STAGE
CLASSICAL
Chamber Music Northwest: 1826
The summer series featuring some of America’s finest classical musicians continues with theme concerts. Thursday and Friday’s show consists entirely of works written in 1826, including Mendelssohn’s precociously brilliant String Quintet No. 1 and some of his poetic songs, Schubert’s glittering
Rondeau Brillant for violin and piano and, best of all, one of Beethoven’s finest and farthest-ranging string quartets, No. 16, Op. 135. Pretty good year, 1826, at least for early Romantic Germanic chamber music.
Kaul Auditorium at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., 294-6400. 8 pm Thursday, July 9. 7 pm Friday, July 10, at First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave. $10-$43. Map
Portland State University Opera
PSU’s production of Verdi’s last opera,
Falstaff, is much more than a student production, directed by veteran stage director Tito Capobianco, who’s run three American opera companies and staged productions at New York City’s Metropolitan and City operas. The title character demands the strongest acting and singing skills, and this
Falstaff features one of America’s top baritones, Richard Zeller, familiar here from his work with Portland Opera, the Oregon Symphony and more, and renowned for his performances at the Met, Scottish Opera and others worldwide. PSU’s opera productions consistently aspire to and achieve much higher standards than your typical college program—how will it handle this epic farce?
St. Mary's Academy, 1615 SW 5th Ave., 725-3307. 7:30 pm Wednesday and Friday, April 15 and 17; 3 pm Sunday, April 19. $13-$26. Map
DANCE
Agnieszka Laska Dancers
Agnieszka Laska Dancers welcomes its Ashland-based contemporary, Dancing People Company, to town for a modern-dance doubleheader. ALD offers the restaged repertory work
Diameter IX, with live musical accompaniment by flutist John Savage and percussionist Joel Bluestone, as well as new work
The Terror That is Named the Flight of Time, accompanied live by the Dickson String Quartet (playing Shostakovich) and pianist Christopher Schindler (playing Thomas Svoboda). DPC, which made its Portland debut this spring, returns with Robin Stiehm’s
More Immediate Than Reality and Peggy Paver’s
Letters to Tillie, a series of poignant vignettes based on one GI’s letters home during World War II.
Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 715-1866. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, June 19-21. $15-18. Map
