Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) presents its 2021 Summer Festival at Reed College from July 1 through July 25. The 51st annual festival features four weeks of live musical programming, two free community concerts and an online summer festival series that begins July 15.
70 Artists + 19 Concerts, Live + Online Festival Options
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WEEK 3: A Week of Virtuosity (July 12-18)
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AT-HOME Summer Festival Begins July 15
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Free “Movie Night” Community Concerts July 12 & 13
For week three of the 2021 Summer Festival, CMNW will offer four live concerts at Reed College’s Kaul Auditorium; plus two free outdoor concerts for the community — in Gresham on July 12, and in North Portland on July 13. The festival continues with four more concerts closing weekend, ending on July 25.
The AT-HOME Festival begins on July 15 with produced recordings of the 2021 festival’s live concerts dropping exactly two weeks after the live festival premiere. This week, WEEK 1 programs — Opening Night with East Coast Chamber Orchestra and The Exuberance of ECCO & Jupiter Quartet — will stream online with an AT-HOME Festival pass. The AT-HOME concerts can be viewed online at cmnw.org through August 31.
WEEK 3: VIRTUOSIC MASTERS HAMELIN, PORAT, VIEAUX AND MORE
Full of award-winning star performers like pianist Marc-André Hamelin, guitarist Jason Vieaux, composer & pianist Matan Porat and the internationally-renowned Dover Quartet, this week features two more world premieres of CMNW commissions, along with thrilling masterpieces by Ornstein and Bartók. Free community event with Buster Keaton movie nights featuring pianist and composer Matan Porat early in the week.
FREE COMMUNITY EVENTS: Buster Keaton Movie Nights with Matan Porat
Monday, July 12 at 8:30pm | featuring Buster Keaton’s The Playhouse and Sherlock Jr.
Gresham Arts Plaza — 401 NE Second St., Gresham, OR 97030
This event follows Gresham Center for the Arts’ Music Mondays concert series with Southern Rock band The Boondock Boys.
Attendees can enjoy beer/wine/cider and a variety of food vendors from sandwiches to Mexican pastries to the Gresham-Barlow Youth Baseball league’s hotdogs.
Tuesday, July 13 at 8:30pm | featuring Buster Keaton’s The General
University of Portland, Franz Patio/Academic Quad — 5000 N Willamette Blvd.
Multi-talented pianist and composer Matan Porat performs live, improvisational soundtrack performances for classic movies starring the master of silent comedy, Buster Keaton. Matan has garnered international acclaim for his “…vivid, propulsive, and fun…” (The New York Times). These free evening events are casual concerts that are intended to be enjoyed by everyone in the community.
PROGRAM 5: Visionary Quintets Revealed
Thursday, July 15 at 7:30 pm
Friday, July 16 at 7:30 pm
Reed College, Kaul Auditorium
The Dover Quartet, former Protégés and one of the CMNW audience’s favorite ensembles, returns for thrilling works with two of the world’s great virtuoso pianists: Marc-André Hamelin and Matan Porat. Porat premieres his own CMNW-commissioned quintet, and Hamelin illuminates Leo Ornstein’s monumental piano quintet.
- FELIX MENDELSSOHN String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 12
- MATAN PORAT Piano Quintet World Premiere
- LEO ORNSTEIN Piano Quintet
ARTISTS: Festival favorites the Dover Quartet, with internationally renowned pianists Marc-André Hamelin and Matan Porat
PROGRAM 6: Sonic Kaleidoscope: Sax, Guitar & Percussion
Saturday, July 17 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, July 18 at 4 pm
Reed College, Kaul Auditorium
Two Grammy Award winners, saxophonist Timothy McAllister and guitarist Jason Vieaux, team up for their Summer Festival debuts performing the world premiere of an exciting CMNW commission by American composer Pierre Jalbert. The folk idiom of Béla Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, the most dramatic work of this summer festival, caps this memorable program full of wide-ranging instrumental colors and ensembles.
- PIERRE JALBERT Sweet and Doleful Timbres World Premiere
- ADOLF BUSCH Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet
- BÉLA BARTÓK Selected Violin Duos
- BÉLA BARTÓK Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
ARTISTS: The Dover Quartet, pianists Gloria Chien & Marc-André Hamelin, percussionists Ayano Kataoka and Ian David Rosenbaum, violinists Soovin Kim & Bryan Lee, and guitarist Jason Vieaux
CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST 2021 SUMMER FESTIVAL
LIVE Summer Festival
Thursday, July 1 – Sunday, July 25 2021
Reed College — Kaul Auditorium, SE 28th & Woodstock
Advance ticket reservations are required.
Four-concert LIVE Festival Pass + AT HOME Festival Pass: $325
Premium Reserved LIVE single ticket: $62.50
General Admission (select concerts) single ticket: $47.50
Under 30 LIVE single ticket: $20
FREE COMMUNITY EVENTS
Buster Keaton Movie Nights with Matan Porat
July 12 at 8:30pm | featuring Buster Keaton’s The Playhouse and Sherlock Jr.
Gresham Arts Plaza — 401 NE Second St., Gresham, OR 97030
This event follows Gresham Center for the Arts’ Music Mondays concert series with Southern Rock band “The Boondock Boys.
Attendees can enjoy beer/wine/cider and a variety of food vendors from sandwiches to Mexican pastries to the Gresham-Barlow Youth Baseball league’s hotdogs.
July 13 at 8:30pm | featuring Buster Keaton’s The General
University of Portland — Franz Patio/Academic Quad, 5000 N Willamette Blvd.
