Who:  Oregon Mandolin Orchestra

What:  Homegrown Musical Harvest Concert – live or virtual

When:  3 p.m. PDT Sun. Oct. 22

Live:  St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, 2201 S.W. Vermont St., Portland, Oregon  97219.  Doors open 2:30 p.m.

Suggested donation:  $15 at the door.

Virtual:  Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87530908286

Suggested donation is $15 per person through online link

Information:  www.oregonmandolinorchestra.org

The Oregon Mandolin Orchestra is inviting you to join in the harvest festival with a musical program composed entirely of pieces written or arranged by orchestra members.

“This fall’s concert features a harvest from our own garden: OMO is presenting a program of music composed and/or arranged by orchestra members!” said Christian McKee, OMO music director. “Mandolinist Chuck Whitman’s arrangements have been well received over the last several years. We will add to them an Irving Berlin tune arranged by our mandobass player, Joel Birkeland, an original three-movement suite by mandocellist Jim Imhoff, and an original composition by me.”

Mandolinist Chuck Whitman, who has been arranging pieces for orchestral performance for many years, has served up two new arrangements for this concert.  Midnight on the Water is an old Texas fiddle waltz while Allie Crocker started life as a folk reel in the British Isles.

Mandocellist Jim Imhoff, a semi-retired professor of music and lecturer at Boston University, began conducting choral and orchestral masterworks in 1969. His Three States of Mind is an original suite, and the OMO will lead the audience on a journey through movements exploring “Agitation,” “Meditation” and “Jubilation.”

Joel Birkeland, who ably handles mandobass for the OMO, is offering an original arrangement of Marie, a 1937 piece by Irving Berlin.  The song’s soaring melody lines were made famous by swing band leader and trombonist Tommy Dorsey.

Christian McKee, the orchestra’s music director and  conductor, also has a flair for composing original works. For this concert, Christian will present the premiere of a new piece, Sunrise to Silver Ridge.  The piece evokes a round trip from Portland to Silver Fall State Park’s beautiful waterfalls, along with the sounds of Brazilian choro and the music of early American mandolinist Seth Weeks.

In addition, the concert will showcase a performance by the OMO Chamber Ensemble, featuring Italian, Russian and Czech pieces from the Romantic era.