In this “work in progress” performance and discussion event, vocalist Marilyn Keller and composer/pianist Ezra Weiss perform two songs from the upcoming concert work “From Maxville to Vanport,” featuring text by Renee Mitchell. The writer, singer and composer will speak about the project, and take questions from the audience. Maxville Heritage Executive Director Gwendolyn Trice will also join us to speak about this small but significant Wallowa County town’s history.
This project, which will culminate in a concert-length composition for the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble to be performed in the spring of 2018, tells a fictionalized but historically accurate narrative about two unique places and moments in Oregon’s history, Maxville and Vanport. These two towns, both with significant multicultural populations at a time when Oregon’s constitution banned black residents, tells a part of the state’s history that deserves to be heard.
This event is co-presented by the Vanport Mosaic and the Oregon Historical Society.
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- Marilyn Keller, Vocalist
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- Ezra Weiss, Composer
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- Renee Mitchell, Poet
