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a quartet of string musicians wearing white tuxedos a quartet of string musicians wearing white tuxedos
Portland Events / Summer in Portland

Chamber Music Northwest’s Summer Festival

Live classical music and laid-back vibes meet at this annual summer festival.

Editor's Pick
Updated June 2, 2022 1 min read

Oregon Arts Watch

Editor's Pick
This is a recurring event and we’re showing the details from its most recent past occurrence. We’ll update this page with future event info as soon as we get it. Please check back!
When
June 25–Aug. 5, 2022
Days vary, Times vary
Cost: Cost Varies
Where
Various

Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) manages an unusual combination: classical music played by musicians of the highest caliber in an informal, intimate setting. Since 1971, chamber musicians have flocked to Southeast Portland’s Reed College to play the great classic repertoire with their friends. Music fans share picnics and wine on the campus lawn before heading indoors to hear the sublime music.

Returning annually, the festival is one of Portland’s rites of summer. The festival returns Thursday, July 1 – Sunday, July 25, 2021, with concerts held daily. View their festival concert guide for a full lineup of events. (CMNW also produces a shorter winter festival in January, but picnics on the lawns of Reed College aren’t involved.)

Classical Music in Portland

Classical music in Portland isn't just the classics. Classical musicians offer new and innovative works, and an ongoing lineup of inspiring performances, from timeless works to modern interpretations.

Read more

History of CMNW Summer Festival

The festival was created by violinist Sergiu Luca, who served as artistic director until 1981, when he was replaced by clarinetist David Shifrin. Prior to becoming a professor of music at Yale University and artistic director of the Chamber Music Society at Yale series, Shifrin was artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from 1992 to 2004. Those connections have kept the pipeline of excellent musicians flowing to Portland, summer after summer. These include young musicians and ensembles chosen for the Protégé Project, who receive coaching from great musicians before rehearsing and performing with them at the festival.

Over the years, the summer festival has evolved, spreading out from its Reed College base to clubs and concert halls across the city. The music has changed, too, extending to include music from the 20th and 21st centuries, exploring musical Americana like classic jazz standards from artists like Dizzy Gillespie and a composer’s take on 1960s rock-n-roll fantasy.

Festivals, Music, Summer

Classical Music Concerts

Enjoy classical music at these upcoming performances in Portland.

Full Calendar
Editor's Pick
William Byrd Festival
Aug. 5–21, 2022

William Byrd Festival

Various locations Cost Varies

Every August, some of Oregon’s finest choral singers convene to perform the stirring music of England’s greatest Renaissance composer, Shakespeare contemporary William Byrd. The 2022 William Byrd Festival will be taking place from August 5 through August 21. This year’s festival will revolve around the music of Thomas Tallis, featuring Tallis’s seven-voice Mass Puer natus…

Editor's Pick
Festival
Music
Opera a la Cart at Sunday Parkways East Portland
Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022

Opera a la Cart at Sunday Parkways East Portland

East Portland Free

Inspired by Portland’s food cart culture, Opera a la Cart is a mobile performance venue that brings live opera performances directly into the community spaces where people gather. Designed and built by architecture students at Portland State University, the cart features a fold-out stage and a “menu” of operatic specials of the day to be…

Music
Outdoors
Opera a la Cart at Caruthers Park, South Waterfront
Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022

Opera a la Cart at Caruthers Park, South Waterfront

Caruthers Park Free

Inspired by Portland’s food cart culture, Opera a la Cart is a mobile performance venue that brings live opera performances directly into the community spaces where people gather. Designed and built by architecture students at Portland State University, the cart features a fold-out stage and a “menu” of operatic specials of the day to be…

Music
Outdoors
Ravel’s Boléro and Violinist Augustin Hadelich
Oct. 8–10, 2022

Ravel’s Boléro and Violinist Augustin Hadelich

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25+

In a program inspired by the dynamism of dance, Ravel’s sensuous Boléro offers a kaleidoscope of orchestral color, ending with a feverish intensity sure to bring audiences to their feet. Also, Grammy Award–winning violinist Augustin Hadelich performs Donnacha Dennehy’s Violin Concerto, whose central movement explores transcending life under lockdown.

Music
Performing Arts
Strauss and Nielsen
Oct. 22–24, 2022

Strauss and Nielsen

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

STRAUSS and NIELSEN: HOPE AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT Music Director Laureate Carlos Kalmar leads a program exploring the invincibility of the human spirit. Strauss’s songs of farewell, with their radiant lyricism, offer hope and solace in the autumn of life. At the same time, Nielsen’s thrilling Fourth Symphony looks to transcend the anguish of World…

Music
Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony
Nov. 5–7, 2022

Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25.00 +

Showcasing the vast expressive range of the classical orchestra, Beethoven’s “Eroica” celebrates the power of the human spirit in times of conflict and intolerance. And Creative Chair Gabriel Kahane’s The Right to Be Forgotten explores our digital world, questioning ideas of convenience, privacy, free will, and democracy in the internet era. Program Lera Auerbach: Requiem…

