PSU Philharmonica: Not your typical period pieces

This weekend the Portland State University Chamber Orchestra and director/conductor Keith Clark will be selecting its top 30 young performers, many of whom are already involved with music on a professional level, out of the full 60 that make up the orchestra to team up with renowned keyboardist Gwendolyn Toth. The orchestra has been in preparation for nearly a month in anticipation of these performances.

Toth is known not only for her mastery and ease of performance on an array of period piece instruments like the harpsichord, lautenwerk, organ, fortepiano, and clavichord; but also for her involvement with contemporary music and her work and recordings with eminent composer/performers such as John Cage, Rhys Chatham, Petr Kotik, and the list goes on. Toth also takes part in music festivals around the world, including the New Jersey Bach Festival and its orchestra of period instruments in which she co-founded with Keith Clark and soprano Julianne Baird. In 2003, Toth released two solo CDs of the organ works of Hienrich Scheidemann and a recording of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations performed on a lautenwerk.

PSU PHILHARMONIC SCHEDULE

Friday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at PSU’s Lincoln Hall
$8 for students $10 for general audience

Saturday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. Astoria’s Old Masonic Temple
Call ahead for times and ticket cost

Sunday, Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. at First Baptist Church
$8 for students $10 for general audience

Tickets can be purchased at the PSU Box Office or at the door before each performance.