Monday, October 15, 2007

One busy fellow - conductor Ken Selden

Ken Selden, conductor of the PSU Symphony has been running at full speed. Over the past month or so, he has filled in as cover conductor at the Oregon Symphony, because resident conductor Gregory Vajda has been in directing a production of Verdi's "A Masked Ball" for Opera De Montreal. So, in addition to his duties at the university, he has been running down to the orchestra hall to help with rehearsals and be on call in anything happens to Carlos Kalmar.

In the meantime, Selden has been preparing his orchestra at PSU for their first concert, which is this October 19th at Lincoln Hall. On their program is a U.S. premier of "Disembodied Instruments" by David Horne and Vaughn Williams Symphony No. 5. The piece by Horne is right in line with Selden's interest in new music. In fact, his leadership in new music earned PSU national recognition after receiving First Prize in Adventurous Programming from ASCAP and the American Symphony Orchestra League. You can find out more about the PSU Symphony here.

Also, Selden has been engaged to lead a concert by the Newport Symphony and another by the Portland Youth Philharmonic. The PYP concert is coming up soon on November 10th, so Selden is one busy fellow.

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