GRSO opens season with masterpieces

The first, "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture" by P.I. Tchaikovsky, is based on Shakespeare's famous story.

"Tchaikovsky actually tries to follow, orchestrally, the plot!" Espinosa says.

Then, in the second part of the concert, the orchestra will perform Rimsky-Korsakov's "Sheherazade, opus 35."

The Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra is performing Saturday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. in Baker City at the Nazarene Church and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at McKenzie Theater in La Grande.

Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $5 for students. Children younger than 6 will be admitted for free.

"Sheherazade, opus 35" is based on the classic Arabic book, "One Thousand and One Nights." Sheherazade is trying to keep her husband (the King Shahryar) from killing her by telling her tales. This particular tale is based on the story of Sinbad the Sailor.

"Both works are masterpieces," Espinosa says. "The orchestrations are superb."

The orchestra has invited a harpist, Denise Fujikawa, to perform with them.

"Sheherazade includes a lot of solo work in many instruments," Espinosa says. "It is a very challenging work in the sense that it is full of complexities."

The most important solo part is the one for the violin, which will be performed by Lisa Robertson.

"The work, in general, is full of magic and enticement," Espinosa says. "And it is by one of Russia's most developed orchestrators."

Fujikawa, from Portland, studied at the Eastman School of music with the renowned harpist Eileen Malone. Fujikawa was awarded a graduate teaching assistantship at the University of Southern California and has taught at California State University, Sacramento.

She has been a member of the Portland Opera Orchestra since 1998.

She played harp with the Sacramento Symphony from 1992 to 1997 and with many other orchestras in New York, California, Oregon and Washington.

Fujikawa was a fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. She has been harpist for the Bloch, Britt, Bel Canto and Astoria festivals.

This season Fujikawa was soloist with Oregon Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and soloist with a chamber orchestra comprised of the principal string players of the Oregon Symphony in a benefit for Northwest Cancer Specialist.

She was recently noted in The Oregonian for her "lovely harp playing."

A native of the San Francisco Bay area, Fujikawa was a student of Anne Adams, then principal harp with the San Francisco Symphony and Randall Pratt, then principal harp of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. She is in demand as a judge and adjudicator in California, Oregon and Utah.

Fujikawa has presented a workshop for the American Harp Society, which was praised in The Harp Column, and given master classes for the University of Oregon. She maintains a private studio and has many award-winning students.

Lisa Robertson, concert master and soloist for this concert, received her Bachelor's of Music and master of arts degrees from the University of Iowa and a doctor of music degree from Florida State University. She was a pupil of Allen Ohmes at the University of Iowa, Nicholas Chumachenco at the Zurich (Switzerland) Conservatory, Eliot Chapo at Florida State University and has performed in master classes taught by Zino Francescatti and Christian Ferras.

Robertson was a member of European professional chamber ensembles and orchestras for nearly 15 years.

Her teaching experience includes being on the violin faculties of the Peter-Cornelius-Konservatorium of Mainz, Germany, the Academic Viennese Music Institute of Korea, and serving as violin fellow at Florida State University.

Robertson is founder and music director of the Wallowa Lake Chamber Music Festival and Workshop, which for 10 years brought top musicians to Eastern Oregon to perform and teach.

As assistant professor of music at Eastern Oregon University, Robertson teaches violin and viola, coaches chamber music

and is co-director of the fiddle ensemble.

She has been a frequent featured soloist with the Oregon East Symphony in Pendleton as well as with the Grande Ronde Symphony and is active as a recitalist, clinician and adjudicator throughout the Northwest.

She is concertmaster of the Grande Ronde and Oregon East symphonies and maintains a private studio in Pendleton and Enterprise.