For centuries, renowned German composer Johann Sebastian Bach has been inspiring his fellow musicians, from legends like Beethoven and Mozart, right down to Helmuth Rilling.
Rilling, a German conductor, co-founded the Oregon Bach Festival, where he has served as artistic director since its 1970 inception.
OBF, held in Eugene every summer, is an annual tribute to the man widely considered the greatest composer of all time. This year, the festival, which concludes Sunday, featured nearly three weeks of concerts and an international army of performers.
Some of the hundreds of artists involved are Romanian opera sensation Roxana Constantinescu and The 5 Browns, a set of piano-playing siblings from Utah. Others included leading violinist Midori of Japan and Arizona organist Kimberly Marshall, among others, including Rilling himself, as well as some University students.
“This year for the opening and closing concerts, they’re using a larger choir than is the norm and we do have a number of students participating,” said Brad Foley, dean of the School of Music and Dance, adding that singers sent pre-recorded auditions from all over the country.
In addition to the concerts, OBF includes master classes, offering students from New Mexico to New Zealand advanced training in both choral and orchestral conducting.
Originally held in Beall Music Hall as an outgrowth of the School of Music, OBF has since expanded beyond the University. While some concerts still take place in Beall – though not this year, because of construction in the building – many of the events are held downtown in the Hult Center for the Performing Arts.
“Beall Hall only seats 540 people and the stage can only fit one full orchestra, but not the chorus,” Foley said. On the flip side, Silva Concert Hall, the largest of the Hult Center’s in-house venues, has enough seats to accommodate 2,500 people.
“Over the years, OBF has really grown a lot,” Foley said. “What started as a seven-day workshop has grown into this internationally-renowned festival.”
Attracting an annual audience from all over the United States and the world, OBF brings a tourism boom to Eugene each summer and generates millions of dollars for the local economy. Of the estimated 32,000 festival-goers, roughly one quarter come from out of town.
While it’s too soon for anyone to know the exact figures for this year, OBF Communications Director George Evano said the festival’s indirect economic impact during recent years has amounted to approximately $6 million.
Indirect economic impact, in addition to the sales from OBF tickets and merchandise, accounts for money spent on things like food and accommodations. While the number of tourists is a factor, so is the festival’s length.
“A lot of people involved become Eugene residents for that chunk of time,” Evano said. “They stay in hotels here, they eat at restaurants here, they shop here, they go to touristy attractions here. It creates good business.”
Several lodging options are recommended on the festival’s Web site, ranging from the Excelsior Inn, where each of the 14 rooms is named after famous classical composers, to the Eugene Hilton & Conference Center.
With 274 rooms, the Eugene Hilton is the area’s largest hotel. It’s also right across the street from the Hult Center, making it a popular place to stay for OBF tourists.
Eugene Hilton General Manager Jody Hall estimated that each night during the festival an average of 10 to 15 rooms more than usual were checked out.
“We’re a big business travelers hotel, so there are always people here,” Hall said, “But you can see the change on (the festival’s) peak nights.”
Hall said that OBF is not only good for his hotel, but his city, providing a level of culture not always available in a city Eugene’s size.
Foley added the festival is also good for the University.
“It’s a really high-quality, high-level festival and has helped put the University and its music community on the international map,” he said. “It certainly gives added visibility to our music school for being involved, but I think it gives prestige to the entire University for having this world-class program.”