FREE Open Rehearsal: Joan Tower “Petroushskates”

Artists

Marilyn de Oliveira Cello

Brazilian cellist Marilyn de Oliveira enjoys an active career as a symphonic and chamber musician. Since joining the Oregon Symphony as the Assistant Principal cellist in 2009, Marilyn has been a founding member of Mousai Remix and Pyxis String Quartets, cellist of Third Angle and 45th Parallel Universe, and a guest with prestigious festivals such as Grand Teton Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, and Chamber Music Northwest.

In addition to her many performance engagements, Mrs. de Oliveira is also an educator, orchestral coach, and music activist. She is part of the music faculty at Reed College, maintains a private studio with graduates now in renowned music schools worldwide, and founded the Oregon Symphony Musician’s Caroling Project— a collaborative effort which has brought music to those in need during the holidays for over a decade.

Prior to joining the OSO, Marilyn served as Acting Assistant Principal cellist and section member of the San Antonio Symphony and was a fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami, FL. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University, her Master of Music degree at Rice University, and was the Bronze Award Winner in the senior division of The Sphinx Competition in 2006.

Upcoming Concerts & Events

• FREE Open Rehearsal: Joan Tower “Petroushskates”  (currently selected)
• Chamber Party: An Evening with Marilyn de Oliveira, Sunmi Chang & Brian Hsu
• Americana: “Appalachian Spring”
• Americana: “Appalachian Spring”
• Voices of Our Land: Dvořák “American” Quintet
• Voices of Our Land: Dvořák “American” Quintet

Jose Franch-Ballester Clarinet

The multi-award-winning Spanish clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester is recognized as one of the leading classical soloists, chamber musicians, and music educators of our time. Acclaimed for his “technical wizardry and tireless enthusiasm” (The New York Times), he has forged an international career marked by artistic excellence and versatility.

A recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of both Young Concert Artists and Astral Artists auditions, Franch-Ballester has appeared as a soloist with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, BBC Concert Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, London Sinfonia, Orquesta de Radio Televisión Española, Orquesta Nacional de México, and Orquesta de Valencia, among many others. He performs widely throughout Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Australia.

He’s an active and committed chamber musician who appears regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and serves as Principal Clarinet of the Santa Barbara-based Camerata Pacifica. He has collaborated with distinguished ensembles including the Pacifica, Dover, Miró, American, St. Lawrence, Jupiter, and Modigliani String Quartets.

Franch-Ballester has played a significant role in expanding the clarinet repertoire, commissioning and premiering works by composers such as Jake Heggie, Oscar Navarro, Paul Schoenfield, Clarice Assad, William Bolcom, George Tsontakis, and Huang Ruo.

He has served since 2017 as Associate Professor of Clarinet and Chamber Music at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and is a frequent guest artist at institutions worldwide.

His recordings appear on Deutsche Grammophon, Warner Music, Harmonia Mundi, and Itinerant Classics. Born in Moncofa, Spain, he studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and is a Backun Artist, performing on CG Carbon Clarinets.

Upcoming Concerts & Events

• FREE Open Rehearsal: Joan Tower “Petroushskates”  (currently selected)
• Voices of Our Land: Dvořák “American” Quintet
• Voices of Our Land: Dvořák “American” Quintet
• Americana: “Appalachian Spring”
• Americana: “Appalachian Spring”

Yoko Greeney Piano

Collaborative pianist and visionary arts advocate Yoko Greeney has been hailed as “one of the most significant members of Portland’s classical music scene” (Oregon ArtsWatch). Her multifaceted career—spanning performing, directing, program curating, teaching, and community-based work—is rooted in a deep commitment to artistic excellence and arts accessibility.

At the heart of Greeney’s work is collaboration—onstage and beyond. Celebrated for her sensitivity and stylistic range, she is a sought-after collaborative pianist who has performed at numerous venues and music festivals. Since settling in Portland, Oregon in 2010, she has shared the stage with a wide range of organizations, including the Oregon Symphony, Chamber Music Northwest, 45th Parallel Universe, Oregon Ballet Theatre, BodyVox, and Third Angle New Music, in addition to numerous live performances and recording projects with All Classical Radio.

A passionate advocate for arts accessibility, in 2022 Greeney co-founded SoundsTruck NW, a nonprofit organization that brings outdoor live music concerts directly to neighborhoods and communities where access is limited by utilizing its custom-built, solar-powered mobile stage. Described as “revolutionizing Portland’s concert landscape” (The Oregonian), SoundsTruck NW has been recognized internationally for its social impact, including being named a finalist for the 2024 SXSW Innovation Awards in Urban Design and a two-time prize winner at the 2024 International Sound Awards in Hamburg, Germany.

Originally from Osaka, Japan, Greeney has followed a global path—living and working in cities across Japan, Mexico, and the United States—before making Portland her home. She holds a Master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University and currently teaches at Lewis & Clark College.

