Chamber Music Northwest’s Summer Festival
Live classical music and laid-back vibes meet at this annual summer festival.
Oregon Arts Watch
Know Before You Go
The 2020 festival has been canceled. In its place, a free virtual summer festival will take place from June 22–July 26 on www.cmnw.org.
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 June 22–July 26, 2020, with concerts held daily. View their festival catalogue 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
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.
Upcoming Dates & Times
- June 22
- 8pm
- June 23
- 8pm
- June 24
- 8pm
- June 25
- 8pm
- June 26
- 12pm
- June 27
- 8pm
- June 28
- 4pm
- June 29
- 8pm
- June 30
- 8pm
- July 1
- 8pm
- July 2
- 8pm
- July 3
- 12pm
- July 4
- 8pm
- July 5
- 4pm
- July 6
- 8pm
- July 7
- 8pm
- Ongoing More dates & times
Classical Music Concerts
Enjoy classical music at these upcoming performances in Portland.
Oregon Symphony Presents Ravel’s Bolero
The longest crescendo in the repertoire, Ravel’s magnificent Boléro begins at pianissimo and builds up to such astonishing intensity that it brings audiences to their feet every time.
Soovin Kim: Unaccompanied Bach
Join violin virtuoso Soovin Kim – Chamber Music Northwest Artistic Director Designee – for an evening of some of Bach’s most beloved solo works, including the beloved “Chaconne” from Violin Partita No. 2. Presented by Chamber Music Northwest.
Zoë Keating
Cellist and composer Zoë Keating is a one-woman orchestra. She uses a cello and a foot-controlled laptop to record layer upon layer of cello, creating intricate, haunting and compelling music. Zoë is known for both her use of technology – which she uses to sample her cello onstage – and for her DIY approach, releasing…
The Moldau and Water Music
Handel’s joyful Water Music, Smetana’s beloved Vltava (The Moldau), and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ masterful “Sea Symphony” close the Classical Season in a program that celebrates the beauty, power, and mystery of bodies of water the world over.
Chamber Music Northwest Summer Festival
Chamber Music Northwest’s annual summer festival combines high-caliber classical music with a laid-back atmosphere.
Akropolis Reed Quintet with BodyVox: Nineteen Twenty
The Akropolis Reed Quintet – hailed for their “imagination, infallible musicality, and huge vitality” by Fanfare Magazine – and Portland’s own BodyVox contemporary dance company team up again for NINETEENTWENTY, a celebration of the music and dance of the roaring ‘20s. NINETEENTWENTY will be the sixth collaboration between Chamber Music Northwest and BodyVox combining Chamber…