Free Event: Free Event

A concert to premiere a new piece of string quartet music by local composer, Joe Hay. Tamaki 環季 The Cycle of Seasons was written as a birthday gift to the daughter of the composer’s friend. This is the third musical gift to the family of the same kind. This short concert, featuring musicians from Columbia River Strings, will also include a viola duo, another string quartet piece, and a partially improvised meditation played by the composer on viola.

Background:

In 2014, when I was studying composition at the University of New Mexico, my friend Taylor Janis asked if I could write a piece to celebrate the birthday of his 1-year-old daughter, Amane. The result was Amane, a piece for clarinet, cello, and – because “Amane” means “the sound of rain” in Japanese – recorded rain sounds.

Five years later, for the second addition to the family, I wrote Morika, for flute and string trio. “Morika” means “the scent of the forest.”

The family is now stronger by one more Janis with an awesome, poetic name, and so we are premiering a new work: Tamaki 環季 The Cycle of Seasons, for string quartet. The seasons show up frequently in the world of music, and I wanted to approach it a little differently. Rather than sticking with the traditional four, Tamaki is a fantasy in one movement that not only meditates on the many-faceted changes of the revolving year, but also places them within the larger movements that make up the seasons of the stars and galaxies.

Please join us at The Hallowed Halls on Friday, October 10th, at 6 pm for the premiere of this new piece, performed by Columbia River Strings. They’ll also be performing two others: The Root Takes Hold, for string quartet; and Jökull, for two violas. Starting off the show, there will be a viola solo meditation, which I’ll be playing myself. Hope to see you there!

Joe Hay is a member of Cascadia Composers.

Ping & Woof Opera presents: 🔮The Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti
October 18th & 19th, 2025
Mago Hunt Recital Hall, University of Portland

A dark and haunting tale of deception and the supernatural, Menotti’s The Medium explores the blurred lines between illusion and reality. With its intense emotional core and unforgettable score, this one-act psychological thriller promises an immersive operatic experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Runtime is approximately 75 minutes, including one 15 min. Intermission. Admission is donation based. No ticket required!
P&W will also be taking this production to Bend in May 2026, in collaboration with OperaBend.

Artists:
Baba – Alexis Hamilton
Toby – Aaron Lange
Monica – Jocelyn Claire Thomas
Mrs. Gobineau – Amanda Taddeo
Mr. Gobineau – Zach Lenox
Mrs. Nolan – Lindsey Rae Johnson
Pianist – Susan McDaniel
Director – Zach Lenox

Ping & Woof Opera presents: 🔮The Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti
October 18th & 19th, 2025
Mago Hunt Recital Hall, University of Portland

A dark and haunting tale of deception and the supernatural, Menotti’s The Medium explores the blurred lines between illusion and reality. With its intense emotional core and unforgettable score, this one-act psychological thriller promises an immersive operatic experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Runtime is approximately 75 minutes, including one 15 min. Intermission. Admission is donation based. No ticket required!
P&W will also be taking this production to Bend in May 2026, in collaboration with OperaBend.

Artists:
Baba – Alexis Hamilton
Toby – Aaron Lange
Monica – Jocelyn Claire Thomas
Mrs. Gobineau – Amanda Taddeo
Mr. Gobineau – Zach Lenox
Mrs. Nolan – Lindsey Rae Johnson
Pianist – Susan McDaniel
Director – Zach Lenox

Program:
Alexander Borodin – In the Steppes of Central Asia

Maurice Ravel -Ma mere l’Oye (Mother Goose Suite)
1. Pavane de la Belle au Bois dormant
2. Petit Poucet
3. Laideronnette, Impératrice des Pagodes
4. Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Béte
5. Le Jardin féerique

Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98
1. Allegro non troppo
2. Andante moderato
3. Allegro giocoso
4. Allegro energico e passionate

Come and enjoy an exciting afternoon of great classical music. With a preconcert talk at 3pm by Jonathan DeBruyn, Music Conductor, that will enlighten, and amuse, and give you an in depth understanding of the music, and composer.

Does art ever outlive its origins? For Borodin – Imagine you are an ethnic Russian in the 1880s. You’ve travelled to the steppes at the eastern extent of the empire in Central Asia, and you’re singing the song that is our opening theme, when out of the mists comes a caravan of Asian traders. Mystery and music!
Ravel samples various sources of fairy tales to produce a rich and delightful series of five movements.
Brahm’s 4th symphony is exciting and lyrical using antique forms and modes, but refashioned in the latest techniques for his time, foreshadowing much of what would be written the 20th century.

Enjoy the talk, enjoy the concert, and join us for a great reception afterwards!

