“The Portland Art Museum’s newest exhibit, ‘Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945,’ tells the story of how Italy rose above the rubble of World War II to become an international style powerhouse,” writes Jonathan Frochtzwajg in Friday’s (3/6) Oregonian (Portland). “The art museum teamed up with contemporary-classical organization Third Angle to put on ‘Made in Italy,’ a concert of Italian-composed music from the same period covered by ‘Italian Style,’ … from the ’60s-era, politically charged work of Luigi Nono to the modern-day experimentation of Oscar Bianchi…. In ‘Italian Style,’ Third Angle artistic director Ron Blessinger saw an opportunity to offer a counterpoint to the go-go capitalism of Italian fashion’s heady early years…. ‘Fashion needed to please an audience,” says Blessinger, who is also a violinist with the Oregon Symphony…. Case in point: Luigi Nono’s ‘La Fabbrica Illuminata,’ a vocal piece from 1964 protesting the conditions of Italian factory workers…. Another piece on the program, Luciano Berio’s ‘O King,’ is a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.… Blessinger says … the cadence of the Italian language makes all these pieces as intrinsically Italian as a Pucci gown. ‘It’s not hard,’ he says, ‘to listen to this music and feel like you’re transported to Italy.’ ”
Posted March 9, 2015