Cultural Events Calendar

THEM is Palestinian playwright Samah Sabawi’s striking drama about hope, war, and survival. Omar and Leila are a young couple living in a war zone with their baby Marwan. Omar and his friends meet every day, Leila attends to their infant, and the two of them even find moments of intimacy while sheltering under the kitchen table during daily air raids. However, things are only getting worse. Suddenly, Omar’s secretive sister Salma arrives in the middle of this increasingly tense situation. The local militias have their suspicions about her and even Omar is wary: where has Salma been, and what’s really going on with her brokering marriages for young women? Salma has a way for Omar and his family to escape their doomed city and offers them the chance to take it, but can they seize their freedom if it is going to cost others theirs?

The cost of admission is $30.00 for adults, $18.00 for seniors and $15.00 for students.

JAZZ & BLUES MUSIC: The 2025 Festival features nationally acclaimed jazz, blues, gospel, and GRAMMY winning bands, 70 Northwest wines, fine art, food, and MORE.

Bands include: trumpeter and 10-time GRAMMY-winner Arturo Sandoval, vocal jazz and gospel icons Take 6, blues harmonica virtuoso Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland, GRAMMY-nominated jazz pianist David Benoit, jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan, The Rumba Kings, Seattle jazz singer Greta Matassa, jazz singer Halie Loren, Christopher Brown Quartet, Strange Pilgrims, Ben Rice & The PDX Hustle, Taylor Newville & The Riders, the Bridgetown Sextet, pianist Jasnam Daya Singh, and Oregon Hall of Fame blues guitarist Norman Sylvester Band.
18 concerts are scheduled for the 3-day festival, starting Friday August 22nd to Sunday August 24th.

Cost of event ranges from $25.00 to $250.00 entry ticket. Children 12 and younger are free!

The honored Viking Beer Fest is back for its fourth year! Awarded 2nd Best Beer Festival in 2024 by Best of the Rose City, the Nordic Northwest Campus in SW Portland will transport visitors back to the Viking age the last weekend of August. Viking groups will be joining us again this year for thrilling combat and costumery. At least four dozen beers will be on tap, including custom beers brewed just for the festival. Cider, mead, and non-alcoholic options also will be available.

There will be live entertainment, dancing, Nordic food, a secret tap, blacksmith demonstrations, axe throwing, costume and beard contests, and more! Metal band Greyhawk will headline Saturday night.

Forbes magazine also featured VBF in its August 2024 issue.

The festival will be Friday, August 22 from 4 to 10 pm, and Saturday, August 23 from Noon to 10 pm. This year we are launching family hours, where all ages can join in on the fun on Saturday, August 23 from Noon to 4 pm. The rest of the festival will be 21+.

Tickets grant access to both Friday evening and Saturday festivities. Tickets may sell out and will be more expensive at the door.

Contact: Shawn MacArthur at shawnm@nordicnorthwest.org or 201-341-9822

For tickets and more information, please visit nordicnorthwest.org.

We’re excited to bring the Opera a la Cart truck to Director Park in the heart of Downtown Portland. Pack a picnic and join us for an evening of gorgeous, passionate selections from opera, art song, and musicals with the outdoor backdrop of a Perfect Portland Summer™. This event is free and open to the public.

Inspired by Portland’s food cart culture, Opera a la Cart is a mobile performance venue that brings live opera performance directly into the community spaces where people gather. Designed and built by architecture students at Portland State University, the cart features a fold-out stage and a “menu” of operatic specials of the day to be sung by local artists.

THEM is Palestinian playwright Samah Sabawi’s striking drama about hope, war, and survival. Omar and Leila are a young couple living in a war zone with their baby Marwan. Omar and his friends meet every day, Leila attends to their infant, and the two of them even find moments of intimacy while sheltering under the kitchen table during daily air raids. However, things are only getting worse. Suddenly, Omar’s secretive sister Salma arrives in the middle of this increasingly tense situation. The local militias have their suspicions about her and even Omar is wary: where has Salma been, and what’s really going on with her brokering marriages for young women? Salma has a way for Omar and his family to escape their doomed city and offers them the chance to take it, but can they seize their freedom if it is going to cost others theirs?

