Chamber music inspiring 30,000 people in Portland

Chamber Music Northwest’s mission is to inspire our community through concerts and events celebrating the richness and diversity of chamber music, performed by artists of the highest caliber, presenting our community with exceptional opportunities for enjoyment, education, and reflection. 

Our 2024/25 Season holds true to this mission through exemplary performances, community activities, educational programs, and much more. Though the past few years have been difficult for arts organizations across the board, we are grateful to be part of a community that values beauty and expression, discovery and creativity, dedication and inspiration. Our supporters through GlobalGiving enable us to invest in artists and the great music they make because it represents the best of who we are and what we can do!

KICKING OFF OUR 2024/25 CONCERT SEASON
Our 55th Season opened with a special concert featuring our beloved Artistic Director Emeritus David Shifrin, joined by current CMNW Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim performing their favorite duo and trio works. The vibrant evening included Brahms’s gorgeous Clarinet Sonata No. 2, an abbreviated version of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, a soaring interpretation of Ravel’s violin sonata, and Bartók’s thrilling Contrasts.

In October, we welcomed Britain's best baritone, Rodrich Williams OBE, who guided audiences through a powerfully moving evening of Schubert’s full Schwanengesang (Swan Song) cycle. Joining him was Tigard-grown pianist Myra Huang who returned to Portland for this special appearance. We were also fortunate to have Williams conduct a vocal masterclass at Lincoln Hall through our Educational and Community Engagement program (more details below). 

We closed out 2024 with an incredible performance by the two-time Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet, named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine. Attendees were blown away by their masterful performances of Mendelssohn and Dvorák string quartets. The highlight of the evening, however, was the Pacific Northwest premiere of a new CMNW co-commissioned work by Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. The piece, titled Abokkoli' Taloowa (Woodland Songs), exemplified CMNW’s commitment to support exciting new compositions that are vital, fresh and relevant—presenting artists from diverse musical and cultural backgrounds.

EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT UPDATES
Chamber Music Northwest provides our education programs for FREE and prioritizes working with traditionally underserved communities—because everyone deserves a well-rounded education. In our annual Education & Community Engagement Report, we were proud to share:

• 6,391 People Served
• 77 FREE Community & Education Events
• 58,279 Virtual Masterclass Library Views
• 58 Radio Broadcasts with All Classical & American Public Radio
• 52,926,800 Listeners 

Some of our recent community events include: 

Vocal Masterclass with Roderick Williams
Eighty people attended this free class at Lincoln Hall, which featured students from Portland State University and Lewis and Clark College's Vocal Departments. The class brought smiles to the students' faces, laughter among audience members, and a warm and welcoming learning environment for everyone involved. You can now find the full masterclass online for FREE through CMNW’s Masterclass Library. 

Akropolis Reed Quintet Community Concert at Tualatin Library
Akropolis Reed Quintet has a long-standing relationship with Chamber Music Northwest.  The ensemble was part of CMNW's Protégé Project in 2015 and later returned for collaborative performances with BodyVox in 2022 at the (then brand new) Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, in Beaverton. They brought joy and beautiful music to the more than 120 people that joined us for a Community Concert at Tualatin Public Library. The audience was a lovely mixture of new faces, families with kids, and friends of the artists and CMNW. This performance was made even more special as the ensemble was nominated for their first Grammy the evening before!

Thanks to donor support, we will produce over 100 concerts and free Education and Community Engagement events in 2025, touching the lives of nearly 20,000 people. That’s a big win for us all!

LOOKING FORWARD
Our 2024/25 season continues to bring the best-of-the-best chamber musicians in the world to Portland!

• February 6—David Finckel & Wu Han: Russian Revelry @ The Old Church
• February 27—Hagen Quartet: Pinnacle of Musicality @ The Old Church
• March 13—Peter and the Wolf with Windsync @ Beaverton City Library
• March 15—Peter and the Wolf with Windsync @ Powell’s Books
• April 3—Soovin Kim: Bach’s Tremendous Technique and Style | Part 1 @ The Old Church 
• April 5—Soovin Kim: Bach’s Melodic & Harmonic Brilliance | Part 2 @ The Old Church
• May 31—Lost Freedom: A Memory with George Takei, featuring music by Kenji Bunch and Andy Akiho @ Portland Japanese Garden 

We will also soon announce our 2025 Summer Festival programming with five weeks of music that bring audiences together to experience some of the finest musicians in the world performing the intimate and exhilarating chamber music we love.

Thank you so much to our GlobalGiving donors for their continued support of our mission, helping us to share music and education programs locally in Oregon and across the globe.

Links:

• Chamber Music Northwest Masterclass Library
• Chamber Music Northwest 2024/25 Season

• CMNW 2023-24 Education & Community Engagement (PDF)
  
• CMNW 2023-24 Annual Report (PDF)
  

Chamber Music Northwest’s (CMNW) fiscal year ends September 30, 2024, wrapping up our 54th season of sharing intimate, exceptional chamber concerts with our community. We also anticipate being able to report our 44th consecutive year operating with a balanced budget thanks to our highly engaged Board of Directors, responsible management, and our generous and supportive community - thank you! Despite increasing production costs due to inflation, CMNW continues to innovate, expand our programming, and serve our community’s need for beauty and connection in the concert hall and at dozens of free community concerts and engagement events. 

