2022 was an exciting and eventful year for Eugene Symphony! The year saw premieres, exciting guests, and adapting to new approaches to the ever-evolving pandemic.
Here are some highlights of our year, highlights experienced together these last 12 months:
- In April, we kicked off of our three-year deep dive into Richard Wagner’s enduring Tristan und Isolde with Act I, performing Act II in November.
- We reintroduced our hands-on Instrument Petting Zoos, including at our Family Concert in April and our Summer Concerts in July and early August.
- In June, we presented the World Premiere of Oregon composer David Schiff’s PREFONTAINE, which celebrated the live of legendary track star Steve Prefontaine.
- We were lucky to work with talented and world-renowned guest artists including violist Roberto Díaz on viola in February, pianist Soyeon Kate Lee in March, cellist Joshua Roman in May, and pianist Orion Weiss in October.
- In February, as part of our C3: Connection/Beethoven’s Fifth concert, we partnered with the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and four local artists who each interpreted a movement of Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis. As part of this concert, we also partnered with #instaballet, who crowdsourced choreography before the concert to perform during Fauré’s Pavane.
- In April we sold out both performances of our Family Concert, which featured Michael Djupstrom’s The Seahorse and the Crab and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, narrated by Bill Hulings.
- May brought us the Pacific Northwest premiere of First Symphony Project Composer Matt Browne’s Symphony No. 1, “The Course of Empire,” which was originally set to be performed in March of 2020.
- In May, as part of our C3: Community/Bolero concert, we presented our love letter to Eugene, which featured a video our musicians playing in iconic Eugene locations, projected above the orchestra while the music was played live and in sync.
- In November, we hosted more than third through sixth graders from across Lane County for our first Youth Concert in three years. The concert, led by Esteban Zúñiga Calderón (who joined us as Melot in Tristan und Isolde), the concert featured music of Latin America and a performance by Springfield High School’s Mariachi del Sol.
- We kicked off our 2022/23 Season in October, featuring a shorter piece by First Symphony Project composer Angélica Negrón and her ability to turn vegetables from the Lane County Farmers Market. In December, First Symphony Project composer Gabriella Smith joined us to present her shorter piece “Field Guide.” Both composers will premiere their first-ever symphonies in the spring.
- In the end of October, klezmer expert, clarinetist, and co-composer David Krakauer joined us with co-composer Kathleen Tagg. Krakauer thrilled us with his playing and we presented the PNW premiere of his and Tagg’s “The Fretless Clarinet.”
- In December, the full Eugene Symphony Chorus joined us for the first time in three years to build the wall of sound that is Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
Thank you so much for joining us this year. Cheers to 2022 and a happy 2023!