Oregon Mandolin Orchestra

The Oregon Mandolin Orchestra (OMO) and the Classical Mandolin Society of America (CMSA) are presenting three evenings of free concerts to showcase music that celebrates the distinctive tones of the Mandolin Family of Instruments.

The OMO is hosting the concerts Oct. 30 – Nov. 1 as part of the CMSA’s 39th annual convention – the first in Portland since 2014. All the 8 p.m. concerts will be held at the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel’s Mt. Hood Ballroom.

The concert lineup:

 Mandolin and Guitar Night -- Thursday, Oct. 30, featuring duets by Australian mandolinist Fiona Horbach, of the Sydney Mandolin Orchestra (SMO,) and guitarist Werner Ruecker, SMO’s director, and the convention’s composer in-residence. A solo performance by Italian mandolinist Fabio Gallucci, co-founder of the Quintet à Plectres de France, will follow.

 Portland Night – Friday, Oct. 31. The Oregon Mandolin Orchestra, celebrating its 15th year, will perform an exciting program of pieces stretching from Classical to Tin Pan Alley and Brazilian choro, along with two compositions specially commissioned for the OMO. French mandolinist and composer Vincent Beer-Demander, art director for the Academie de Mandoline et Guitare in Marseillle, also will deliver a solo performance on octave mandolin and other instruments.

 Symposium Night – Saturday, Nov. 1 -- Featuring a program of duets by Gallucci and Beer-Demander, then closing with the CMSA En Masse Orchestra, 140 strong. Dr. Jim Bates, CMSA music director, will conduct the enormous ensemble comprised of mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, guitars and basses in a program of music from the U.S., Italy, France, Japan and Australia, including the world premiere of Werner Ruecker’s “Yulugi - Dance of the Earth and Sky.”

Donations to the nonprofit CMSA are happily accepted.

For questions, please contact:

Christian McKee, Oregon Mandolin Orchestra music director: [email protected] or 503-891-1226.

Michael Tognetti, mandolinist, Oregon Mandolin Orchestra board president: [email protected] or 360-521-0255.