Eugene Symphony returns to the Hult Center for third Soundwaves virtual concert featuring string ensemble conducted by Francesco
The recorded performance will premiere online on Thursday, March 4 at 7 p.m.
Featured Image: Eugene Symphony returns to the Hult Center for the Performing Arts to record its thirdSoundwaves virtual concert. Rehearsal, February 17, 2021. Credit: Eugene Symphony/Amanda Smith
EUGENE, OR (Feb. 24, 2021)— For the third program in its Soundwaves series of virtual concerts, Eugene Symphony and Music Director & Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong returned to the Hult Center for the Performing Arts with a string ensemble of 24 musicians to perform a program that was recorded in high-definition video and audio. The resulting performance recording will premiere online on Thursday, March 4 at 7 p.m. PST.
“Following a great deal of discussion with fellow performing arts organizations and the Cultural Advocacy Coalition, we were pleased that the State of Oregon modified its COVID-19 guidance to allow us to utilize the Hult Center as a recording studio,” says Executive Director Scott Freck. “With appropriate health and safety protocols and without a public audience, we felt strongly that a performing arts venue is a workplace where professionals go to exercise their craft just like other industries that have been able to operate safely through the pandemic. The City of Eugene has invested heavily in new state-of-the-art cameras and technical gear for the Hult Center, enabling us to bring the orchestra’s artistry to the community in a whole new way.”
The program for Soundwaves: Concerto for Strings is as follows:
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Divertimento in D Major, K.136
- Grażyna Bacewicz: Concerto for Strings
- Augusta Read Thomas: Of Paradise and Light
- Jessie Montgomery: Strum
- Gustav Holst: St. Paul’s Suite
“I was thrilled to be able to return to Eugene and to the Hult Center to make music together again with my musician colleagues for the first time in a year,” says Music Director & Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong. “For the occasion, I put together a program to showcase our brilliant string players and also to honor Eugene Symphony’s legacy as an orchestra that champions living and lesser-known composers. With music written across 250 years, the common thread among these works is an exploration of what the string section of the orchestra can offer. For accomplished violinists like Mozart, Bacewicz, and Montgomery, they use their own knowledge and skills to put the string players through incredible feats of virtuosity. The music of Holst and Thomas offers an array of timbres and playful relationships between the different string instruments.”
This Soundwaves virtual concert will be shared in the following ways:
- On Thursday, March 4 at 7 p.m. PST, it will premiere on eugenesymphony.org, where it will remain available to anyone anywhere in the world, without a password for one week, with a suggested donation of $15 per household.
- Following the public viewing period, the video will be available on-demand through a password-protected site for Eugene Symphony donors and members who give at least $120 per year (or $10 per month).
What: Soundwaves: Concerto for Strings
When: Premiering Thursday, March 4, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. PST. Available for one week.
Where: eugenesymphony.org
Prices: Free; suggested donation of $15 per household
About Eugene Symphony: Now in its 55th season, the Eugene Symphony is a nonprofit and 83-member part-time orchestra based in Eugene, Oregon led by Music Director & Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong with a mission of enriching lives through the power of music. While away from the concert hall since March 1, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Eugene Symphony has been offering digital content through its virtual hub at eugenesymphony.org, including radio broadcasts, music education content, live chats with Maestro Lecce-Chong, and musician performances. In all, these virtual engagement activities have reached more than 60,000 people in Oregon, across the country, and around the world. More at eugenesymphony.org
