Oregon Symphony Association

Programs: Artistic achievementsfy17 marked arguably the most successful season in the oregon symphony's 121-year history. We reached a record 295,000 people (up 22%) through concerts, education and engagement programs, local broadcasting, and community panels with millions more reached through national radio broadcasts of several concerts. With passion and through innovation, we set organizational records in earned and contributed revenue, and achieved a balanced budget for an eighth consecutive season. Continued on schedule oat the center of our season was soundsights, an innovative concert series that combined classical music with the visual arts. These multimedia events garnered unprecedented media attention, captured the imagination of new and returning concertgoers, and created productions that will be performed by other orchestras around the country. In september 2016, bla bartok's dark and powerful opera bluebeard's castle was semi-staged with towering colored glass sculptures by washington artist dale chihuly. This danse macabre of mystery and horror - the portland premiere of this unique concert pairing - featured hungarian opera singers viktoria vizin and gbor gretz against a stunning backdrop of chihuly's glass set pieces. The production drew hundreds of first-time concertgoers to the hall and received notices and rave reviews in local, national, and international media with bbc music magazine declaring it one of the top twenty concerts to see in north america in september. In december 2016, audiences were treated to the oregon premiere of olivier messiaen's exotic masterwork turangalla, accompanied by original video animation "dj'ed" in real-time by renowned artist rose bond and her team from the pacific northwest college of art. Bond's animation transformed the walls of the concert hall into a visual stage, with bond's animation offering a riveting interpretation of messiaen's meditative and kaleidoscopic symphony. This synesthetic concert experience drew hundreds of first-time concertgoersmany from our area's visual arts communityand was called by oregon artswatch "a tapestry of interwoven polysensory delight and highlighted in bbc music magazine as a not-to-be missed event in north america. And in may 2017, we concluded soundsights with stravinsky's persphone featuring original stage design by michael curry of lion king fame. This wholly original marriage of orchestral music, puppetry, and theater was met with standing ovations from three sell-out crowds. In fy17, the oregon symphony presented 113 performances of 57 concert programs, we reached an audience of approximately 180,000 - up 16% year-over-year and a new oregon symphony record. We sold out 28 concerts (30% of 94 ticketed concerts in the hallalso a new record), brought to our stage enduring and innovative productions, and staged more performances across all genres. Throughout the season, we brought diverse audiences a wide range of programs, including classical superstars and popular non-classical performers. They included many headlining, internationally known artists of color, including: patti austin, japanese taiko ensemble kodo, wynton marsalis, the shanghai acrobats of the people's republic of china, jake shimabukuro, and tango calientein addition to our annual gospel christmas concert, which features the country's largest community gospel choir performing alongside our orchestra. In march 2017, we released haydn symphonies, our newest cd on the pentatone label. This release, featuring three works by the composer, follows our previous grammy-nominated cds under music director carlos kalmar. The cd received positive reviews, with audiophile audition calling it "a grand performance of the immortal haydn that catches a world-class symphony at the top of their game. "this season also saw the first oregon symphony commissions in many years: award-winning composer chris rogerson's among mountains, a celebratory "overture" for our 120th anniversary (hailed as "love at first hearing" in one review); portland composer kenji bunch's aspects of an elephant; and works by oregon symphony percussionists niel deponte and sergio carreno using experimental wearable technology developed through an oregon symphony collaboration with intel. Bunch's new work was recorded for broadcast on all classical portland and online streaming via our website, and will be included on a forthcoming oregon symphony cd of contemporary american composers, alongside four other works that we recorded this season: christopher rouse's supplica, sean shepherd's magiya, sebastian currier's microsymph, and samuel barber's souvenirs. With the exception of barber's piece, none of the included works has been recorded before. We reached nearly 12 million national listeners in a range of markets through broadcasts of several concerts via symphonycast and performance today - two classical music radio programs produced by american public media. In addition, we reached 46,000 listeners in oregon and southwest washington by broadcasting our waterfront festival finale and four classical concert programs on all classical. Education & community programsin 2016-17, the oregon symphony reached a record 61,000 people in schools, community centers, libraries, retirement communities, correctional facilities, and other venues throughout our region. We served our vibrant and diverse community by expanding music education programs, adding free and inclusive community performances, bringing more students to the hall than ever before, and broadcasting performances to listeners around the world. In our communitywe brought live orchestral music and life-enhancing experiences to diverse audiences throughout our region. This included the expansion of the musicnow program a music therapy-informed program that engages those living with dementia to serve 240 residents, family members, and caregivers at two local senior residences. At these events, oregon symphony musicians teamed with music therapists from earthtones music therapy services to bring music-making and movement to those living with age-related cognitive loss. In schools and the concert hallthis year, we expanded school programs that brought inspiration and music education to tens of thousands of k-12 students. We also brought thousands of students from throughout our area to the concert hall for unique performance opportunities and developmentally appropriate concerts. One of the season's highlights was the continued development of the music education program in the david douglas school district through the oregon community foundation's studio to school initiative. This included the expansion of the link up program, which brought deep, year-long music instruction to 3rd-5th graders. Using curriculum developed by carnegie hall's weill music institute, we once again served 2,700 students from ddsd through link up, and grew the program to reach 2,700 additional children from 23 elementary schools throughout the metro area. We added a second link up concert in may so that all 5,400 participating students could join forces with the orchestra in the hall, singing and playing music they practiced throughout the year. Many of these students would not otherwise have the opportunity to visit the concert hall or learn and experience music performance at this level. A vast majority of participating teachers report an increase in their students' interest in music performance outside of the curriculum.