Art Briefs

Classical Guitar Recital
Featuring Portland State University’s:
Guitar Orchestra &
Classical Guitar Students
Friday, May 16
7 p.m.
Lincoln Hall, Room 75
Admission: FREE
Directors: Bryon Johanson &
David Franzen

Performing Solo and Orchestral Works by: Bach, de Falla, Gounod, Johanson, Sabicas, Sor, Telemann, Turina, Villa-Lobos, and York.

PSU Chamber Choir: “Carmina Burana”
Friday, May 16
7:30 p.m.
Location: First United Methodist Church, 1838 S.W. Jefferson St.
Phone: 503-725-3011
Price: $10 – $3

The PSU Chamber Choir under the direction of Bruce Browne performs Carl Orff’s rousing secular cantata. PSU Percussion Ensemble and selected soloists perform.

Orff’s principal aim evident in Carmina Burana has been a “total theatre” where music, words and movement work together in producing an overwhelming effect. He sought models of such a work in two cultural traditions: classical Greek tragedy and Italian Baroque musical theatre. Orff had previously written works based on Sophocles and Aeschylus, as well as arranging some works of Monteverdi. Orff considered opera after Gluck had lost the plot and wanted to continue on in this tradition. Carmina Burana is composed to a sequence of medieval Latin lyrics; the Bavarian pieces are peasant plays in dialect. At first hearing, Orff’s masterpiece seems paradoxical in its combination of tunefulness and an almost brutally percussive style, in its amalgam of primitive, modern and medieval masterpieces.

Low-cost preview: “The Hostage” By Brendan Behan Special Preview
Thursday, May 29, 8 p.m.
Location: Lincoln Performance Hall
Phone: 503-725-4612
Price: $4

Directed by Glenn Gauer Brendan Behan’s classic 1958 story of an English soldier held hostage by the IRA, and of his romance with a young Irish girl who takes pity on him. The Hostage could hardly be more “Irish.” It’s brooding, intemperate and back-slappingly loquacious, with dark wit and drunken introspection. Brendan Behan uses every stereotype except leprechauns to turn a would-be tragedy into a black comedy of Irish self-deprecation. With a band, bagpipes and every Irish folksong from “Danny Boy” to “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” all thrown in, the play becomes parody.

Northwest Playwrights Guild
Sunday, June 1
318 S.W. Palatine Hill Rd, Portland
3-5 p.m.
www.nwpg.org

Portland playwrights are invited to an open meeting of the Northwest Playwrights Guild Sunday, Bill Johnson and Mark Saunders host the meeting. Playwrights are invited to bring a scene they would like to hear read out loud and discussed. Networking, Camraderie, Refreshments served. Info, 503-452-4778, www.storyispromise.com.

The Northwest Playwrights Guild is a non-profit organization established in 1982, to serve the needs of playwrights in the northwestern region of the United States and Canada.

Mid-Valley Willamette Writers
The 2002/2003 Speakers Series
The Old Church, S.W. 11th and Clay
Portland, Oregon
7 – 8 p.m.
Free to members
$5 donation for non-members

Tuesday, June 3, Jane Kirkpatrick speaks about overcoming the barriers that prevent writers from reaching their goals. The meeting is held at The Old Church. All events begin at 7 p.m. and are open to the public.

-Nancy Rae Glass