PYP CELEBRATES 100TH BIRTHDAYS OF LEONARD BERNSTEIN & JACOB AVSHALOMOV WITH LIVE STREAM
Posted on January 29, 2019
PYP celebrates 100th birthdays of Leonard Bernstein & Jacob Avshalomov with live stream
PORTLAND, OR – Hearing is believing! Portland Youth Philharmonic is celebrating the 100th birthdays of the orchestra’s second Musical Director Jacob Avshalomov (1919–2013) and his friend and colleague, American composer Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990). PYP’s Jeremiah Symphony concert to be presented on Saturday, March 2, 2019, 7:30 PM, in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, will include master works by each composer, plus a cello and orchestra composition by Ernest Bloch written in 1915-16. The orchestra will also live stream a free preview performance on PYP’s popular YouTube channel, from Pacific University’s Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center, on Monday, February 25 at 7:30 PM.
When the orchestra’s founding Musical Director Jacques Gershkovitch passed away in 1953, Jacob Avshalomov, an alumnus of the orchestra, was selected to lead. “Mr. A,” as he was affectionately called by his students, directed the ensemble for a legendary forty-year tenure that featured guest conductors, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, and many contemporary composers including Oregon resident Ernest Bloch. Under “Mr. A,” the orchestra received the distinguished ASCAP Award for “Adventuresome Programming of Contemporary Music,” and made six international tours to Europe and Asia.
PYP will open the concert with Johannes Brahms’s powerful Tragic Overture, followed by Avshalomov’s exhilarating tone poem, The Taking of T’ung Kuan, inspired by one of China’s most famous poets, Li-Po. Continuing with Bloch’s Schelomo performed by Kira Wang, winner of the 2018-19 PYP Concerto Competition, the concert will conclude with Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony, sung in Hebrew by mezzo-soprano soloist Laura Beckel Thoreson. PYP’s astonishing season of concerts proudly celebrates 95 years of fearless artistry, adventurous programming, and excellent performances.
Tickets start at just $5 and are on sale now at www.portlandyouthphil.org/concerts.