Conductor's farewell marks season of new beginnings.

Byline: FRED CRAFTS The Register-Guard

MIGUEL HARTH-Bedoya's final concert as conductor of the Eugene Symphony Orchestra will be a memorable one.

To perform Gustav Mahler's prodigious "Symphony of a Thousand" on May 16 and 17, Harth-Bedoya will use oversized instrumental and choral forces to produce an overwhelming sound - a fitting climax to the conductor's multiyear exploration of Mahler's challenging works.

Afterward, Harth-Bedoya will leave the orchestra to continue as music director and conductor with the Fort Worth (Texas) Symphony and the Auckland (New Zealand) Philharmonia, and to work with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and other orchestras around the world.

The farewell concert is just one of many noteworthy performances scheduled during the next few months.

Another concert involving large forces will take place when Diane Retallack goes for a record by jamming the Eugene Concert Choir, Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble and the David York Ensemble of Portland on the Hult Center's Silva Concert Hall stage - along with the Oregon Mozart Players, which will be expanded to nearly 100 musicians - to perform Hector Berlioz's "Requiem" (April 27).

Two University of Oregon School of Music faculty members, violinist Alyssa Park and pianist Dean Kramer, will team up to play J.S. Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Maurice Ravel and Johannes Brahms in a Beall Hall concert that should be a heartstopper (May 5).

The Oregon Festival of American Music's spring fling will be concerts in its new Now Hear This series by Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster (April 15) and the jazz band <301>Cubanismo! (April 28). The festival's Emerald City Jazz Kings will wrap up the 2001-02 season with "Hit That Jive, Jack!" (May 17).

In theater, spring offerings include "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" and "The Odd Couple" at Actors Cabaret of Eugene; "Fiddler on the Roof" at Cottage Theatre in Cottage Grove; "The Vagina Monologues" at the Hult Center; "The Crucible" at Lane Community College; "The Adding Machine," "Macbeth" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" at the the University of Oregon; "Angel Street" at the Very Little Theatre; "Steel Magnolias" at Willamette Repertory Theatre; and "As You Like It" and "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" at the Lord Leebrick Theatre.

Dance aficionados will be treated to the Eugene Ballet's take on "The Rite of Spring," choreographed by Toni Pimble, with Igor Stravinsky's provocative score played live by the American Symphonia, conducted by James Paul.

The Dance Theatre of Oregon also has an ambitious undertaking ahead with "Mystery in the Making" (May 17-18).

CAPTION(S):

Violinist Alyssa Park will team with pianist Dean Kramer for a May 5 program in Beall Hall. Miguel Harth-Bedoya will bid Eugene adieu on May 16-17.