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Columbia Gorge Orchestra Association

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The Columbia Gorge Orchestra Association (CGOA) is a nonprofit organization that sponsors several performing ensembles in the Columbia River Gorge area of Oregon and Washington . Founded in 1978 as the Mid-Columbia Sinfonietta, the CGOA was created in 2005 and now encompasses six ensembles: Sinfonietta (community orchestra), Voci Choir, Jazz Collective (big band jazz), String Quartet (classical), Stages (musicals), and Youth Choir. As of 2020, Mark Steighner is the artistic director of the association.

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31-671: The earliest musical group in the Hood River Valley was the Hood River Music Association (HRMA), founded in 1942 by parents and members of the local community. The HRMA would come to be led by Boris Sirpo , the founder of the Portland Chamber Orchestra , who dreamed of turning Hood River into the " Salzburg of America". Under Sirpo, the association would twice put on the Hood River Music Festival,

62-624: A land lease agreement to build a 600-seat multi-use facility for performing arts in Hood River; architectural renderings of the complex were released in 2019. The founding ensemble of CGOA is the Columbia Gorge Sinfonietta, the largest and oldest of the association's six ensembles. It typically has about 45 musicians, with five to nine being paid, professional musicians from the Portland metropolitan area . The Sinfonietta existed alone until

93-525: A stroke while conducting the junior orchestra in concert. She was replaced in the role of conductor by Mark Steighner, who directed his first concert in charge of the Sinfonietta on March 4, 2005. Steighner, the music director at Hood River Valley High School , led the charge to "increase the professionalism" of the Sinfonietta, highlighted by a name change to the Columbia Gorge Sinfonietta and

124-574: A Hood River native who had studied violin under Sirpo in the 1940s, served as the first director of the sinfonietta . The orchestra became a member of the Portland Chamber Music Society, but remained as an amateur ensemble. The local youth orchestra would also be brought into the fold, being renamed as the Mid-Columbia Junior Orchestra and also being conducted by McCormick. McCormick passed away in 2004 after suffering

155-842: A cast featuring Lauren Molina , Steel Burkhardt, Kristin Warren and Pat McRoberts. Murder Ballad has its European premiere in Belgium on 9 March 2016. It was translated into Dutch and performed by muziektheater proMITHEus in Leuven, Antwerp and Ghent. The musical had its UK premiere at the Arts Theatre in the West End , with an opening night on 5 October 2016, following previews from 30 September. The cast featured Kerry Ellis as Sara, Ramin Karimloo as Tom, Norman Bowman as Michael and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt as

186-744: A four-day event held in 1948 and 1951, and sponsored the Hood River Symphony, a children's orchestra, and junior and senior choirs. Sirpo would break ties with the HRMA in 1956 due to contract disputes, and would be replaced by a string of conductors over the next 22 years. On May 14, 1978, the Mid-Columbia Sinfonietta presented its first concert, held in Hood River under the auspices of the Chamber Music Society of Oregon. Dorothy McCormick,

217-743: A messy breakup ("Narrator 1"). After splitting, they go their separate ways and vow to never see each other again ("I Love NY"). While walking home from work as a poetry professor at New York University, Michael collides with a drunk and heartbroken Sara ("Narrator 2"). She begs him for a kiss and becomes angry when he refuses her. Concerned, he asks why she's so upset and tries to comfort her ("Little by Little"). He takes her home so she can recover and says that he'll care for her, but she tells him not to make any promises ("Troubled Mind / Promises"). Years pass. Sara and Michael fall in love and end up moving in together and getting married. She gives up her guitar as she adjusts to her more "normal," clean-cut life. It

248-573: A plan to make her his. The Narrator warns the audience that something terrible is about to happen ("I Love NY Reprise 2"). Sara and Michael take Frankie to a playground in Central Park. She vows to forget the affair and return to her old, happy way of life with her family ("Prattle 4"). As she unknowingly watches her daughter on the swing, Tom stalks her and the Narrator surveys the whole situation ("I'll Be There"). Tom goes up to Sara and Michael and taunts

279-541: A private school, but she worries about the cost and begins to feel that Michael no longer hears her ("Prattle 1 / Narrator 5"). This leads Sara to fall into a depression ("Coffee's On"). One morning, when going about her routine and dropping Frankie off for school, she sees someone on the street who reminds her of Tom and she begins to reminisce about her past relationship. Though she knows it's wrong, she decides it wouldn't hurt to visit him and decides to call him. ("Prattle 2"). The narrator explains what Tom has been up to over

