News Mayor Charlie Hales' budget included a sour note for the Oregon Symphony—there's no money for its annual waterfront concert.The free annual concert at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park, sponsored by the city and the launch of the symphony's season, was set for Aug. 29. Last year's program included both the Portland Youth Philharmonic Program and the Oregon Symphony, and included performances of works ...   More

Arts & Books 
More than almost any other single figure, long-time Oregon Symphony music director James DePreist, who died Friday in Scottsdale, Ariz. from complications following open heart surgery last spring, helped vault the state's major music institution to national prominence. He was 76.

During the years he led the orchestra, from 1980 to 2003, DePreist helped transform the OSO from a minor regional ...   More

Murmurs It’s rare for charitable groups to make political contributions—federal law discourages them from converting donations (deductible to the giver) into political cash. But a couple of local 50   More

Cover Story Fall is the snootiest season. In summer, Portlanders drink cheap red wine in the park while watching Top Gun on an inflatable screen or take their kids to...   More

Arts & Books Stories It’s just after noon on a gorgeous late summer Friday at Pioneer Courthouse Square, and one of the best and most versatile violinists on the West Coast is getting ready to do some busking. Dre   More

Arts & Books The Oregon Symphony hasn't even completed its historic first performance at Carnegie Hall this May—but it's already going again in 2013. The orchestra announced Wednesday that it had been chosen to participate in the first and third Spring for Music gatherings that include other worthy North American orchestras from Baltimore, Albany, Cincinnati and elsewhere. "To be invited twice is clear proof ...   More

News Oregon Symphony's music director, Carlos Kalmar, adroitly conducts a program that spans old and contemporary masterpieces. The orchestra captures the grace and spirit of the dances in Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 4. The symphony's premiere of Bernstein's dramatic 1949 Symphony No. 2 was lively, and Russian-American pianist Kirill Gerstein, who at fourteen was the youngest student at Berklee College ...   More