In an era of rising authoritarianism, cultural censorship, and social unrest, Echoes of Resistance gives voice to those who refuse to be silenced.

This concert is a declaration: that music can speak truth, carry memory, and inspire action when words alone are not enough. Through works by living composers, underrepresented voices, and artists who wrote under political pressure or persecution, this program explores resistance in its many forms – joyful and solemn, public and personal.

From the layered chaos or David Del Tredici’s In Wartime to the quiet mourning of Steve Danyew’s Into the Silent Land, and the mythic
defiance of Star Wars, each piece reminds us that sound is not neutral – it is power.

Price: Free
$20 suggested donation at the door

In Medio’s fifth season begins with Passage, a concert around the theme of death and transcendence. Throughout the concert, we will explore the myriad ways humanity responds to the end of life and grapple with the ineffable question of what comes next.

The centerpiece of the concert is a twenty-minute composition, Triptych, by Irish composer Tarik O’Regan, which requires a nine-person string orchestra and has not been performed in Oregon since 2014. Other highlights of the program include When David Heard by Eric Whitacre and Amihan by Filipino composer Ily Matthew Maniano.

We hope you’ll join us for an evening of inspiration and solace as we explore life’s greatest mystery.

Saturday, November 1, 7:00 pm
Augustana Lutheran, 2710 NE 14th Ave, Portland, OR 97212

Sunday, November 2, 3:00 pm
St. Philip Neri, 2408 SE 16th Ave, Portland, OR 97214

For more information, visit inmediochoir.org.

In Medio’s fifth season begins with Passage, a concert around the theme of death and transcendence. Throughout the concert, we will explore the myriad ways humanity responds to the end of life and grapple with the ineffable question of what comes next.

The centerpiece of the concert is a twenty-minute composition, Triptych, by Irish composer Tarik O’Regan, which requires a nine-person string orchestra and has not been performed in Oregon since 2014. Other highlights of the program include When David Heard by Eric Whitacre and Amihan by Filipino composer Ily Matthew Maniano.

We hope you’ll join us for an evening of inspiration and solace as we explore life’s greatest mystery.

Saturday, November 1, 7:00 pm
Augustana Lutheran, 2710 NE 14th Ave, Portland, OR 97212

Sunday, November 2, 3:00 pm
St. Philip Neri, 2408 SE 16th Ave, Portland, OR 97214

For more information, visit inmediochoir.org.

BLACK MATTER Closing Celebration & Social Practice Performance Featuring Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.

Free and open to the public

If you’ve been inspired by the work you’ve seen in the exhibition, join us in sending it off with some love by meeting the artists at our closing celebration and participating in a unique performance. Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr. Stevenson activates the Urban Shaman—an imagined and embodied ancestral self—in direct with capitalism’s totem: the Charging Bull on Wall Street. Through ritualized struggle, Stevenson exposes the friction between creative agency and economic oppression. This performative act of resistance becomes both a reclamation of denied heritage and a challenge to systemic commodification. In this spiritually healing somatically engaged action, Stevenson transforms absence into presence, conjuring a cultural lineage lost to erasure and reimagined through artful defiance.

Jocelyn Claire Thomas, soprano, piano, flute
Emma Cowell, soprano, piano, lecturer

December 16, 2025, marks 250 years since the birth of beloved novelist Jane Austen. The Salon Series will celebrate with a salon concert recreating a Regency-era evening of home music-making. Jocelyn Claire Thomas and Emma Cowell will perform music from the Baroque and Classical eras, including music from Jane Austen’s own library of scores. December 16 also happens to be the birthday of Austen’s contemporary Ludwig van Beethoven, so his music will make a special appearance. This concert will appeal to lovers of classical music as well as lovers of literature and history. Period costume admired but not required!

Music by Haydn, Beethoven, Pleyel, Georgiana Cavendish, and more.

Price: Free
$20 suggested donation.

Join hundreds of other singers as we sing the choruses of Handel’s Messiah in the amazing sanctuary of Westminster Presbyterian Church! Led by a conductor, accompanied by an amazing organist, this will be your ultimate holiday event! Bring your own score or borrow one of ours. Doors open at 2:30 pm and singing starts at 3:30 pm.
Park in the church parking lot on NE Hancock, or in the neighborhood. Enter the Sanctuary on NE Hancock or NE Schuyler. A handicap accessible entry is at 15th and NE Schuyler.
Presented by Blueprint Arts, in collaboration with the Twietmeyer family (hosts of the Sing Along Messiah from 1993 to 2019 at Central Lutheran Church).
Admission is free, but donations are appreciated to ensure the continuation of this annual joyful celebration of the holidays!

For more information, visit blueprintarts.org.