Soprano returns - with some folk tunes.Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard Between her dozen or more performances with 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, and several others with the Shedd Institute and Eugene Concert Choir Eugene Concert Choir is a non-profit choral organization based in Eugene, Oregon, United States. It consists of two mixed-voice choruses: the 100-member Eugene Concert Choir (ECC), and the semi-professional chamber group Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble (EVAE). , Maria Jette has sung so many times in Eugene that she figures she's spent a year of her life hanging out here. Not that she minds - and not that the audiences do, either. The popular soprano will be back for more this week, singing a collection of American folk songs and songs inspired by folk songs as the American Symphonia series opens Thursday night at the Shedd. Jette, who lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in Minnesota, will present a program ranging from traditional pieces collected by John Jacob Niles John Jacob Niles (b. Louisville, Kentucky, April 28, 1892; d. Lexington, Kentucky, March 1, 1980) was an American composer, singer, and collector of traditional ballads. Called the "Dean of American Balladeers"[1], Niles was an important influence on the American folk , Arthur Farwell Arthur Farwell (23 March 1872 - 20 January 1952) was an American composer, conductor, educationalist, lithographer, esoteric savant, and music publisher. Biography Farwell was born in St Paul, Minnesota. and Ruth Crawford Seeger Ruth Crawford Seeger (3 July 1901 in East Liverpool, Ohio - 18 November 1953 in Chevy Chase, Maryland), born Ruth Porter Crawford, was a modernist composer and an American folk music specialist. to contemporary works by Aaron Copland and Paul Bowles. It was Bowles who was on her mind during a recent telephone interview. Jette had been working on music from his "Blue Mountain Ballads" for the Eugene recital and quickly developed a desire to hear more of his work. "It seems like he must have written piles and piles of music that never got out," she said of Bowles, a prolific composer, writer and critic who died in 1999. "He spent the last five years of his life in Morocco, where he was visited regularly by this woman musicologist mu·si·col·o·gy n. The historical and scientific study of music. mu  si·co·log and pianist."
Ah, the wonders of the Internet, exclaimed Jette. ``I do spend an inordinate amount of time on the Internet poking around, looking up things.'' She tracked down the woman, Irene Herrmann, who is on the faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university, one of the ten campuses of the University of California. and who is executrix executrix (pl. executrices) n. Latin for female executor. However, the term executor is now unisex. EXECUTRIX, A woman who has been appointed by. will to execute such will or testament. See Executor. of Bowles' musical estate. Next thing, Herrmann agreed to send "a stack of the unknown Bowles songs" for Jette to peruse pe·ruse tr.v. pe·rused, pe·rus·ing, pe·rus·es To read or examine, typically with great care. [Middle English perusen, to use up : Latin per-, per- . "If I get anything on time, I'll put them on the Eugene program," she said, adding, "I think my next obsession is going to be Paul Bowles. ``He was a wild person. I think he is most known in the later part of his life for his writing. He was a novelist. But he didn't consider himself so much a novelist throughout his life as a composer." Jette, who generally sings more classical kinds of programs, said she's looking forward to doing an evening of folk music. "I think everyone likes folk music, whether they admit it or not," she said. ``A pretty melody, that is always fun. ``But it feels like you're cheating because it's so easy; `easy' in the sense it's not hard to learn the tune.'' Jette, who is known for her charming stage presence, has performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) is a 40-member American chamber orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, praised by the music critic Jim Svejda as "America's finest chamber orchestra."[1]. and symphonies from Kansas to Buffalo. Besides her appearances at the Oregon Bach Festival, she has sung with the festival's conductor, Helmuth Rilling, in Germany, Spain, Venezuela, Japan and Canada. She is a regular guest on Garrison Keillor's ``A Prairie Home Companion'' and sang the role of the Mrs. in Keillor's opera, ``Mr. and Mrs. Olson.'' She will be accompanied in her concert here by baritone Sandy Naishtat, who is a member of the Eugene Chamber Singers and has performed in numerous roles with Eugene Opera; and by pianist Sonja Thompson, a professor of music at Augsburg College. RECITAL PREVIEW The American Symphonia series: An American Songbag What: Folk songs and folk-inspired songs sung by soprano Maria Jette Where: Jaqua Concert Hall, Shedd Institute for the Arts, 285 E. Broadway When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday Tickets: $20 to $30 (434-7000) |
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