Mark Perlman’s tenure as Music Director and Conductor of the Willamette Falls Symphony is a continuing reflection of his commitment to community concert music for both the present and future generations.  As he says, “Music is the first art practiced at the earliest age.  We start by singing aloud in our cradles, then imitating the rhythms around us.  My goal is to strengthen and prolong this basic response to life.”

His educational background, technical expertise, and performance experience in both classical music and jazz have enabled Dr. Perlman to bring a broad range of qualifications to conducting.  He has combined an interest in philosophy, leading to a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona and an Associate Professorship at Western Oregon University, with a natural musical talent for the double bass. He studied in Munich, Germany for a year, and traveled Europe to hear every major European orchestra, and he has become an expert in historical orchestral recordings. The result is an unusual depth of perception and performance.  His flair for presentation was definitely illustrated in a series of educational radio broadcasts he made in Scottsdale, Arizona as well as in his work as an announcer for a weekly classical radio show in Ohio early in his career.

Last season’s programming and performance of various dance forms using actual dancers was very well received, as were his costumes in the

Halloween concert two years ago.  In 2003 and 2007 he was featured as narrator of poems accompanying Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with the Salem Chamber Orchestra.

Dr. Perlman has long experience in the jazz medium and has performed locally.  In addition to conducting the Willamette Falls Symphony since 2001, he is currently the Associate Conductor for the Hillsboro Symphony. He has also conducted other orchestras in the Portland area as well as in Arizona, Ohio, and Germany. In the last two years he conducted orchestras in Russia, Romania, and Bulgaria.

In 2005 he conducted the world premiere of Michael Landers’ tone poem On the Morning of 9-11.  In the 2003-2004 season he conducted the Oregon premiere of Daniel Bukvich’s From the Journals of Lewis and Clark, and the second performance ever of Eric Ewazen’s Cascadian Concerto for Wind Quintet and Orchestra. He also conducted a recording in 1997 for CD of the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Scottsdale Symphony and pianist Nicholas Carey. In February 2007, he led the Willamette Falls Symphony and Portland Mormon Choir is a very successful concert of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Photos by Eric Tishkoff

Taken February 10, 2007

Beethoven 9th Symphony Concert