News

"I was blessed with the gift of excessive volume," declares soprano wannabe Florence Foster Jenkins. The portly New York City classical music warbler was also cursed with the gift of, shall we say, unintentional microtonality, as well as a breezy indifferenc...   More

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In a way, last weekend's 24/7 concerts didn't have to say anything about the seven years of continuing American wars they were commemorating. Although it's been used for antisocial ends (think of the Nazis and Wagner), classical music itself is a statement...   More

Arts & Books It was a good week for classical music old and new in Portland, starting with an opera that's never been staged here.
Global warming! Cross dressing! Anti patriarchal feminism! Horny huntresses! Dreadlocks! Girl on girl action! You'd almost think La Calisto was written last week instead of in 1651. Portland Opera's original staging of Francesco Cava...   More

Books Jeff Mapes has good timing. When the veteran Oregonian political reporter began researching his new book on the resurgence of bicycles, he couldn’t have predicted that within months, gas price ...   More

Music Two different musicians and cultures come together for change.
Obo Addy hadn't been in Portland long when, in 1979, he got a call from local jazz master Thara Memory.
The trumpeter/educator had heard about the drummer from a friend who'd played in Addy's band in Ghana, home of the famed master drummers who were celebrated for their incomparably intricate polyrhythmic music.
...   More

Music Stories Obo Addy hadn’t been in Portland long when, in 1979, he got a call from local jazz master Thara Memory. The trumpeter/educator had heard about the drummer from a friend who’d played in Add ...   More

Performance When composer David Bernstein retired after 28 years on the Cleveland State University music faculty and moved to Portland, he encountered three surprises: His new home boasted two veteran chamber ens ...   More

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It took 150 years—that is, a grant tied to the state's sesquicentennial celebrations—but it was gratifying to see a concert featuring only music by contemporary Portland composers. Of course, that happens every night in the state's pop music clubs, and a contempor...   More

Performance Go to any Portland rock club and the chances are you’ll hear a local band playing original music. The same goes for most local art galleries, theaters and dance performances. The idea that local ...   More

Featured Stories Two weeks ago, Oregon Symphony President Elaine Calder took the stage before a rare, near-packed house at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. “How many of you are coming to an Oregon Symphony concert ...   More