Foundation will honor classical pianist, youth arts group.Byline: Fred Crafts The Register-Guard Popular classical pianist Victor Steinhardt and youth-oriented Arts Umbrella have won two of Eugene's top arts awards. Steinhardt, a professor of piano at the University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. School of Music, will receive the Eugene Arts & Letters Award for outstanding contributions to the city's cultural life. Arts Umbrella, which operates seven youth orchestras, including the Eugene Youth Symphony, will get the Fentress Award for being an outstanding arts organization. The awards, administered by the Arts Foundation of Western Oregon This article is about the region of Western Oregon. For the University, see Western Oregon University. Western Oregon is a geographical term that is generally taken to apply to the portion of the state of Oregon that is west of the Cascade Range. , will be given by Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey at a public luncheon ceremony during a Eugene City Club of Eugene meeting from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. June 4 at the Downtown Athletic Club The Downtown Athletic Club was an athletic club in a 35-story building located at 19 West Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It was founded in 1926. By 1927, it had purchased this site next to the Hudson River to construct its own building. , 999 Willamette St. Lunches are $13 and $14 at the door. The piano man When Steinhardt scans the list of previous Eugene Arts & Letters Award winners - Marin Alsop Marin Alsop (born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, and the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore, Maryland. Born in Manhattan, New York City to professional musician parents, she later attended Yale University but then transferred to the , Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Ken Kesey Noun 1. Ken Kesey - United States writer whose best-known novel was based on his experiences as an attendant in a mental hospital (1935-2001) Ken Elton Kesey, Kesey , LaVerne Krause, Barry Lopez Barry Holstun Lopez (born January 6, 1945) is an American essayist, poet, fiction writer and prose stylist whose work is best known for its ecological concerns. He began attending the University of Notre Dame in 1966 and earned a graduate degree there in 1968. , Lawrence Maves, Toni Pimble, Royce Saltzman, Jan Zach Jan Zach (November 13, 1699 – May 24, 1773) was a Czech composer, violinist and organist. Zach applied for the position of music director at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. , among them - he is "surprised" to be included "in such an auspicious group." "I'd certainly like to think I'd made some sort of contribution to the arts community here, but I never thought it was that significant," Steinhardt says in his typical self-effacing way. Since arriving in Eugene in 1968, at the age of 25, to teach at the University of Oregon, Steinhardt has become one of Eugene's favorite pianists. Along the way he has: Been a featured artist at the Oregon Bach Festival The Oregon Bach Festival is an annual celebration of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, held in Eugene, Oregon in late June and early July. It was co-founded by German conductor Helmuth Rilling and the former president of the American Choral Directors Association, Royce Saltzman, , Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a geographical term that is used to describe the coast of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean. Stretching 362 miles from Astoria to the California border, the Oregon Coast is unique in that the whole coastline is public land. Music Festival, Ernst Bloch
 `ĭs ōbĭs`pō), city (1990 pop. 41,958), seat of San Luis Obispo co., S Calif., near San Luis Obispo Bay; inc. 1856. Mozart Festival in California; and
Bargemusic in New York New York, state, United StatesNew York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Collaborated with cellists Leonard Rose and Jules Eskin; violinists Arnold Steinhardt, Ida Kavafian, Josef Suk and Pamela Frank; violist Michael Tree; clarinetist David Shifrin; flutist Ransom Wilson; and the Penderecki, Peterson, Angeles, LaFayette and Guarneri string quartets. Performed four-hand and duo piano music with his wife, Mary Elizabeth Parker. Been a guest soloist with the Eugene Symphony, Oregon Mozart Players Oregon Mozart Players is a professional chamber orchestra based in Eugene, Oregon. The orchestra presents six concert sets in a typical season, in addition to numerous small ensemble performances and recitals by guest artists. , Oregon Festival of American Music Oregon Festival of American Music is an eclectic, thematically-based two-week summer music festival that has been held annually in Eugene, Oregon since 1992. Produced by The John G. , Eugene Ballet and Ballet Northwest. Performed with the Oregon String Quartet The Oregon String Quartet is a resident ensemble of the University of Oregon School of Music. It is made up of:
Received praise for his compositions and recordings. "Victor is one of the unsung heroes of the music world here in Eugene," says Kathleen Smith-Epstein, who nominated him for the award. Smith-Epstein, co-founder of the now defunct Conservatory of Classical Dance, often collaborated with Steinhardt for their concerts. "He was always enthusiastic and worked very hard. He was so amenable to anything that we asked him to do. I'm sure that's how he is with everyone he works with. `I'm an ardent fan." Now 61, Steinhardt retired from the UO last June, although he will continue to teach part time there for another year. After that? He says he intends to perform whenever asked and to do more composing. "I don't see it as a time to wrap up. As long as people seem to appreciate what I do, it encourages me to do more." A song is your umbrella Sometimes, Arts Umbrella program director Richard Long just marvels when he thinks about the "visionaries" who established a youth orchestra in tiny Eugene in 1934. The story goes that Mrs. C.A. Horton and Mrs. Bill Tugman wanted to form an adult orchestra but didn't have enough players. Instead, they founded a youth orchestra that could produce the adult players down the line. Now, Arts Umbrella is 70 years old, the second-oldest organization of its kind west of the Mississippi River. (Portland's youth symphony is older by 10 years.) Working with public schools, private teachers, UO faculty members, local musicians and other partners, the organization has expanded into quite a going concern. Today, Arts Umbrella sponsors five articulated levels of orchestral training and ensemble experience for the area's elementary, middle and high school students. Some 350 student-musicians, ages 9 through 21, participate from the greater Lane County area. In addition, Arts Umbrella sponsors a variety of classes in music, dance and theater through its Community Performing Arts School that are designed to complement public school course offerings. Its Kindermusik program provides an introduction to music for children from newborn through age 7. Annual activities include concerts, public performances and recitals for each level of orchestra and summer programs. "We're just trying to keep up with the needs of the town," Long says. Arts Umbrella was nominated by Linda Ellis, a former board member whose daughter, Jenny Nissel, is the Eugene Youth Symphony's principal cellist. "I just wanted to honor them for their service to community, so that people would know more about them," Ellis says. "The more people know about it, then more children will partake of its programs. `The more an audience partakes of its performances, the better we all are. Culture starts with children." Long, who oversees the group's nine part-time employees, points out that the decline of music teaching in the public schools has caused organizations such as his to step up. "Our biggest commitment right now is expanding our beginning strings program (from three orchestras this year to five next year). It's a simple logic: If the children don't start, then they're not going to get into the middle school and high school orchestras that still have teachers and they're not going to move into our orchestras." Long, who has headed the organization for 27 years now, is still wildly committed to young musicians but, he hastens to add, "everybody here is. `What else do you do? How do you let it go?" CAPTION(S): Richard Long, who has directed youth orchestras and Arts Umbrella for 27 years, will accept the Eugene Arts & Letters Award for the organization. |
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