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Cascade Head Music Festival Features Oregon Chamber Ensembles ‘Among the Best!’

The Cascade Head Music Festival hosts three talented and unique Oregon chamber music ensembles during the upcoming Classical Weekend Series June 12 – June 15 at the Lincoln City Cultural Center. Classical Weekend Performers are: DeRosa Ensemble on June 12, The Florestan Trio on June 13, and TonePoem on June 15. “Oregonians can take pride and delight at the range and depth of musical talent based here in Oregon. I think concertgoers will be pleased with the freshness of concept and the events planned for the 2008 Festival Chamber Music Series,” says classical program music advisor, Dr. Diane Baxter. The Cascade Head Music Festival Classical Weekend includes a free public, family-friendly Encounter 4 PM, Saturday, June 14, when musicians from each of these visiting ensembles are available for discussion and demonstration in an informal setting.

DeRosa Ensemble, led by founder and artistic director, clarinetist Dunja Jennings, includes Susan Dewitt Smith, piano, and Jason Mackewich, violin. For the CHMF concert June 12, they are joined by lyric soprano Misook Yun Boyd. This wide ranging program includes sonatas by Beethoven (Violin Sonata Op.24 in F major) and Brahms (Clarinet Sonata in f minor Op.120) and Mozart’s Kegelstadt Trio arranged for clarinet, violin, and piano as well as four traditional Argentine Tangos arranged for DeRosa Ensemble by Portland composer Gavin Duffy. Boyd joins DeRosa Ensemble musicians for the Tangos and for one of Shubert’s famous lied, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepard on the Rock).

On June 13, The Florestan Trio, ‘one of Oregon’s musical treasures’ (according to the Oregonian) will be performing on the Oregon Coast for the first time since new colleague, Janet Guggenheim, has joined. “The Trio has entered a new era, with renewed energy, plus a different chemistry and sound,” says cellist Hamilton Cheifetz. “We always love performing at the coast , and we are looking forward to being a part of the new Cascade Head Music Festival.” The Florestan Trio’s program includes Dvorak’s Trio in e minor, op. 90 "Dumky" and Mendelssohn’s Trio in d minor, op. 49. “Our program could be called ‘Romantic Cornerstones’, because these are two of the most beloved works in the piano trio literature,” says Cheifetz. The Florestan Trio includes Carol Sindell, violin, as well as Guggenheim and Cheifetz.

On June 15, CHMF presents TonePoem, a unique chamber trio of pianists Diane Baxter and Jackie Morelli and spoken word artist, Donna Henderson. “Blending the two art forms of poetry and piano music is the idea behind TonePoem,” according to pianist and co-founder Diane Baxter. “Poetry and piano music enhance each other beautifully, much in the same way that graphic images and music or dance and live music have interacted for quite some time. The verbal imagery opens the minds and hearts of the audience so they can experience the music in a more resonant and immediate way.” The Sunday June 15 program includes a special “ocean” pairing of a poem by poet and co-founder Donna Henderson with Schubert’s Rondo Brilliante as a tribute to Lincoln City. The program also features William Bolcom’s ‘Garden of Eden’, ‘a set of four rags for two pianos that tell the story of the Fall in ragtime’ paired in this program with poems that demonstrate the ways in poetry and music together can enrich the audience experience. This varied program includes music by Aaron Copland, Brahms, and Schumann.

“When we began planning this year’s Festival, it became clear that we should make 2008 a year of rejuvenation and reinvigoration,” says Peggy Hawker, President, Cascade Head Music Festival. “As we brainstormed themes for 2008 with patrons and music advisors, ‘music from Oregon’s best’, struck a chord with us. We think that the decision to go forward with a 2008 Chamber Music Festival Weekend was the right one for both Central Oregon Coast concert goers and for the future of the Cascade Head Music Festival.”