 |
Michael Allen Harrison | |
|---|---|
 Harrison in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Portland, Oregon United States |
| Genres | New-age |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Piano, Keyboards |
| Years active | 1986 – current |
| Labels | MAH records |
| Website | Official website |
Michael Allen Harrison is an American new-age musician, songwriter and pianist from Portland, Oregon.
Michael started playing the piano at age six. He was prompted by his mother, who thought that playing the piano would help the young Michael to overcome his shyness. [1] Michael attended Parkrose High School in northeast Portland. [East Portland News 1] He released his first commercially available album, "Tea Court Interlude" in 1986.
Harrison performed at the United Nations in 1999, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Israel's independence. Notables for whom he has performed include Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and the 14th Dalai Lama. He premiered his children's ballet "The Velveteen Rabbit" with the Vancouver Dance Theater in 1991. He also co-wrote the music for the musical "Prometheus", which was premiered in Portland, Oregon. [2] Michael is the owner of MAH records, on which he has recorded and produced over 50 of his own albums within the 25-year-long lifespan of his career. He recorded and performed with Katie Harman, and has recorded and performed with local notable musicians which include Tom Grant, Julianne Johnson, and Patrick Lamb. [3]
Michael is the founder and president of the Snowman Foundation. The Snowman Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating and providing services for music education. By way of funding this non-profit, Michael organized the Ten Grands concert series, which is presented annually at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon. [4] [5]
In 2018, the Ten Grands concert was played at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro, OR.
On MAH Records
"Mah Nà Mah Nà" is a popular song by Italian composer Piero Umiliani. It originally appeared in the Italian film Sweden: Heaven and Hell. It was a minor radio hit in the United States and in Britain, but became better known internationally for its use by The Muppets and on The Benny Hill Show.
The Firebird is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who collaborated with Alexandre Benois on a scenario based on the Russian fairy tales of the Firebird and the blessing and curse it possesses for its owner. It was first performed at the Opéra de Paris on 25 June 1910 and was an immediate success, catapulting Stravinsky to international fame. Although designed as a work for the stage, with specific passages accompanying characters and action, the music achieved equal if not greater recognition as a concert piece.
Lori Singer is an American actress and musician. The daughter of conductor Jacques Singer, she was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and raised in Portland, Oregon, where her father served as the lead conductor of the Oregon Symphony from 1962 to 1972. Singer was a musical prodigy, making her debut as a cellist with the Oregon Symphony at thirteen, and was subsequently accepted to the Juilliard School, where she became the institution's youngest graduate.
Pink Martini is a band that was formed in 1994 by pianist Thomas Lauderdale in Portland, Oregon. Group members call it a little orchestra that crosses several styles, such as classical, traditional pop, latin and jazz. The co-lead vocalists of Pink Martini are China Forbes and Storm Large.
"Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film The Snowman based on Raymond Briggs' 1978 children's book of the same name. The song forms the centrepiece of The Snowman, which has become a seasonal favourite on British and Finnish television. The story relates the fleeting adventures of a young boy and a snowman who has come to life. In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to the North Pole. "Walking in the Air" is the theme for the journey. They attend a party of snowmen, at which the boy seems to be the only human until they meet Father Christmas with his reindeer, and the boy is given a scarf with a snowman pattern. In the film, the song was performed by St Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty, and reissued in 1985 and 1987.
Thomas Mack Lauderdale is an American musician, largely known for his work with the Portland-based band Pink Martini.
Howard David Blake is an English composer, conductor, and pianist whose career has spanned more than 50 years and produced more than 650 works. Blake's most successful work is his soundtrack for Channel 4’s 1982 film The Snowman, which includes the song "Walking in the Air". He is increasingly recognised for his classical works including concertos, oratorios, ballets, operas and many instrumental pieces.
The Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP) is the oldest youth orchestra in the United States, established in 1924 as the Portland Junior Symphony (PJS). Now based in Portland, Oregon, the orchestra's origin dates back to 1910, when music teacher Mary V. Dodge began playing music for local children in Burns, Oregon. Dodge purchased instruments for the children and organized the orchestra, which would become known as the Sagebrush Symphony Orchestra. After touring the state, including a performance at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, the orchestra disbanded in 1918 when Dodge moved to Portland. There, Dodge opened a violin school and became music director of the Irvington School Orchestra.
Eugene Concert Choir is a choral masterworks organization in Eugene, Oregon, that consists of three performing ensembles: the 100-voice Eugene Concert Choir (ECC), the 36-voice chamber choir Eugene Vocal Arts (EVA), and the associated professional chamber orchestra Eugene Concert Orchestra.
Artists Repertory Theatre is a professional non-profit theatre located in Portland, Oregon, United States. The longest-running professional theatre company in Portland, since 1982 the company has focused on presenting the works of contemporary playwrights, including world premieres.
Diane Birch is an American singer-songwriter.
Parkrose High School is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is the only high school in the Parkrose School District.
The Oregon Repertory Singers (ORS) is a mixed vocal ensemble in Portland, Oregon, founded in 1974. The choir performs a wide range of works from all time periods and languages, although over the years a special emphasis has been placed on contemporary music of the Americas.
Huw Edwards is a Welsh conductor. Edwards' conducting career began at age seventeen when he became music director of the Maidstone Opera Company in England. He later attended the University of Surrey, where he conducted the college orchestra along with an ensemble that he formed himself. At age twenty-three, he won a conducting competition which sent him to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He then held a lecturer position at Northwestern University in Chicago, where he was also a doctoral candidate. Edwards was conductor and music director of the Portland Youth Philharmonic from 1995 to 2002 followed by the Seattle Youth Symphony from 2002 to 2005. He served as music director of the Portland Columbia Symphony from 2000 to 2012 and with the Olympia Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2020.
Ronn McFarlane is an American lutenist and composer, most notable as an interpreter of Renaissance music. He formerly taught lute at the Peabody Conservatory, and has recorded many albums as a solo performer and in collaboration with others, including the groups Ayreheart and The Baltimore Consort, and as a guest artist for countless other groups. He resides in Portland, Oregon, and continues to perform and compose to this day.
Kenji Bunch is an American composer and violist living in Portland, Oregon. Bunch currently serves as the artistic director of Fear No Music and teaches at Portland State University, Reed College, and for the Portland Youth Philharmonic.
This England is a classical music album by the Oregon Symphony under the artistic direction of Carlos Kalmar, released by Dutch record label PentaTone Classics in November 2012. The album was recorded at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon, at five performances in February and May 2012. It contains works by three English 20th-century composers: Edward Elgar's Cockaigne , Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 5, and "Four Sea Interludes" and "Passacaglia" from Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes. The recording was the orchestra's second under Kalmar's leadership, following Music for a Time of War (2011), which also included works by Britten and Vaughan Williams. This England received positive critical reception but failed to chart.
Spirit of the American Range is a classical music album by the Oregon Symphony under the artistic direction of Carlos Kalmar, released by Dutch record label Pentatone on February 10, 2015. The album was recorded at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon in April 2013 and January 2014. It contains works by three American 20th-century composers: Walter Piston's ballet suite from The Incredible Flutist, George Antheil's "A Jazz Symphony", and Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3. The recording was the third by the orchestra under Kalmar's leadership, following the highly successful Music for a Time of War (2011) and This England (2012). Spirit of the American Range received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Orchestral Performance, and its producer, Blanton Alspaugh, was nominated for Producer of the Year, Classical.
Terry Robb is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist, composer, arranger and record producer living in the United States. He plays electric and acoustic guitar, and is associated with the American Primitive Guitar genre through his collaboration with steel string guitarist John Fahey. He is a member of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame and Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame, and was honored with the eponymous "Terry Robb" Muddy Award for Best Acoustic Guitar in 2011. His original compositions draw on the Delta blues, ragtime, folk music, country music and jazz traditions.
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
| Other | |
