BFO: Abrams, Bernstein, & Aaron Diehl
$27-$49 ($25-$47 ages 60+, $12 ages 1-12 lawn seating); all orders subject to $7 fee
- Aaron Diehl, piano
- Anis Mojgani, narrator
George Gershwin — Piano Concerto in F (Aaron Diehl, piano)
Jonathan Bailey Holland — Equality (Anis Mojgani, narrator)
Leonard Bernstein — Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Gates open: 5:45pm Early Entry | 6pm General Public
Pre-Concert Talk: 7pm on the Sam & Hannelore Enfield Stage in the Performance Garden
Patrons will be permitted to bring in outside alcohol for this performance. Food is available for purchase from West Coast Events and Sianos Karibbean Cookhouse food truck. For more information and venues, click here: https://www.brittfest.org/venue-info/concessions-menu/
About Britt Music & Arts Festival
Britt Music & Arts Festival, a non-profit organization, is the Pacific Northwest's premier outdoor summer performing arts festival. Located in the historic 1850s gold rush town of Jacksonville, Oregon (USA), Britt presents dozens of summer concerts, featuring world-class artists in classical music, jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass, world, pop, and country music. Britt's performance venue is a naturally formed amphitheater set among majestic ponderosa pines and native madrones on the beautiful hillside estate of 19th-century photographer Peter Britt. Viewing a map of the facility will give you a clearer picture of how we have combined stadium seating within this natural setting. Tens of thousands of music lovers travel from all over the West to enjoy Britt's world-class performances, spectacular scenery, and casual, relaxing atmosphere.
https://www.brittfest.org/About Britt Festival Orchestra
The Britt Festival Orchestra (BFO) brings a professional group of musicians together each summer to perform under the leadership of Music Director Teddy Abrams, an established leader and conductor in the symphonic world. Our orchestral summer festival spans 3 weeks from mid-June through early July and includes orchestral concerts, chamber music events, and curated performances for children, all at our extraordinary outdoor venue in the historic town of Jacksonville, Oregon.
Established in 1963, the BFO comes together each summer from world-class orchestras around the globe to perform a remarkably diverse selection of music under the stars, ranging from traditional classical to modern works. Our concert hall, the Britt Pavilion, is a natural outdoor amphitheater under the great Oregon sky where audiences can sit on the reserved bench seats or on the grassy Britt hill and enjoy the concerts.
Additional festivities include free BrittKids Koncerts, open rehearsals, pre-concert conversations with guest artists and orchestra members, and special projects and collaborations with a variety of community groups.
https://www.brittfest.org/britt-festival-orchestra/About Aaron Diehl, piano
Pianist and composer Aaron Diehl mystifies listeners with his layered artistry. At once temporal and ethereal, his expression transforms the piano into an orchestral vessel in the spirit of beloved predecessors Ahmad Jamal, Erroll Garner, and Jelly Roll Morton. Following three critically-acclaimed leader albums on Mack Avenue Records — and live appearances at historic venues from Jazz at Lincoln Center and The Village Vanguard to New York Philharmonic and the Philharmonie de Paris — the American Pianist Association’s 2011 Cole Porter fellow now focuses his attention on what it means to be present within himself. His forthcoming solo record promises an expansion of that exploration in a setting at once unbound and intimate.
Aaron conjures three-dimensional expansion of melody, counterpoint and movement through time. Rather than choose one sound or another, he invites listeners into the chambered whole of his artistry. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Aaron traveled to New York in 2003, following his success as a finalist in JALC's Essentially Ellington competition and a subsequent European tour with Wynton Marsalis. His love affair with rub and tension prompted a years-long immersion in distinctive repertoire from Monk and Ravel to Gershwin and William Grant Still. Among other towering figures, Still in particular inspires Aaron's ongoing curation of Black American composers in his own performance programming.
Aaron has enjoyed artistic associations with Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Buster Williams, Branford Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Philip Glass, and multi GRAMMY award-winning artist Cecile McLorin Salvant. He recently appeared with the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra as featured soloist.
Aaron holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from Juilliard. A licensed pilot, when he's not at the studio or on the road, he's likely in the air.
https://www.aarondiehl.com/About Anis Mojgani, narrator
Anis Mojgani is the 10th Poet Laureate of Oregon. A two-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam and winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam, he has been awarded residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, Caldera, AIR Serenbe, The Bloedel Nature Reserve, The Sou'wester, and the Oregon Literary Arts Writers-In-The-Schools program. A recipient of an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate Fellowship, Anis has done commissions for the Getty Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum; and his work has appeared on HBO, National Public Radio, and as part of the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day series. His work has appeared in the pages of The New York Times, Rattle, Platypus, Winter Tangerine, Forklift Ohio, and Bat City Review.
Known for his performances and well regarded for them the world over, Anis has performed at hundreds of universities across the U.S.; festivals around the globe such as the Sydney Writers Festival, Jamaica's Calabash festival, and Seoul’s Young Writers Festival; and for audiences as varied as the United Nations and the House of Blues. The author of six books of poetry and the libretto for Sanctuaries, his first children's book is forthcoming from Holiday House/Neal Porter Books; his latest poetry collection, The Tigers They Let Me, comes out in June. Originally from New Orleans, Anis currently lives in Portland Oregon.
https://www.thepianofarm.com/about