A live performance of works from the much-anticipated new portrait album, including the World Premiere of Davening, featuring Zach Galatis, Amanda Grimm, and David Eby.

The end-of-the-year concert featuring all of the SOU Percussion Ensembles joined by guest artist Andy Heglund from the University of Nevada, Reno. Highlights include World Premieres by Left Edge Percussion of Bench Music by Deena T. Grossman and Five things to never not say by Mark J. Knippel.

In this program that highlights exceptional musical partnerships from critically acclaimed albums, Amelia Lukas will perform Grossman’s snowy egret, january messenger for bass flute, this time at Reed College’s Kaul Auditorium.

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In this program that highlights exceptional musical partnerships from critically acclaimed albums, Amelia Lukas will perform Grossman’s snowy egret, january messenger for bass flute.

Written while the composer was living in Japan, the work was inspired by Honkyoku, classical Japanese music for shakuhachi, the Japanese bamboo flute. This solo shakuhachi music was played by wandering samurai monks in Edo period Japan (1600-1868), and was originally passed on as an oral tradition. The free rhythm and extended flute techniques such as flutter-tongue and bending pitches all reflect the sonic world of shakuhachi. During the summer rainy season, white egrets stand in the water among the brilliant green new shoots of rice plants. This image, along with hearing her husband practicing shakuhachi in their home, forms the basis for snowy egret, january messenger.

Additional program highlights include Brahms’ exhilarating F Minor sonata, performed by Artistic Director Gloria Chien and heralded clarinetist Anthony McGill, and work by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, performed by McGill and the Catalyst Quartet.

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With Flutes in the Garden, composer Deena T. Grossman brings her “elegant music [to this] equally graceful setting:” (East PDX News) the Leach Botanical Garden. With musical soundscapes directly inspired by the plants, trees, and spaces of this special place, the concert features two World Premieres of pieces for flute sextet, created especially for performance on the garden’s Aerial Tree Walk: the beautifully atmospheric Circular Bridge, and Thrice Burned Forest, a sonic response to the stark landscape left behind by the immense wildfires at Mount Adams (2008 Cold Springs fire, 2012 Cascade Creek fire, and 2015 Cougar Creek fire) that reflects mysterious sounds of women’s voices and percussive rattling that the composer heard while hiking there. Piccolos, flutes, alto flutes, and bass flutes will connect the audience to the magical environment under the forest canopy. Guests are invited to stay for an after-party to enjoy drinks, conversation with the composer and performers, and Brazilian music by Choro da Alegria. Proceeds from this concert equally benefit both the garden and Columbia Riverkeeper where Grossman is composer in residence. 

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Photo: Amelia Lukas performs on the Leach Botanical Garden Tree Walk, courtesy of Cascadia Composers

Every first Tuesday of the month, GPFS features a performance or a workshop with a focus on the flute and other music topics of interest to members. This month, GPFS features and celebrate the talents of Deena T. Grossman, who will present five pieces for flute. Special guest flutist Camila Oliveira will speak about recording Grossman’s flute solos.

All participants will receive the pdf score for Grossman’s new composition: The Circular Bridge.