2023/24 Season By the Numbers:

•  17,119 total people served
• Additional 51.7 million broadcast listeners
• 122 wonderful volunteers contributed 1,609 hours of service
• 33 Mainstage concerts
• 7 At-Home online programs
• 7 Benefit concerts
• 20 Education events
• 57 Free community performances and events

Since our last update, CMNW held the 2024 Summer Festival: five weeks of dynamic programs featuring world-renowned musicians and rising stars. We performed concerts at five different venues throughout the greater Portland metro area, increasing accessibility and dispersing the positive economic impact our live performances have on the region. 

2024 Summer Festival: June 27-July 28                  
Our 54th annual Summer Festival celebrated the musical legacy of Ludwig von Beethoven, exploring his profound influence and revolutionary impact on sound, music’s emotional impact, the power of the piano, and the soaring virtuosity he demands of musicians. We enjoyed some of Beethoven's best, from a new chamber arrangement of his complete Second Symphony and still-modern Grosse Fuge to his passionate Kreutzer Sonata and gorgeous Piano Quintet and Septet for Winds and Strings. At the same time, we explored how his innovations influenced every composer afterward, including Ravel, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Bernstein, Bartók, Grieg, Ligeti, and more – including today’s composers. For the summer festival, we welcomed back longtime favorite artists, such as David Shifrin, clarinet, Paul Neubauer, viola, Paul Watkins, cello, and Sandbox Percussion. We also introduced our summer audiences to sensational international artists, including oboist Frank Rosenwein, horn master Radovan Vlatkovic, the phenomenal German composer/clarinetist/conductor Jörg Widmann, as well as our talented Protégé Project artists. 

Highlights:

FIVE World Premieres of CMNW commissions from luminary composers John Luther Adams, Marc Neikrug, Joan Tower, Jörg Widmann, and revolutionary young composer Kyle Rivera.

FOUR New@Night concerts of contemporary music in an informal setting, featuring pre-concert conversation and post-concert hang-outs with musicians, encouraging interaction between audience, artists, and composers.

THREE Spotlight Recitals featuring our astounding Protégé Artists: bassist Nina Bernat, pianist Chloe Mun, violinist Claire Wells, and the Opus13 Quartet. The Protégé Project will be celebrating 15 years next season, residencies for early-career chamber musicians that provide meaningful professional experience at a critical time in their career trajectory.

THREE Young Artist Institute Free Concerts, featuring 15 of the most exciting youth string players from across the nation and the globe, who were with us for the third year of this intensive three-week mentorship and performance program.

By the Numbers: Summer Festival

• 21 Concerts: 6,998 audience members
• 7 At-Home Concerts 699 viewers and counting
• 3 Benefit Concerts 200+ audience members
• 45 Educational & Community Events 3,899 young people & adults served

Education and Community Engagement    

This year, CMNW served more than 2,200 young people with educational programs that reach every corner of our region, from Newberg to North Portland and Hillsboro to East County. Events included many school and community organization visits by the Catalyst Quartet, Imani Winds, WindSync, Lyon/Sasaki Duo, and Protégé Alumna Anna Lee.

This year, we offered seven masterclasses taught by world-class artists: Anna Lee and Jennifer Frautschi (violin), Paul Neubauer (viola), Catalyst Quartet, Sandbox Percussion, Radovan Vlatkovic (horn), and Kyle Rivera (composition). Masterclasses are recorded and added to our growing online resource library and have been enjoyed by more than 56,000 viewers in the past year.

In its third year, the Young Artist Institute (YA) brought 15 of the world’s most promising string players and two collaborative pianists to Portland for three weeks of private lessons with a unique focus on solo and chamber ensemble playing. YAI is unique among summer music programs, offering extraordinary one-on-one coaching time, many opportunities for public performance, masterclasses with world-class musicians, and access to festival concerts and events that provide a first-hand experience of the life of a professional musician, including audience and donor interaction. Thanks to donor contributions, YAI is also free for participating students.

Prelude performances featured the students of our Young Artist Institute, PSU’s Allida Jazz Duo, Portland Saxophone Ensemble, Pacific Rose Ensemble, and student musicians from throughout the region, including the University of Oregon and Cognizart.

By the Numbers: Education & Community Engagement

• 78 Free Events 6,327 people served
• Online Masterclass Library was viewed 58,000 times and counting
• 16 Pop-up performances throughout the Portland metro area
• 15 Prelude concerts featuring student ensembles
• 22 Free Community Concerts
• 8 Masterclasses
• 4 Open Rehearsals

Broadcasts                           
CMNW performances were featured 57 times on American Public Media’s “Performance Today” and on programs produced by All Classical Radio. Our music was enjoyed by listeners across the nation and around the world virtually every week of the year! Over the past twelve months, our total broadcast audience was a mind-boggling more than 51.7 MILLION people!                                          

Up Next

2024/25 YEAR-ROUND SEASON October 2024 to May 2025
Seven concerts presented at Portland’s Historic Old Church: The Chien/Kim/Watkins Trio (Oct 5), Roderick Williams, baritone & Myra Huang, piano (Oct 29 - First Presbyterian Church), the Dover Quartet (Nov 23), David Finckel & Wu Han (Feb 6), The Hagen Quartet (Feb 27), violinist Soovin Kim performing Bach’s complete solo Sonatas and Partitas (Apr 4 & 5), and an educational residency by the Catalyst Quartet. 

In May, as part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we will present a co-production with the Portland Japanese Garden, “Lost Freedom: A Memory.” The piece was developed in 2021 with music by Oregon composer Kenji Bunch and story and narration by actor, author, and activist George Takei recounting his experience being relocated to Japanese internment camps during World War II. The program will also feature work by Oregon composer/percussionist Andy Akiho.