Music
Portland Opera presents Bizet's CARMEN
Nov. 5–13, 2022

Portland Opera presents Bizet's CARMEN

Keller Auditorium $35 +

Seville, Spain: Carmen is a factory worker, free spirit, and the toast of the town. She is brave, beautiful, and independent. She does what she wants. She falls in and out of love. Then, her obsessed ex violently and tragically rejects her choice to move on. With melodic gems like the Habanera and the Toreador…

Music
Performing Arts
The Magic of Mozart
Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022

The Magic of Mozart

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $11 +

A mischievous street musician is given the chance to “be Mozart” in this imaginative concert. Tag along with us and experience the adventures of the legendary composer, with music from The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, and the “Jupiter” Symphony. ARTISTS TBA, Conductor Magic Circle Mime, Guest Artist Dance West Pacific Youth Choir Pam Mahon, Narrator…

For Kids
Music
Ravel and More with the Oregon Symphony
Nov. 19–21, 2022

Ravel and More with the Oregon Symphony

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

Principal Guest Conductor Jun Märkl explores the interplay of memory and music in poignant works by Ravel and Dutilleux that trace the devastating impact of two world wars on European culture. Concertmaster Sarah Kwak performs Prokofiev’s shimmering, dreamlike Violin Concerto No. 1, which contrasts fairytale lightness with brazen savagery. Program Dutilleux: The Shadows of Time…

Music
Bugs Bunny At The Symphony
Nov. 26–27, 2022

Bugs Bunny At The Symphony

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

Warner Bros. presents Bugs Bunny At The Symphony 30th Anniversary Edition Combining more than a dozen iconic Looney Tunes projected on the big screen while the Oregon Symphony plays their classical music-infused original scores live, Bugs Bunny At The Symphony features beloved favorites like What’s Opera, Doc?, The Rabbit of Seville, Baton Bunny, Corny Concerto,…

Film
Music
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2
Dec. 3–5, 2022

Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Pianist Kirill Gerstein Renowned pianist Kirill Gerstein brings his “intelligent and virtuosic music-making” (Observer) to Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto, a work of soulful melodies and technical fireworks. Framing the program are Tania León’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Stride, an homage to the profound legacy of Susan B. Anthony, and Prokofiev’s nostalgic…

Music
Vivaldi's Four Seasons
Friday, Dec. 30, 2022

Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $29 +

From festive birdsong and thunderstorms to harvest celebrations and tranquil snowfall, Vivaldi’s wildly popular Four Seasons represents Baroque music at its most cinematic. Also on the program, the drama and explosive energy of Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite. Program Vivaldi: Four Seasons Bizet/Schedrin: Carmen Suite Artists TBA, Conductor SooBeen Lee, Violin Oregon Symphony

Music
Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony
Jan. 14–16, 2023

Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

A masterwork of rich melody and tender romanticism, Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony contains some of the composer’s most introspective, heartfelt music. Marin Alsop conducts this audience favorite along with Bernstein’s rowdy Candide Overture and the US premiere of a new concerto for cellist Inbal Segev from Grammy-nominated composer Vijay Iyer. Program Bernstein: Overture to Candide Vijay…

Music
Itzhak Perlman
Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023

Itzhak Perlman

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $49.00 +

With the Oregon Symphony Itzhak Perlman, 16-time Grammy Award winner and reigning virtuoso of the violin, returns for a refined program of classical favorites. The evening also features a suite of orchestral highlights from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet, including the iconic “Fight Scene.”

Music
Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony
Jan. 28–30, 2023

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and Violinist Vadim Gluzman 1/28An emotional journey rife with brilliant melody, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony is a triumphant reflection on the composer’s struggle with fate. Also, Nordic splendor takes center stage in Sibelius’s patriotic Finlandia and the US premiere of Erkki-Sven Tüür’s latest violin concerto performed by Vadim Gluzman, “one of today’s top…

Music
Emanuel Ax Plays Beethoven
Feb. 4–6, 2023

Emanuel Ax Plays Beethoven

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

Experience Emanuel Ax’s unsurpassed virtuosity in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, presented alongside the composer’s Second Symphony — two early works that find the German master honing his revolutionary musical voice. And Unsuk Chin’s Subito con forza pays homage to Beethoven and the relentless energy that is the hallmark of his music. Program Unsuk Chin: Subito…

Music
Concerto Spectacular with the Oregon Symphony
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023

Concerto Spectacular with the Oregon Symphony

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $29 +

See some of your favorite Oregon Symphony musicians as they share the spotlight in a marathon of virtuosic concertos spanning four centuries — from Haydn’s spirited Trumpet Concerto and Saint-Saëns’s lushly romantic First Cello Concerto to Copland’s jazz-infused Clarinet Concerto and Andy Akiho’s Seven Pillars for percussion quartet. Program Wolf-Ferrari: Overture to The Secret of…

