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| Chamber Music Northwest | |
|---|---|
| Name | Chamber Music Northwest |
| Formation | 1971 |
| Founder | Yale University alumnus Sexton, Ralph |
| Type | Nonprofit arts organization |
| Headquarters | Portland, Oregon |
| Region served | Pacific Northwest |
| Artistic director | Lewis Kaplan |
Chamber Music Northwest is a nonprofit presenting organization based in Portland, Oregon that produces an annual summer festival and year-round concerts focused on chamber repertoire. Founded in the early 1970s, it has presented performances, commissions, recordings, and educational programs featuring leading international artists and ensembles from the United States, Europe, and Asia. The organization collaborates with presenters, conservatories, and orchestras to expand chamber music audiences across the Pacific Northwest.
The organization was founded in 1971 by Zoe Jean Kaplan and Lewis Kaplan (note: individual names treated as proper nouns), drawing inspiration from institutions such as the Santa Fe Opera, the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Early seasons featured participants associated with the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the New England Conservatory. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s it expanded programming alongside partnerships with the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Art Museum, and the University of Oregon. Landmark seasons included festivals coinciding with anniversaries of composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Igor Stravinsky, and Béla Bartók, and themed residencies spotlighting artists connected to the Royal College of Music, the Conservatoire de Paris, and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München.
Artistic directors and administrators have included figures linked to conservatories and ensembles such as the Juilliard Quartet, the Kronos Quartet, the Guarneri String Quartet, and the Tokyo String Quartet. Guest artists over the years have included soloists and chamber musicians associated with Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Rachel Barton Pine, Gil Shaham, Ian Bostridge, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Mitsuko Uchida, Leif Ove Andsnes, Gidon Kremer, Daniel Barenboim, Martha Argerich, Michael Tilson Thomas, Pinchas Zukerman, Nobuya Sugawa, and Truls Mørk. Collaborating ensembles have included the Emerson String Quartet, Brentano Quartet, Orion String Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Takács Quartet, Elder Conservatorium of Music affiliates, and the Julliard415 ensemble. Resident artists and faculty have hailed from institutions such as the New England Conservatory, Curtis Institute of Music, Peabody Institute, and the Royal Academy of Music.
The summer festival typically presents concerts at venues including the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, the Newmark Theatre, and campus halls at Reed College and the Portland State University. Seasonal programming has featured cycles of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Dmitri Shostakovich, Antonín Dvořák, Sergei Prokofiev, Benjamin Britten, Olivier Messiaen, and George Crumb. Special festival highlights have included collaborations with the Oregon Bach Festival, commissions tied to the Library of Congress anniversaries, and tribute programs honoring performers associated with the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Royal Albert Hall.
The organization has commissioned works from contemporary composers affiliated with institutions like the Juilliard School, the Yale School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Composers presented in commission programs include David Lang, John Adams, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Tania León, Jennifer Higdon, Osvaldo Golijov, Caroline Shaw, Thomas Adès, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Gabriel Jackson, Jacques Ibert, George Perle, Brett Dean, Missy Mazzoli, Paul Chihara, and Nico Muhly. World premieres have occurred in collaboration with presenters such as the American Composers Orchestra, the Wigmore Hall, and the BBC Proms network, and have been announced at conferences like the League of American Orchestras meetings.
Educational initiatives have engaged students and teachers through partnerships with the Oregon Symphony Education Department, the Reed College Music Department, the Portland Public Schools, and the Oregon Arts Commission. Programs include chamber coaching, masterclasses, pre-concert talks, and family concerts involving faculty from the Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and the New England Conservatory. Outreach has extended to residency projects with community organizations such as the Multnomah County Library, the Portland State University Music Program, and social service agencies partnering with the Merrill Trust and the Oregon Community Foundation.
Recordings and broadcasts have been released on labels and media platforms connected to Naxos, Harmonia Mundi, Sony Classical, Deutsche Grammophon, and ECM Records. Concerts have been streamed via collaborations with Medici.tv, featured on American Public Media, and archived in projects associated with the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution. Notable recorded projects include performances of cycles by Beethoven, Brahms, and contemporary commissions by John Corigliano and Jennifer Higdon, and have been reviewed in publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Gramophone (magazine), and The Oregonian.
The organization and its artists have received honors from institutions including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Oregon Cultural Trust, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Grammy Awards nominations for participating artists. Festival programming has been recognized by the Chamber Music America organization, and individual artists associated with the organization have been laureates of competitions such as the Tchaikovsky Competition, the Leeds International Piano Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Category:Music festivals in Oregon Category:Classical music festivals in the United States