The Irish Baroque Orchestra and their conductor Peter Whelan bring Messiah back to Dublin, the city of its 1742 premiere, attempting to recreate the version heard at its first performance.
When wonderful scores of music have been rediscovered after being forgotten for 350 years, it's akin to finding doubloons that were lost at the bottom of the ocean in a shipwreck. Yet the result of musical rediscovery is much better than finding long-lost gold, because musical treasures can be shared with a world of listeners.
Last night, while the home team lost the big game on TVs at a local dive bar, my noisy rock band opened for a cham­ber pop ensem­ble. Elec­tric gui­tars and feed­back gave way to clas­si­cal acoustics, vio­lin, piano, accor­dion, and even a saw. It was an inter­est­ing cul­tur­al jux­ta­po­si­tion in an evening of cul­tur­al jux­ta­po­si­tions. The sports and music did­n't gel, but an odd sym­me­try emerged from the two bands' con­trast­ing styles, to a degree.
A mysterious baroque music faded in on darkness at Northwest Portland's When the lights rose, dancer and choreographer BodyVox Dance Center. Carlyn Hudson lay on her back downstage right, donning a sheer, bulbous, chiffon top, complete with a stand-up frill collar. As she began to move, three dancers joined her, one by one. They switched places, following one another's staccato movements, until all stood regally on stage.