Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Chamber music - the new music for inaugurations

I really enjoyed hearing Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Gabriele Montero and Anthony McGill play at President Obama's inauguration (click here for the New York Times report). Does that mean that we'll hear some chamber music at political events here in the Northwest in the near future? That would be a welcome thing. I used to see former Mayor Bud Clark and political powerhouses like Bill Naito at Oregon Symphony concerts during the 1990s, yet I've not seen many of Oregon's top tier politicos at classical music events in the last ten years. I think that Oregon's politicians are missing out on the real musical action in Oregon. Their lack of interest in the fine arts is part of the reason why Oregon remains in the background - despite the fact that we have many artistic ensembles that can compete with the nation's best. Well, maybe the politicos will show up for the Perlman concert with the Oregon Symphony in late February and early March. They missed the fantastic Gabriele Montero performance with Portland Piano International that took place in October.

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