310-404: A young woman named Sara. She begins the story dating a wild bartender named Tom. After a messy breakup, she falls in love with Michael, a professor at NYU with a more sensible life than Tom's dangerous ways. After getting married and raising a child, Sara starts to long for the old life with Tom. She begins secretly seeing Tom, but as her affair gets more passionate with him, Sara longs to go back to

341-659: Is also revealed that they're planning to have a baby ("Narrator 3"). As the two fall more and more in love ("Turning Into Beautiful"),the focus shifts back to Tom, who has also given up on his acting dreams ("Crying Scene Theme"). Now single, Tom dreams of owning his own club. He remains bitter about Sara and states that he'll never fall in love again. Meanwhile, Sara gives birth to her and Michael's daughter, Frankie, and Michael also gives up on his passions for poetry to study for an MBA ("I Love NY Reprise 1 / Narrator 4"). Five years pass. Sara and Michael disagree on Frankie's future. He wants to prepare her for adult life by sending her to

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372-735: Is bounded by the Columbia River to the north, Mount Hood to the south, the Cascade Range crest to the west and an apparently unnamed ridge system to the east which contains Hood River Mountain and Snyder Canyon . Mount Hood National Forest surrounds the Hood River Valley west, south, and east. It is entirely contained in Hood River County . The only city in the valley is Hood River . The major unincorporated communities are Odell , Parkdale , Mount Hood , and Dee . The valley

403-588: Is known for its tree fruit agriculture—including one of the world's largest pear growing areas—farm tourism, and recreation related to its evergreen forested mountains providing opportunities such as hiking, mountain biking, whitewater sports, camping, and 31 fishing lakes. On the Columbia River is one of the top rated water sports areas in the world, particularly for kite boarding and wind surfing . On Mount Hood, snow sports draw thousands daily primarily at Mount Hood Meadows , but also Cooper Spur ski area on

434-709: The Vienna Boys' Choir . The association also began expanding beyond orchestra, originally with the addition of the VOCI choir in December 2006. A youth choir, a big band , and a theatre ensemble were all added over the next ten years. In 2016, Steighner founded the Performing Arts Initiative (PAI), an all-volunteer effort to develop a dedicated performing arts building in the Columbia River Gorge. The PAI signed

465-467: The Hood River String Quartet. The Jazz Collective is a contemporary big band, but also has collaborated with local banda and marimba groups. The string quartet is the only one of the six CGOA ensembles that does not perform public shows, but instead plays private house concerts, weddings, and special occasions. Professional violinist Chari Bickford, also a member of the Sinfonietta, became

496-661: The June 2005 formation of the Columbia Gorge Orchestra Association (CGOA). The CGOA was officially formed as a nonprofit organization on June 25, 2005, with Faith Ackerman named as the first president of the board of directors . Upon the founding of the CGOA, the Sinfonietta began to collaborate with artists from outside the Columbia River Gorge area, including Storm Large , Stephen Seifert , Blair Tindall , and

527-432: The Narrator alone with Tom, who was also closing up the bar that night. Tom apologizes to the Narrator for his affair with Sara, revealing that the Narrator was actually the girlfriend he was cheating on with Sara. She becomes enraged at this and beats him to death with a baseball bat, fulfilling her own prophecy that someone must die. The murder remains unsolved ("Clubs and Diamonds / Prattle 6"). The musical concludes with

558-609: The Narrator watches ("Narrator 10 / You Belong to Me Reprise"). The Narrator then confesses that she was actually present during the confrontation at the bar, rather than being an outside observer ("Crying Scene Reprise"). In fact, she was the bartender cleaning up that night as everyone gathered ("Narrator 11"). Sara finds Michael at the bar and loses all her anger. She begs for him not to hurt anyone and apologizes for what she's done. Though he can't bring himself to forgive her, he asks her to promise that he still loves him. She does, and they both exit ("Walk Away / Promises Reprise"), leaving

589-454: The both of them by inviting them to his bar and making suggestive comments about Sara before leaving ("Prattle 5"). Michael immediately realizes that his suspicions about Sara are true and becomes angry, telling her she's destroyed their family ("Little by Little Reprise") and leaving her alone in the park. Separately, Sara formulates a plan to murder Tom, Michael waits at the bar to kill both Tom and Sara, and Tom revels in his newfound power as

620-508: The characters reflect on the difficulties of love and relationships ("Built for Longing"). Sara begins to regret the affair. Sara goes to King's Club to tell Tom she's breaking off their relationship. While she's there, Frankie becomes sick with a fever and Michael takes her home from school. Tom does not take the news of the breakup well, instead demanding that Sara break up with Michael and move in with him. Michael tries to call Sara to tell her about Frankie, but Tom prevents her from picking up