Outdoor music and silent film enthusiasts, pack a snack bring your own seats for these comedic Buster Keaton movies, but with enthusiastic, improvised soundtracks by the international-acclaimed, multi-talented pianist Matan Porat. Matan has garnered international acclaim for his “…vivid, propulsive, and fun…” (The New York Times) musical improvisations to silent films. These free evening events are casual concerts that are intended to be enjoyed by everyone in the community.
AT-HOME Summer Festival
Thursday, July 15 – Saturday, August 7 2021
cmnw.org
Recorded and produced concerts from the LIVE festival will premiere on cmnw.org two weeks after the live concert. These rolling online premieres begin on July 15 and run through August 7 — the entire festival is available on-demand through August 31.
9-concert AT-HOME Pass: $150
Single concert online pass (on sale July 9): $20
Chamber Music Northwest 2021 Summer Festival
CMNW’s “Reflect | Rejoice” 2021 Summer Festival will feature 70a of the nation’s finest chamber musicians performing a wide variety of works, from classics to new works, including the much anticipated world premiere of Marc Neikrug’s A Song by Mahler that was previously scheduled to premiere at the 2020 Summer Festival. Additionally, the multitalented Israeli pianist and composer Matan Porat will perform improvisational accompaniment for two free Buster Keaton silent comedy movie night performances as outdoor, community concerts in Gresham and North Portland. The live festival concerts will be professionally recorded and streamed online beginning two weeks later on July 15, with access on cmnw.org through August 31.
From Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim: “After a year without live music, we are so excited to share our joyful and reflective 2021 Summer Festival — our first as Chamber Music Northwest’s new artistic directors! Some of CMNW’s favorite performers will return, such as the Dover and Brentano string quartets, and cellist Paul Watkins of the Emerson Quartet. The East Coast Chamber Orchestra, saxophonist Timothy McAllister, pianist Marc-André Hamelin, guitarist Jason Vieaux, and bass-baritone Davóne Tines headline the star-studded cast who will make their CMNW debuts. Timeless classics such as Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings and Copland’s Appalachian Spring will be heard alongside five exciting world premieres. We are proud to present this array of thrilling and deeply moving repertoire, performed by the greatest artists in the world, and that audiences near and far can enjoy both live in Portland or remotely.”
COMMISSIONED WORKS
Chamber Music Northwest’s 2021 Summer Festival features string quartets, renowned soloists, today’s greatest living composers, local and national musicians, and boasts four new CMNW-commissioned works and a fifth additional world premiere. Creating opportunity for composers to create new music is a long-standing hallmark of CMNW, with more than 130 new works commissioned and premiered since 1971. For the 2021 Summer Festival, CMNW presents: David Ludwig’s Les Adieux: for clarinet and chamber ensemble commissioned to honor CMNW Artistic Director Emeritus David Shifrin in 2020; the world premiere of Marc Neikrug’s A Song by Mahler, a theatrical chamber opera co-commissioned by CMNW with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the La Jolla, Lake Champlain and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festivals; Matan Porat playing his lilting Piano Quintet premiere with the Dover Quartet; and the unprecedented composition Sweet and Doleful Timbres by Pierre Jalbert, written for saxophone and guitar, and performed by saxophonist Tim McAllister and guitarist Jason Vieaux. The festival will also include the world premiere of Portland composer Kenji Bunch’s new Vesper Flight, commissioned by, written for, and performed by internationally acclaimed flutist Tara Helen O’Connor.
UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS
WEEK 4: REFLECT, REJOICE & REIMAGINE
The final week of the 2021 Summer Festival features CMNW 2021-22 Artists-in-Residence the Brentano Quartet and the Chien-Kim-Watkins Trio in Classical masterpieces by Haydn, Schubert, and Brahms. The inspired festival finale presents the astounding bass-baritone Davóne Tines in selections from his deeply moving MASS, and Schubert’s divine cello quintet.
COMMUNITY ACCESS & EDUCATION
Chamber Music Northwest is committed to making great music and music education accessible in our community. With a consideration given to the pandemic, the 2021 Summer Festival will include two free, outdoor community concerts featuring Movie Nights with pianist and composer Matan Porat at the underserved outer eastside and North Portland locations. Complimentary AT-HOME passes will be offered to local music education organizations that serve students from diverse backgrounds and underrepresented communities. The local community is invited to weekly open rehearsals at Reed College on Wednesday mornings. Each week the public is invited to watch free musical conversations and masterclasses with visiting musicians that will be streamed at cmnw.org.
ABOUT CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST
Now in its 51st season, Chamber Music Northwest shares the richness and diversity of chamber music with more than 50,000 people through 80 events annually, including our Summer Festival of outstanding concerts, illuminating outreach activities, educational programs and support of young musicians, and innovative collaborations across the Portland Metro region.
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. Chamber Music Northwest is led by Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim, and Executive Director Peter Bilotta.
As one of the nation’s leading chamber music presenters, Chamber Music Northwest brings to our community the world’s greatest musicians and composers, from rising-star members of our Protégé Project and exceptional local musicians to world-renowned artists that include Grammy Award winners, Avery Fisher Prize honorees, and MacArthur ‘Genius Award’ recipients. Together they collaborate to perform the expansive 500-year chamber music repertoire, ranging from beloved classics and hidden masterpieces to contemporary works and less conventional projects.
Chamber Music Northwest is an international leader in celebrating chamber music’s enduring relevance and diversity, with more than 100 commissions and premieres of new works as well as its Protégé Project, which cultivates the next generation of dynamic chamber music performers by supporting exceptional, early-career chamber musicians and composers in their professional development.