just devastated that she’s left the area.  She showed incredible musicianship and an ease on pic, flute, and alto that would be the envy of every flautist I know.

This begs the question – how come we haven’t figured out a better way to hold auditions for orchestras?  My point is that I’m sure Alicia got her position here because of a rather standard audition, heavy on orchestra excerpts, etc.  I’d be willing to bet that no one knew that she would be such a tremendous asset to the rest of the Portland music scene with her specialty in modern music.  Yet if orchestras are the premiere classical music ensembles in the urban environment shouldn’t we look beyond the basic excerpts and add different parameters to the way we pick new musicians?  Alicia is going to be a rock star in Portland (as much as someone playing the flute could qualify for that moniker).  The Portland music scene got lucky. It would be great to find a better way to find new members of orchestras that would take advantage of those ancillary talents that we all have.

More pie-in-the-sky dreaming………