651-484: The characters returning and warning the audience that everyone loves a bloody, dark story until it happens to them ("Finale"). Murder Ballad had its world premiere Off-Broadway , where it was produced at Manhattan Theatre Club's Stage II theatre. The production opened on November 15, 2012, following previews from October 31. The cast included John Ellison Conlee, Rebecca Naomi Jones , Will Swenson and Karen Olivo . Originally scheduled to close on December 2,

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682-528: The creation of CGOA, when VOCI was created in 2006. The choir performs both alone and with the Sinfonietta, and after years of flux has settled to become a mixed-gender group of about 50 singers. The CGOA also includes the Gorge Youth Chorus, open to children ages eight to 13. It had been created in the early years of the CGOA but went on hiatus before returning as an active ensemble. Two more ensembles were added to CGOA in 2015: The Gorge Jazz Collective and

713-490: The east side of Mount Hood. Alpine hiking and mountain climbing are popular as well. 45°36′N 121°36′W  /  45.6°N 121.6°W  / 45.6; -121.6 This Hood River County , Oregon state location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Murder Ballad (musical) Murder Ballad is a rock opera musical with music and lyrics by Juliana Nash, and book and lyrics by Julia Jordan . Murder Ballad centers around

744-403: The first leader of the quartet. The newest CGOA ensemble is Stages Theatre, added to the association in 2016. The theatre group presents both musical theatre and nonmusical productions, including Murder Ballad , and is the only CGOA ensemble that is not solely a musical group. Hood River Valley Hood River Valley is the river basin of Hood River in northern Oregon , U.S. It

775-573: The narrator (who was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical ). The production received three nominations at the 2017 Whatsonstage.com Awards , with acting nods for both Karimloo and Hamilton-Barritt, and best video design for Laura Perrett. It played a limited run to 3 December 2016. In 2016, it premiered in Tokyo with Aya Hirano as Sara and Akinori Nakagawa as Tom. In 2017, Murder Ballad

806-493: The normal life she had with Michael and her daughter. The musical opens with the Narrator warning the audience that one of the four characters will be murdered by the end of the story ("Murder Ballad"). She then introduces Sara and Tom as a young couple living in New York, both working as bartenders to reach their dreams of becoming a musician and an actor, respectively. The two have an intense and passionate relationship that ends in

837-538: The past five years. He successfully owns his own bar now, called King's Club. He's also in a new relationship, though he doesn't consider it to be very serious ("Narrator 6"). When he learns that Sara plans to visit him, he becomes nostalgic about their time together and reveals that he's been thinking and dreaming about her since their breakup. ("Sara"). Once they finally reunite at the bar, they are overcome with emotion ("Narrator 7") and immediately begin an affair ("Mouth Tattoo"). The narrator reflects on this, saying that it

868-615: The phone. This culminates in Tom attempting to attack her in anger ("Answer Me"). She pushes him away, but he continues to simultaneously threaten her and beg her not to leave ("You Belong to Me"). She rejects him and escapes, trying to think of an alibi to explain to Michael where she was ("Narrator 9"). Now at home, Sara lies to Michael about where she was and apologizes to Frankie, who is recovering. Michael becomes suspicious, but plays along with Sara's story for Frankie's sake ("Troubled Mind Reprise"). Meanwhile, Tom grows obsessed with Sara and hatches

899-842: The production was extended by two weeks and closed on December 16, 2012. A cast recording was released. The production transferred to the Off-Broadway Union Square Theatre on May 22, 2013, following previews from May 7. It closed on July 21, 2013. Casting remained the same except for the departure of Karen Olivo, who was replaced by Caissie Levy . The production was nominated for the 2013 Lucille Lortel Award , Outstanding Musical, 2013 Off Broadway Alliance Award, Best New Musical and 2013 Outer Critics Circle Award , Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical. The regional premiere took place at TUTS Underground in Houston, Texas in April 2014, with

930-530: Was inevitable ("Narrator 8"). Michael and Sara grow distant and Michael becomes confused and distressed over how withdrawn they've both become ("Sugar Cubes and Rock Salt"). Sara attempts to balance her two lives ("Prattle 3") but feels much more drawn to her new, passionate affair ("My Name"). The Narrator discusses the web of lies built up by the affair, comparing it to an old French cinema ("The Crying Scene"). Tom and Michael both express their desire for Sara to be more open with them ("Coffee's On Reprise") and all

961-544: Was presented in Argentina, featuring Florencia Otero as Sara, German Tripel as Michael, Patricio Arellano as Tom, and Sofia Rangone as the Narrator. 2019 saw an Italian version, with lyrics translated and adapted. From September 2020 till July 2021, a fully Corona-Proof version produced by STENT Productions will tour throughout the Netherlands, the tour has about 100 shows. The producer recently announced that it would bring

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