Culture in Ashland

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The main reason for spending time in Ashland is for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The Festival is one of the largest theater festivals in the USA, perhaps in the world. Running from February to October, more than 300k tickets are sold each year. This year we are seeing seven (!!) plays:

• Henry IV, Part I
• Henry IV, Part II
• Merry Wives of Windsor
• Unison
• Off the Rails -- a modern interpretation of Measure for Measure
• Hannah and the Dread Gazebo 
• The Odyssey

Off the Rails did not really work -- every politically correct stereotype was thrown into the play in a very clumsy fashion. At the other end of the scale, The Odyssey was enthralling for all of its 3.5 hours.

Waiting for the start of Henry IV, Part I.

Britt Festival

The Britt Festival runs in Jacksonville, OR from June to September. The venue is on a hill above the goldrush town of Jacksonville. The music starts at 8pm so we see the sun go down during the performance. Many bring food and wine to the concert -- all very civilized.

This is our first time to the Britt Festival. We are really enjoying these innovative concerts -- taking in five concerts across the season.

In August, classical music takes over with the Britt Festival Orchestra. The orchestra draws its members from across the USA. This year there are 121 (!!) musicians in the orchestra. Ignace (Iggy) Jang is the concertmaster -- and also the concertmaster of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. We have heard Iggy many times in orchestral and chamber music settings in Honolulu. 

The near to full moon behind the stage