Upcoming Concerts & Events

• NEW@NIGHT: Echoes of Home
• Jazz Notes: Gershwin Piano Concerto
• FREE Open Rehearsal: Joan Tower “Petroushskates”  (currently selected)
• Voices of Our Land: Dvořák “American” Quintet
• Voices of Our Land: Dvořák “American” Quintet
• Americana: “Appalachian Spring”
• Americana: “Appalachian Spring”

Tara Helen O’Connor Flute

Tara Helen O’Connor, who Art Mag has said “so embodies perfection on the flute that you’ll forget she is human,” is an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, a two-time Grammy Award nominee, and a recipient of the Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award. A Wm.S. Haynes artist, she is a season artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She is professor of flute at the Yale School of Music and is the Artistic Director of the “Music from Angel Fire” Festival and in 2026, the Essex Winter Series.

Tara has also appeared on numerous film and television soundtracks including Barbie, Respect, The Joker, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Only Murders in the Building, and Schmigadoon! Festival appearances include the Bravo! Vail festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Music@Menlo, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music, the Great Mountains Music Festival, and Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival.

A charismatic performer noted for her artistic depth, brilliant technique and colorful tone spanning every musical era, O’Connor has collaborated with such distinguished artists as vocalists Jennifer Johnson Cano, Susanna Phillips and Dawn Upshaw, violinist Jaime Laredo, clarinetist David Shifrin, guitarist Eliot Fisk, and pianists Jeremy Denk, Peter Serkin, and Stephen Prutsman, and with such revered ensembles as the Emerson, Orion, and St. Lawrence string quartets.

Tara has appeared on A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts, PBS’ Live from Lincoln Center and has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, Koch International, CMS Studio Recordings and Bridge Records.

Artist's Website

Upcoming Concerts & Events

• FREE Open Rehearsal: Joan Tower “Petroushskates”  (currently selected)
• Voices of Our Land: Dvořák “American” Quintet
• Voices of Our Land: Dvořák “American” Quintet
• Americana: “Appalachian Spring”
• Americana: “Appalachian Spring”

David McCarroll Violin

David McCarroll was appointed concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2022, holding the Rachel Mellon Walton Concertmaster Chair. He has appeared as soloist with many orchestras including the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich (Simone Young, Grafenegg), Hong Kong Sinfonietta (Christoph Poppen), and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Manfred Honeck). He regularly performs in major concert halls such as Konzerthaus Berlin, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, 92nd Street Y, and Carnegie Hall.

Also an active chamber musician, he served from 2015 to 2022 as the violinist of the renowned Vienna Piano Trio with whom he toured and recorded extensively. The Trio’s recording of the complete Brahms piano trios was awarded the 2017 Echo Klassik prize and in 2020 the Trio’s Beethoven recording won the Opus Klassik award.

Recent performances have included Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto at the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Pittsburgh premiere of Schumann’s Violin Concerto, touring with Musicians from Marlboro, and performances of György Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments for violin and soprano.

In demand as a teacher, David is on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music. He has previously taught at Salzburg’s Mozarteum University and has given masterclasses in violin and chamber music at Ravinia’s Steans Institute, at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and at the San Francisco Conservatory.

David plays a 1761 violin made by A&J Gagliano.

Artist's Website

Upcoming Concerts & Events

• FREE Open Rehearsal: Joan Tower “Petroushskates”  (currently selected)
• Voices of Our Land: Dvořák “American” Quintet
• Voices of Our Land: Dvořák “American” Quintet
• Americana: “Appalachian Spring”
• Americana: “Appalachian Spring”

Joan Tower Composer

Joan Tower’s (b. 1938) music is noted by a number of defining qualities: driving rhythms and colorful orchestrations influenced by the sounds and sensations of a childhood spent in South America; approachability for listeners and players alike, resulting from her engagement with the performers of her music (often written with specific musicians in mind) and her own performances as a pianist. Early works were serial in conception. In the 1970s she moved toward more tonal, Messiaen-like sonorities. She has written a number of works paying homage to composers such as Beethoven (Concerto for Piano), Stravinsky (Petroushskates), and Copland (Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman). She was the first composer chosen for a Ford Made in America consortium commission, Made in America, which was performed by 65 orchestras in the USA. Its top-selling recording won three 2008 Grammy Awards, including Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

She received the highest awards from Musical America (Composer of the Year in 2020), Chamber Music America (the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award in 2020), and the League of American Orchestras (Gold Baton Award in 2019).

Recent commissions were from the Cleveland, National, and Detroit symphonies, the Colorado Music Festival (soloists Alisa Weilerstein, Steven Banks, and the Cassatt Quartet), and Yale University.

New recordings have come out on Naxos, Albany Records, and BMOP Recordings.

Upcoming Concerts & Events

• FREE Open Rehearsal: Joan Tower “Petroushskates”  (currently selected)