By Erika Murphy
Over the past few years, the Oregon Symphony has been extending their reach into variety of genres, from the video game themes of Pokemon to the world-class R&B crooning of Boyz II Men. And tomorrow night, November 12, they’ll explore a new frontier—country—with chart-topping singer Sara Evans. Artslandia’s Erika Murphy asks the show’s conductor Paul Ghun Kim how these pop star pairings come together, what he expects from his first country collab, and how to tell a fiddle from a violin.
How did the collaboration develop between the Oregon Symphony and Evans?
As an effort to bring her audience to the symphony, and treat our audience to her music. We’re extremely versatile in playing any genre for everyone. Ms. Evans has a huge following here in Portland, and we’re happy to be sharing the stage with her.
The Symphony brings a lot of touring artists as guests. What’s your rehearsal process with these artists, and how’s it been going with Evans?
We haven’t yet had a rehearsal with Ms. Evans, though we will have by the time of publication. But we’ve already finished the rehearsal for the orchestral first half. We’ll have one rehearsal with her, and then off we go! This is usually our procedure with touring artists. We’re very adaptive and flexible.
Where do the arrangements come from? Does the artist’s team usually supply charts, or is there a collaboration?
The visiting artist’s team supplies the charts for the half of the program that features the artist. Then we program music for the first half, usually based on the genre that the visiting artist’s audience will be keen on. For this concert, the first half consists of music from various American composers that we often play in classical concerts. There are also thematic arrangements from Western movies. The idea is to cater to the audience we have for the evening.
Have you conducted country music before? What do you expect will be different from other styles of music? What are the unique considerations of conducting country music?
I’ve actually never conducted country music before, but my approach remains the same as in any genre. Oregon Symphony has worked with Boyz II Men, Ben Folds, Storm Large, and many more. We take every concert seriously and aim to make it a magical and memorable evening for everyone. If you’re a patron of music (in any genre), you deserve the best.
Explain the difference between violin and fiddle, which (both?) the symphony will play for the show.
There’s no difference between violin and fiddle! It only depends on what kind of music you’re playing. In Copland’s music, which we’ll be playing in the first half, there’s a whole lot of fiddling on the violin!
How many songs will Evans perform?
It will depend entirely on how loud the audience cheers. It could be a lot! Of course, eventually, we’ll have to call it a night.
What are your hopes and intentions for the night? What feelings do you want to evoke from the audience, and what mood does Evans bring to the stage?
That’s difficult to say. It will be an evening of exchange amongst all of us in the hall. Music is unpredictable; sometimes an upbeat song can sound sad, and vice versa. Hopefully, we’ll go through a range of emotions, leaving everyone happy and fulfilled at the end, and thirsting for more!
What are you most looking forward to about the performance?
I’m looking forward to meeting Sara Evans in person, of course! That’s one of the greatest perks about this profession. Lots of selfie opportunities.
Catch Sara Evans with the Oregon Symphony on Thursday, Nov. 12.
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