News From Britt Hill – July 2021

By the time this issue of the Jacksonville Review hits the stands, the state of Oregon will have reached the 70% vaccine benchmark. This is great news for our state’s economy and cultural wellbeing. It’s time to celebrate!

This year, our philosophy has been to focus on ways the BFO can take place in a non-traditional way despite the obstacles and challenges presented by the pandemic. We have reimagined the 2021 BFO season with new formats and programming that are suited for this unique time.

We are excited to offer a non-traditional and FREE BFO musical experience featuring 35 of our wonderful BFO musicians. After the devastating fires of last year and the ongoing pandemic, this is our chance to give back and share the joy of live orchestral music with our community. This summer, the BFO will feature three distinctively different programs, all free to the public.

We will kick-off the BFO season on July 1 with Ellen Reid’s Soundwalk. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid is excited to share this piece of music recorded by your BFO remotely this spring. The high-tech program will have patrons using headphones and an app on their phone. The installment will explore interesting points around the town of Jacksonville by guiding cell phone app users to different locations within our town using the GPS location of your phone. Audience members are free to take the musical journey by foot or car any time of day from July 1 through October 15, 2021, providing each listener a personal experience of the music.

On Sunday, July 25, Teddy Abrams will conduct “A Magical Night at Britt: Your BFO Returns to Read the Classics.” The community is invited to reunite on the Britt Hill for an informal reading of some of your favorite composers including selections from Copeland’s Rodeo and Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony. There are no reservations required. Seating is first come, first served. Concessions will not be open, so feel free to bring your picnic basket with favorite bottle of wine.

To top off this season, your BFO will present the world premiere of an experiential new work by another multi-faceted, Pulitzer Prize-winning musician and composer, Caroline Shaw. Under the leadership of Music Director Teddy Abrams, the BFO will perform this special project on the Jacksonville Woodlands Trail system in six free performances from July 30 through August 2, 2021. Audience members will walk along the trails above the Britt Pavilion through groups of musicians spread along the trail, experiencing Brush: Music in the Woodlands as they go. “It points toward the idea of experiencing a brief encounter with something new and unexpected (“a brush with…”), and thinking about musical textures and ideas as brushstrokes, and of course the image of the brush in the woodlands,” says Shaw. Reservations and registrations are required for this program and can be made online at www.brittfest.org.

Ellen Reid’s Soundwalk and Brush: Music in the Woodlands continue Britt’s efforts to take the BFO into distinct outdoor settings to highlight the relationship between music and nature. It is a theme that we have been committed to ever since the Crater Lake project in 2016.

We hope that you accept our gift of music this year and join us for this non-traditional BFO Season.