The University of Oregon School of Music and Dance will see the lion’s share of Music Today Festival events, as well as a concert by saxophonist Seamus Blake performing with the Oregon Jazz Ensemble. The UO School of Music and Dance is located in the Frohnmayer Music Building on the UO campus, 961 E. 18th Ave., Eugene. For more information or for a complete calendar of events, call 541-346-5678 or visit music.uoregon.edu.
PRISM Saxophone Quartet
Thursday, February 28 7:30 p.m., Beall Concert Hall, Frohnmayer Music Building $10 general admission, $8 students and seniorsPart of the biannual Music Today Festival, the UO Vanguard Concert Series for new and emerging artists, and the North American Saxophone Alliance region I meeting. Tickets are available at the door or in advance from the UO Ticket Office, 541-346-4363. Two-time winners of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, PRISM has performed in Carnegie Hall, in Alice Tully Hall, and throughout Latin America. Champions of new music, PRISM has premiered over 100 works, many by internationally celebrated composers. In 1997, PRISM initiated its own concert series, presenting the newest compositions created for their ensemble by both classical and jazz composers from around the world. The members of PRISM are Matthew Levy, Timothy McAllister, Zach Shemon, and Taimur Sullivan.
Chamber Music on Campus
Friday, March 1 12 p.m., Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Admission freeStudent chamber ensembles will give a free lunch hour "Chamber Music on Campus" concert at the UO’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.
Oregon Jazz Ensemble featuring Seamus Blake
Friday, March 1 7 p.m., Beall Concert Hall, Frohnmayer Music Building $7 general admission, $5 students and seniorsA performance by the award-winning Oregon Jazz Ensemble featuring world-renowned saxophonist Seamus Blake. Tickets are available at the door or in advance from the UO Ticket Office, 541-346-4363. Part of the North American Saxophone Alliance region I meeting. New York based tenor saxophonist/composer Seamus Blake was born December 1970 in England and raised in Vancouver, Canada. At age 21, while still a student at Boston's prestigious Berklee College, the contemporary-jazz musician was asked to record with drummer Victor Lewis. In February 2002, Seamus took first place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in Washington D. C. As the winner, he performed with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock.
MFA Movement Project
Friday, March 1 8 p.m., Dougherty Dance Theatre, Gerlinger Annex $5 general admissionA concert featuring culminating creative work of Laura Black and Carolina Caballero, candidates in the Master of Fine Arts program in dance. Tickets are available at the door.
turnEnsemble: "Sounding Images" featuring Beta Collide and Verbal Transcription
Friday, March 1 8 p.m., Collier House Admission freePart of the biannual Music Today Festival. Guest flute and trumpet duo Verbal Transcription (Emily McPherson and Brian Glassof) premieres compositions based on graphic scores by UO composers James Bean, Matt Zavortink, Andrew Stiefel, and Noah Jenkins, in addition to works by other composers from around the United States. The concert will also feature the Eugene-based ensemble Beta Collide (Molly Barth, flute and Brian McWhorter, trumpet). Pre-concert refreshments at 7:30 p.m. for all audience members
Saxophone Chamber Music
Saturday, March 2 7:30 p.m., Aasen-Hull Hall, Frohnmayer Music Building Admission freePart of the North American Saxophone Alliance region I meeting. The concert features classical saxophonists of the Pacific Northwest in a program of duos and trios, including soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, and the rarely heard bass saxophone.
Future Music Oregon
Saturday, March 2 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Thelma Schnitzer Hall, Frohnmayer Music Building $7 general admission, $5 students and seniorsPart of the biannual Music Today Festival. Tickets are available at the door or in advance from the UO Ticket Office, 541-346-4363.
Oregon Wind Ensemble
Sunday, March 3 3 p.m., Beall Concert Hall, Frohnmayer Music Building $7 general admission, $5 students and seniorsTickets are available at the door or in advance from the UO Ticket Office, 541-346-4363.
Sospiro Vocal Ensemble:"New and Old"
Sunday, March 3 8 p.m., Beall Concert Hall, Frohnmayer Music Building Admission freePart of the biannual Music Today Festival. The concert will feature vocalist Estelí Gomez performing a song cycle by W. Franklin Price (“Mnemosyne” for solo soprano & chorus), and four premieres of choral works composed by UO graduate composers Robert Chastain, David Eisenband, Alex Johnson, and Addison Wong. The concert will also feature the performance of Renaissance vocal music in new editions by UO Instructor Tim S. Pack.
Eugene Contemporary Chamber Ensemble (ECCE) featuring Estelí Gomez, Soprano: "On the Nature of Sound"
Monday, March 4 in Eugene; Saturday, March 2 in Portland March 4: 8 p.m., Beall Concert Hall, Frohnmayer Music Bldg, Eugene; $10 general admission, $8 students/seniors March 2: 8 p.m., Bamboo Grove Salon, PortlandPart of the biannual Music Today Festival, as well as the UO Vanguard Concert Series for new and emerging artists. Tickets are available at the door or in advance from the UO Ticket Office, 541-346-4363. The Eugene Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, in partnership with the Science and Learning Center at Crater Lake National Park and the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, will present a multimedia concert featuring music inspired by natural soundscapes. The program will feature soprano Estelí Gomez performing new songs by Oregon composers Robert Chastain, David Eisenband, Nicole Portley, Diana Rosenblum, and Jacob Walls alongside the world premiere of composer Andrew Stiefel's "Echoes of a Sonic Habitat," commissioned by Crater Lake National Park.
The Complete Prokofiev Sonatas, Part I
Tuesday, March 5 8 p.m., Beall Concert Hall, Frohnmayer Music Building Admission freeStudents of the piano studio of Alexandre Dossin will perform the complete series of all nine Prokofiev Sonatas in a two-part concert dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Prokofiev's passing. This concert, 1 of 2, is scheduled for the exact date of Prokofiev's death in 1953. The second installment is scheduled for Thursday, March 7.
Jasper Wood, Violin and David Riley, Piano: "Violin and Piano Works of Mathew Fuerst"
Wednesday, March 6 7 p.m., Beall Concert Hall, Frohnmayer Music Building $10 general admission, $8 students and seniorsUO faculty member David Riley hosts virtuoso Canadian violinist Jasper Wood and American composer and John Corigliano protege Mathew Fuerst, for an evening of Fuerst's compositions. Tickets are available at the door or in advance from the UO Ticket Office, 541-346-4363.