Let’s rewind before we fast forward!
Dear Friends of PPI,
Let’s reflect together for a moment about what a great musical fall it has been already. In exactly one month, we’ll be halfway into our season when we welcome Eric Lu to Portland and before we know it, it will be 2026 and we’ll start counting down to summer again! That is why today, instead of immediately jumping into “what’s next”-mode, we want to take a moment to breathe, sit back and celebrate the concerts we just wrapped up. (We hope you don’t blame us for wanting to cue Elton John’s I’m still standing here – two concerts over just nine days is a rather heavy load for a small team, but we think we’ve crushed it!)
· Van Cliburn Competition bronze medalist Evren Ozel wowed us all on September 5th with a program that had fiery punch and velvety gossamer in equal measure. Playing us first to tears (Beethoven) and then to the edges of our seats with sheer excitement (Bartók), our only regret about Evren’s visit is that it was far too short!
· Playing to a chock-full house on Sunday, October 5th, Boris Giltburg once again proved why we all adore him: because he is unequivocally magnificent. When the final notes of his Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor faded away, it was as if the weight on a teeter-totter shifted and the whole crowd rose in one smooth motion. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who bought tickets and came to Lincoln Hall to make our curator’s performance an unforgetable one (with the highest number of tickets we sold in the past three years).
· We cannot stress enough how excited we are about what Bill and Boris are already planning for Season 2026–2027. Stay posted – but Boris is really taking us places without your having to venture any further than Lincoln Hall!
· We had a goosebump-inducing time at All Classical radio with Boris performing on Thursdays@Three with incomparable host Christa Wessel. The program will still be available in their audio archive for another week. Do listen if you missed it live! (The Oregon Repertory Singers’s rendition of the “Cantique de Jean Racine” is downright gorgeous, too.)
· We welcomed the flamboyant and fabulous Anderson & Roe to Portland earlier this week, and just like that, the sun came out again! (We’ve had consistenly sunny performance days since September. We can’t make any meteorological promises for November, but we are rather thrilled that our artists and patrons have all been able to make it to Lincoln Hall with no umbrella in sight.)
· We premiered our not-so-classical Boundless! series, with Anderson & Roe once again proving that they’re the most thrilling, most genre-bending act on the circuit. What an incredible performance they gave on Tuesday night! We were dazzled by their sheer pianistic brilliance, mezmerized by every single one of their interpretations and felt like singing and dancing in the aisles by the time their West Side Story-medley wrapped up the program. (If we weren’t just high on the music, we were also happily high on sugar from our delicious Ruby Jewel ice cream sandwiches.)
· If you’re still humming Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, marvelling over Elizabeth Roe’s gorgeous gowns or swooning about Greg’s Lisztian hands, and you missed our fun fortune teller (printed in the Boris Giltburg program book), we’re giving you permission to channel your inner fourth grader! Click here to download, print and fold your very own Anderson & Roe trivia machine!
Thank you, friends. Each one of our concerts is a collaborative labor of love. We carry on because of you and your delighted response to our programs. We love to toss a little joy and music your way!
PS: In case you missed Boris Giltburg’s encore on October 5th, here is a recording of Rachmaninoff himself playing his own transcription of Kreisler’s “Liebesleid”. And for those who are still under the impression that Rachmaninoff was a somber grouch, watch this delightful clip displaying his joyful humanity.