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With a name perfectly suited for the Oregon Bach Festival’s 2012 theme “The Power and the Passion,” harmonica virtuoso Joe Powers, along with his international quintet and troupe of dancers, will perform an eclectic mix of traditional and modern tango in a four-city, OBF concert tour July 11-14.
 Demonstrating the inherent passion of such dances as the milonga, tango, and samba, the group launches the tour in Portland July 11, followed with Bend on July 12, Eugene on July 13, and Ashland on July 14.
A native Oregonian, Powers was given a harmonica at age two and has pursued musical adventures ever since. After gaining a music degree from the University of Oregon he traveled and performed in cities from Tokyo to Paris to tango-crazy Buenos Aires, where he honed his world-conquering harmonica skills. Powers won the Belgian Crystal Harmonica Award/Classical Division in 2008.
Known for exploring a wide range of genres including jazz fusion, classical, blues, pop rock, hip-hop, Latin, and new age, Powers “can play everything from blues to tango,” writes Rob Cullivan of the Portland Tribune, “and is one of the finest chromatic harmonica players on this planet.”
But tango is his deepest passion, and for his OBF tour Powers has enlisted some of the tango world’s leading players.
Argentine pianist Octavio Brunetti studied classical piano at the National School of Music and has played with many of Argentina’s most important tango musicians and singers. He has collaborated as arranger with composer Osvaldo Golijov, was first-prize winner in the Solo Pianist and Duos categories of the New York International Tango Competition, and has performed and recorded with superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Another Argentine, guitarist Guillermo García, co-founded and has toured and recorded with the San Francisco tango group Trio Garufa. As a dancer, he learned Argentine tango from Buenos Aires masters of the salón, milonguero and nuevo styles, and teaches a weekly tango salón class in San Francisco. He holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford, and has developed audio technology for Gibson Guitar and Silicon Graphics.
Bassist Bernardo Gomez and percussionist Jesse Brooke, both active in Portland’s world music scene, complete the quintet.
For more concert and ticket information, see the links below or visit our tickets page. The tour is made possible by sponsorship from US Bank.
“Tango Harmonica” concerts, all times 7:30 pm
11:26 am • Thursday • May 10, 2012
 The 5 Browns perform July 12 Tickets are now on sale for the 2012 Oregon Bach Festival, for a record 30 ticketed concerts in 14 different venues in 7 cities.
Review our ticket pages for venue and price options.
Tickets can be purchased instantly online, or by mail, phone, or through ticket outlets for events in other cities. Those outlets include TicketMaster, TicketsWest, the UO ticket office, Tower Theatre, and our home base, the Hult Center Bach’s Office. See the grid below or visit our ticket page for full info.
All Eugene and Corvallis concerts (except Pink Martini 7/1)
Pink Martini July 1, Cuthbert Amphitheatre
- All Safeway Ticketswest outlets, online at Ticketswest online
- Charge by phone at 1.800.992.8499.
BachFest PDX (Portland)
Ashland, Lincoln City
Astoria
- Liberty Theater Box Office, 503.325.5922
Bend
- Online, in person, or by phone through the Tower Theatre, 541.317.0700
8:48 am • Thursday • May 3, 2012
As part of the Oregon Bach Festival’s multi-faceted exploration of Bach’s Goldberg Variations this summer, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, directed by Monica Huggett, presents the revered variations in a brand new way. Beginning June 30, the four-city tour will strike its first chord in Astoria, followed by Corvallis on July 1, Eugene on July 2, and Lincoln City on July 3.
 Monica Huggett directs the Portland Baroque Orchestra's "Goldbergs" This exciting string ensemble version, arranged by Russian violinist and conductor Dmitri Sitkovetsky, is quite a variation from the traditional work, originally composed for a single harpsichord performer. “The variations turn out to be quite well suited for string instruments,” writes Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, John Adams, in his program notes for the piece. “Such a recasting sheds new light on the music by drawing out expressive elements that previously could only be hinted at when played on a harpsichord or even a modern piano.”
With 30 complex variations, each movement seemingly more complex than the last, the piece is famously inventive and considered to be an exceptional example of the variation form of composing. So powerful is the work that the Festival is celebrating it not only with the tour, but with other concerts, panel discussions and films as well.
The spark igniting the flame of this year’s Goldberg extravaganza is the double birth and death anniversaries of enigmatic pianist Glenn Gould (1932-1982), who was passionate about Bach’s work and was closely associated with the Goldberg variations during his life.
