Cascade Arts & Entertainment

Two legendary acts wind their way to Bend this summer for unforgettable nights of rock and blues. Long hailed as the reining King of the Blues, B.B. King brings his style to the lawns of the Les Schwab Amphitheater on July 6. Four days later, on July 10, Lynyrd Skynyrd returns for a rocking night of southern music.

This will be B.B. King’s first visit to the Les Schwab Amphitheater, while Lynyrd Skynyrd is making their second trip. In August 2006, Skynyrd played to a packed-house sold-out crowd.The legendary B.B. King is without a doubt the most important electric guitarist of the last half-century. With over 10,000 shows in a career spanning nearly 60 years, B.B. King and his guitar, Lucille, have kept audiences in rapture all over the world and returns this summer to Oregon in a Bend Summer concert appearance at the Les Schwab Amphitheater.

Lynyrd Skynyrd is the definitive Southern rock band, fusing the overdriven power of blues-rock with a rebellious Southern image and a hard rock swagger. Started as a high school band in the late 60s, the band reached the height of their popularity in the mid-’70s but split up after the tragic death of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant in 1977. Skynyrd reunited a decade later, becoming the popular concert act that they are still today.Entering its seventh year as the premier outdoor concert season in Central Oregon, the Les Schwab Amphitheater is set in the Old Mill District of the swiftly growing destination city of Bend, Oregon. The field is an expertly manicured, gently sloping lawn set next to the Deschutes River and holds 7,000 people. Information is available at bendconcerts.com and biglavaconcerts.com

Oregon Symphony Quintet Performs at Final Fireside Concert

Five musicians from the Oregon Symphony will come to Sunriver to wrap up another enjoyable Fireside Concert Series presented by the Sunriver Music Festival. Principal bassist Frank Diliberto and his Oregon Symphony colleagues will perform the Schumann Piano Quartet in E-flat and the Schubert Quintet for Piano and Strings, also known as The Trout, at the historic Sunriver Resort Great Hall on Wednesday, May 7.

Joining Diliberto are the Oregon Symphony viola and cello principals, Joel Belgique and Nancy Ives, and the new Oregon Symphony Concertmaster, Jun Iwasaki. Pianist Susan Smith will join the strings to round out the quintet. Diliberto has been coming to Sunriver to be part of the world-class Sunriver Music Festival orchestra for over 20 years. Along with his responsibilities as an orchestra musician, he has had numerous conducting roles. In August, Frank will conduct the Sunriver Music Festival Pops Concert featuring Gershwin and Ellington tunes arranged by his long-time friend and retired Oregon Symphony Pops Conductor, Norman Leydon.

Jun Iwasaki is celebrating his inaugural season as concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony. The 26-year-old violinist, originally from Tokyo, was selected from a national list of prestigious finalists to serve as concertmaster. He served in the same position with the Canton Symphony Orchestra for the last two years and is a recent graduate of Cleveland Institute of Music’s Concertmaster Academy, where he also earned his bachelor’s and master’s of music degrees.

Nancy Ives has been the Principal Cellist of the Oregon Symphony since October 2000. July of 2005 marked Ives’ debut with Chamber Music Northwest and she has played several times for the innovative “Music in Context” series. The May 7 Fireside concert program includes the masterful 1842 writing of Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet, considered one of Schumann’s best chamber pieces and Franz Schubert’s quintet The Trout. The concert is sponsored by long-time Sunriver Music Festival patrons John & Marise Morrow.

Richie Havens in Concert

After being postponed for a European new record release tour, Artbeat brings the legendary singer-songwriter Richie Havens to Bend on Sunday, May 18, for a performance at the elegant Tower Theatre at 7 pm. As Woodstock’s first performer, he held the audience spellbound for nearly three hours, called back for encore after encore. Having run out of tunes, he improvised a song based on the old spiritual Motherless Child that became Freedom, an anthem for a generation.

Havens’ fiery, poignant, always soulful singing style has remained unique and ageless since he first emerged from the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early ‘60s. It’s a voice that has inspired and electrified audiences from the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair in 1969 to the Clinton Presidential Inauguration in 1993 - coming full circle with the 30th Woodstock Anniversary celebration, A Day In The Garden, in 1999. For over three decades, Richie has used his music to convey messages of brotherhood and personal freedom. With more than twenty-five albums released and a touring schedule that would kill many a younger man, he continues to view his calling as a higher one. As he told The Denver Post, “I really sing songs that move me. I’m not in show business, I’m in the communications business. That’s what it’s about for me.”

Keb' Mo' to Perform at Starry Nights

Renowned singer-songwriter and contemporary blues artist Keb’ Mo’ will close the Sisters Starry Nights Benefit Concert Series with a solo set on Saturday, May 10. The Sisters High School Jazz Combo, featuring vocalists from the Americana Project, will open the evening.

A three-time Grammy winner, Mo’ has a distinctive sound that embraces multiple eras and genres, including pop, rock, folk and jazz. In 1994, his debut release Keb’ Mo’ was embraced by the critics and public alike and named one of the five best blues albums of the 1990s by Rolling Stone. His second record, Just Like You, won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

His third album, Slow Down, also won a Grammy, cementing his reputation as a major creative force in contemporary blues. He won his third Grammy in 2005 for the album Keep It Simple and followed it up in 2006 with his most recent release, Suitcase. Sisters Starry Nights performers donate their time to support Sisters schools. Information: 541/549-8521 extension 4007.