Music
Carmina Burana
Feb. 25–27, 2023

Carmina Burana

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

With the ferocious roar of its unforgettable opening, Carl Orff’s exhilarating Carmina Burana has become a cultural phenomenon, arresting audiences with its bawdy celebration of life, love, and renewal. Opening the program is Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler Symphony, its three movements inspired by paintings from Matthais Grünewald’s Isenheim altarpiece. PROGRAM Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler:…

Music
Music of (In)Tolerance: from Mendelssohn to Wagner
Mar. 11–13, 2023

Music of (In)Tolerance: from Mendelssohn to Wagner

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

Ideas of oppression and resilience are woven throughout Wagner’s rarely heard Rienzi Overture and Mendelssohn’s monumental “Reformation” Symphony, a heartfelt work inspired by the composer’s Protestant faith. Visionary pianist-composer Gabriela Montero showcases her astonishing powers in Babel, a portrait of her experience as a human rights activist. PROGRAM Wagner: Overture to Rienzi Gabriela Montero: Babel…

Music
Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto
Mar. 25–27, 2023

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

A “once in a lifetime” talent (Toronto Star), violinist Blake Pouliot brings his signature vigor to Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, one of the most dazzling showpieces for the instrument. Zemlinsky’s richly orchestrated The Mermaid is a probing psychological work of love lost, written after the composer’s own experience of devastating heartbreak. Program Brahms: Academic Festival Overture…

Music
Peter & the Wolf
Sunday, Apr. 16, 2023

Peter & the Wolf

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $11 +

Prokofiev’s enchanting children’s work for narrator and orchestra is both a fable about a headstrong boy and, cleverly, an introduction to the instruments of the orchestra. Artists TBA, Conductor Dance West Pacific Youth Choir Pam Mahon, Narrator Oregon Symphony

For Kids
Music
Mahler's Symphony No. 4
Apr. 22–24, 2023

Mahler's Symphony No. 4

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

Music Director David Danzmayr leads Mahler’s sunny Fourth Symphony, with its curious sleigh bells, puckish woodwinds, and a moving finale that imagines a child’s awe-inspiring vision of Heaven. Swedish soprano Camilla Tilling enchants with the “purity of her sound” (Gramophone) in both the Mahler and Osvaldo Golijov’s tender, tragic Three Songs. Program Osvaldo Golijov: Three…

Music
Portland Opera presents Dvořák's RUSALKA
Apr. 22–30, 2023

Portland Opera presents Dvořák's RUSALKA

Keller Auditorium $35+

In this centuries-old folktale with roots in Slavic mythology, a water nymph falls in love with a prince. With the help of the moon and a witch, she defies her father’s advice-giving up her home and voice to win the prince’s love on dry land. When it doesn’t go as planned, the regretful prince seeks…

Music
Performing Arts
Music of Steel & Majesty
Apr. 29–May 1, 2023

Music of Steel & Majesty

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

Be transported by the silvery sounds of the steel pan as Grammy-nominated composer and percussionist Andy Akiho performs Beneath Lighted Coffers, inspired by the architecture of the Roman Pantheon. Hailed by Schumann as “sheer musical mastery,” Schubert’s Ninth Symphony is the composer’s most exuberant, expansive symphonic statement. PROGRAM Andy Akiho: Beneath Lighted Coffers Schubert: Symphony…

Music
Classical Gershwin with the Oregon Symphony
May 13–15, 2023

Classical Gershwin with the Oregon Symphony

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

Steeped in jazz, blues, and ragtime, Gershwin’s Concerto in F Major is a quintessentially American take on the classical concerto, making it the perfect vehicle for the dynamic pianist Aaron Diehl. Shostakovich’s brooding, deeply personal Tenth Symphony pursues great extremes in emotion and orchestral color, from wistful wind solos to menacing marches. PROGRAM Unsuk Chin:…

Music
Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite
May 20–22, 2023

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite and Violinist Simone Lamsma Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is a masterful marriage of melody and movement, a timeless tale of love and transformation. Artist-in-Residence Simone Lamsma joins the Symphony for Barber’s sublimely romantic Violin Concerto, while composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s Concertino Cusqueño is a vibrant celebration of her Peruvian heritage. PROGRAM Gabriela…

Music
Holst’s The Planets
June 3–5, 2023

Holst’s The Planets

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

A triumph of orchestration, Holst’s The Planets conjures vivid portrayals of the mythological deities associated with our solar system, from Mars’ drums of war to Neptune’s ethereal mysticism. Plus, bassist and Creative Alliance member Xavier Foley brings consummate versatility to the stage, performing his For Justice and Peace, a powerful meditation on the legacy of…

Music
 Mahler’s Symphony No. 5
June 10–12, 2023

Mahler’s Symphony No. 5

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall $25 +

The season concludes with Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a work of vast emotional scope that moves from grief to jubilation and includes the composer’s famous Adagietto — a love song to his future wife, Alma, tenderly scored for strings and harp. Principal Flute Martha Long brings sparkling grace to Mozart’s playful Flute Concerto in G Major….

Music

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