By Randi Bjornstad

Yes, it’s one of those bad news/good news scenarios.

The bad news is that Oregon — and Lane County — recently have experienced alarming spikes in COVID-19 cases that necessitate yet another curtailment of businesses and artistic performances, including a planned, scaled-down Eugene Symphony in-person concert that would have been performed on November 19.

The good news is that the symphony has pivoted quickly and will offer another chance for music appreciators to experience — online this time — a different concert, The Color of Sound, that the full orchestra first played in April 2019 onstage at Eugene’s Hult Center for the Performing Arts.

This online treat will include not only the concert itself but comments from music director and maestro Francesco Lecce-Chong as well as behind-the-scenes information from Harmonic Laboratory, which partnered with the symphony and another business, Light at Play, to produce the show, and a showcase of work by digital media artists that accompanied the actual performance.

This online special event can be seen in two ways:

  • First, it will be streamed live at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov 29 for the general public, available
    anywhere in the world, without a password, free but with an appreciated donation of $15 per household for those who can afford it.
  • Second, the video will be available on-demand via a password-protected site available to Eugene Symphony donors and members who contribute at least $300 per year (or $25 per month).

Here’s an edited summary of how The Eugene Scene described the program before it appeared onstage in April 2019:

“The project came about because Scriabin — who is said to have “suffered” from synesthesia, but whether that’s suffering or not may depend on your point of view — believed that every musical note is attended by a specific color. For example, C is red, D is yellow, E gray, F maroon, G orange, A green, and B cobalt blue. In between, the sharps/flats also take on their own specific hues. Some people considered this propensity of Scriabin’s to be genius, while others thought him mad.

“The Eugene Symphony takes a more creative stance in the middle by translating two of Scriabin’s works into their colors, as well as their sounds. The colors appear on an 8-foot “Radiance Orb” hanging above the stage as the orchestra plays the notes.

“It’s titled The Color of Sound, and it’s a collaboration between Eugene Symphony conductor and music director Francesco Lecce-Chong and two Eugene companies, Harmonic Laboratory and Light at Play. It’s all a bit complicated, but the idea is to listen to the music, which includes Scriabin’s Prometheus: The Poem of Fire and The Poem of Ecstasy — with guest pianist Christopher Taylor at the keyboard as Harmonic Laboratory musician Jeremy Schoop “plays” it on the Radiance Orb, using software developed by Light at Play’s Yona Appletree, and evoking the colors Scriabin would have associated with his composition.

“As Lecce-Chong put it, the light show should be felt rather than watched, because the color is not like a seeing fireworks or a laser show. It is ‘all-encompassing, but subtle,’ he said, ‘not like something you find at Disney World. It’s art.’ “

The program also included Edvard Grieg’s Morning from the Peer Gynt Suite; Claude Debussy’s Claire de Lune; and short works by Felix Mendelssohn, George Frideric Handel, Arvo Pärt, and Gunther Schuller.

In announcing the recent change-up, Eugene Symphony executive director Scott Freck said that while everyone was looking forward to getting back to in-person concerts again, “We are also fully committed to doing our part to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in our community and believe that The Color of Sound recording will be a welcome offering.”

The program originally planned for the Nov. 29 in-person-and-virtual concert included three works for strings by women composers — Of Paradise and Light, by Augusta Read Thomas (1964- , United States); Concerto for String Orchestra by Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969, Poland); Strum, by Jessie Montgomery (1981- , United States) — plus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony. That program will be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined.

Online —The Color of Sound with the Eugene Symphony

What: Symphony Soundwaves – The Color of Sound
When: Available to the general public at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 29, Pacific Standard Time (available afterward on-demand to Eugene Symphony donors at the $300 per year level and above)
Where: Online at eugenesymphony.org
Cost: Suggested donation of $15 per household