Leave it to a group of people from Portland to say, “Well, hell, we’re just going to do this thing, play classical music, and you can bring beer, and if you like it, cool, and if you don’t, someone else will. Also, you can clap all you want.” Maybe we could all use a couple of months a year in a predominantly rainy clime. Young Portland classical musicians are starting to shift away from the standards and traditional structures, reasoning – probably correctly – that the audience for tradition has faded, at least temporarily, but rather than sell insurance, why not play “Balkan Arabic Klezmer-based original absurdist cabaret ensemble” like Vagabond Opera does? (FULL STORY: Brett Campbell, Wall Street Journal)
Art News
Alt-Classical grows in Portland
December 14, 2011