The Eugene performance of the Goldberg Variations, sponsored by Valley River Inn, begins at 7:30 PM in Beall Concert Hall. Tickets range from $15 to $45 for the general public (youth tickets are $10) and can be purchased online at oregonbachfestival.com/tickets.
The Goldberg Variations four-city tour is made possible through support from Oregon Public Broadcasting and a grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust.
10:06 pm • Wednesday • May 2, 2012
When the power of great music and the passion of world-renowned performers come together, you get the Oregon Bach Festival’s 2012 Portland concert series, Bachfest PDX. Ranging from Mendelssohn’s masterworks to tantalizing tango tunes of Buenos Aires, each of the four performances convey a passion all their own, echoing this year’s theme, The Power & The Passion.
Tickets are now on sale for this year’s four-concert series, which runs June 30 – July 11 at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, and Lincoln Hall on the PSU campus.
Returning to Portland after bringing audiences to their feet in three sold out performances with the Oregon Symphony in January, violin virtuoso Joshua Bell makes his OBF debut, kicking off the concert series with Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Taking Mendelssohn’s most celebrated orchestral piece to the next level, Bell will perform his own cadenza at the high point of the work. The all-Mendelssohn concert, Saturday, June 30, continues with the Italian Symphony and the exciting choral work The First Walpurgisnacht. Conducted by Helmuth Rilling, the performance of these works, all by a composer influenced by Bach, is sure to make a powerful impact.
Reflecting passion of a different hue, Matthew Halls will conduct Michael Tippett’s modern choral work, A Child of our Time on Friday, July 6. The work was Tippett’s heartfelt response to the tragedies he witnessed during World War II. Modeled after Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Tippett engages the audience during crucial moments of the work by integrating American spirituals in place of the Passion’s chorales. In Halls’s view, “these hauntingly beautiful pieces, involving practically everyone on stage, resonate powerfully” with contemporary audiences. Halls, who will succeed Helmuth Rilling as artistic director following the 2013 Festival, opens the concert with Bach’s Lutheran Mass in G Major.
Continuing on Monday, July 9, John Scott, top organist and music director of New York’s St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, will perform Bach’s most extensive and celebrated organ piece, Clavier-Übung III. The piece contains a grand total of 27 complex compositions, which reflect the main musical themes of the time as well as Bach’s religious views. Scott will perform on the 4,000-pipe Rosales organ, which the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral refers to as “one of the finest pipe organs in America.”
Wrapping up this year’s Bachfest PDX is harmonica virtuoso and native Oregonian, Joe Powers. On Wednesday, July 11, along with his international quintet and a troupe of tango dancers led by Alex Krebs, Powers will perform an eclectic mix of traditional and modern tango, demonstrating the inherent passion of such dances as the milonga, tango, and samba.
To purchase Bachfest PDX tickets or for more detailed information, please visit the Oregon Bach Festival ticket page.
Bachfest PDX festival schedule
- Saturday, June 30, 7:30 pm Joshua Bell plays Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto; also Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgisnacht and Italian Symphony, all conducted by Helmuth Rilling (Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $26-$90)
- Friday, July 6, 7:30 pm A Child of our Time, Michael Tippett’s modern choral masterwork inspired by World War II; also Bach’s Lutheran Mass. OBF choir and orchestra conducted by Matthew Halls (Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, $29-$45)
- Monday, July 9, 7:30 pm Top organist John Scott performs Bach’s most extensive organ work, Clavier-Übung III (Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, $10-$25)
- Wednesday, July 11, 7:30 pm Harmonica virtuoso Joe Powers, his international quintet and a quartet of tango dancers perform traditional and modern tango, evoking sounds of Argentina (Lincoln Hall at Portland State University, $10-$25)
5:39 pm • Friday • April 20, 2012
In an interview originally broadcast March 22, the day after Bach’s Birthday, Caitriona Bolster of KWAX spoke with OBF executive director John Evans, who gave a tour of the upcoming festival’s principal Bach works and related concerts.
Part 1/2
St. Matthew Passion, Goldberg Variations, Tango Harmonica
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 J.S. Bach, Angela Hewitt, Helmuth Rilling Part 2/2
Joshua Bell, A Child of our Time, Beall Hall concerts by Helmuth Rilling and Matthew Halls
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11:39 am • Thursday • March 29, 2012
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