The cost of admission is $30.00 for adults, $18.00 for seniors and $15.00 for students.

Saturday, August 23, 2025
10AM – 4PM
17405 NE Glisan St., Portland, OR 97230

Our annual Celtic Festival raises funds for us to faithfully care for the vulnerable in our community. Enjoy food, a basket raffle, and LIVE MUSIC every hour from 10am to 4pm, including the Scottish Fiddlers, a bagpiper, and an organ recital. Shop our vendors for tie-dyed clothing, craft jewelry, paper jewelry, woodworking, houseplants, floral headbands – and so much more!

This event is free and open to the public. Food, vendor items, and raffle tickets are available for purchase.

Here are just a few of the things that your participation in our Celtic Festival helps to fund:
• Sack lunches for our members to give out throughout the week to those in need
• Wound care kits for those who have limited access to first aid or medical care
• Personal care kits for those without access to running water or basic hygiene resources

JAZZ & BLUES MUSIC: The 2025 Festival features nationally acclaimed jazz, blues, gospel, and GRAMMY winning bands, 70 Northwest wines, fine art, food, and MORE.

Bands include: trumpeter and 10-time GRAMMY-winner Arturo Sandoval, vocal jazz and gospel icons Take 6, blues harmonica virtuoso Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland, GRAMMY-nominated jazz pianist David Benoit, jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan, The Rumba Kings, Seattle jazz singer Greta Matassa, jazz singer Halie Loren, Christopher Brown Quartet, Strange Pilgrims, Ben Rice & The PDX Hustle, Taylor Newville & The Riders, the Bridgetown Sextet, pianist Jasnam Daya Singh, and Oregon Hall of Fame blues guitarist Norman Sylvester Band.
18 concerts are scheduled for the 3-day festival, starting Friday August 22nd to Sunday August 24th.

Cost of event ranges from $25.00 to $250.00 entry ticket. Children 12 and younger are free!

THEM is Palestinian playwright Samah Sabawi’s striking drama about hope, war, and survival. Omar and Leila are a young couple living in a war zone with their baby Marwan. Omar and his friends meet every day, Leila attends to their infant, and the two of them even find moments of intimacy while sheltering under the kitchen table during daily air raids. However, things are only getting worse. Suddenly, Omar’s secretive sister Salma arrives in the middle of this increasingly tense situation. The local militias have their suspicions about her and even Omar is wary: where has Salma been, and what’s really going on with her brokering marriages for young women? Salma has a way for Omar and his family to escape their doomed city and offers them the chance to take it, but can they seize their freedom if it is going to cost others theirs?

The cost of admission is $30.00 for adults, $18.00 for seniors and $15.00 for students.

Jacqueline is a new opera about legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré. A musical maverick, du Pré captivated audiences with her passionate playing and radiant charisma. By the age of 20, she was performing with the world’s finest orchestras. When she married conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, the dazzling couple became the Jackie and JFK of the classical world. Yet in 1971, du Pré began to lose feeling in her fingers. This opera portrays her journey with multiple sclerosis, illuminated by an emotional score that draws audiences into the soul of an artist whose music and spirit continue to resonate.

Composer Luna Pearl Woolf wrote Jacqueline specifically for celebrated soprano Marnie Breckenridge and renowned cellist Matt Haimovitz—who was du Pré’s protégé. These virtuosic artists revive their acclaimed performances in Portland. The opera had its world premiere at Tapestry Opera in Canada in 2020, earning rave reviews and five DORA award nominations. It was such a hit that the company reprised it two years later. Portland will be the third city to experience its magic.

Cost: $25-$110

For tickets and more information, visit orpheuspdx.org.

Experience the magic of the Siletz Bay Music Festival Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Johann Stuckenbruck.

PROGRAM:

Arthur Honegger, Pastorale d’éte, H. 31

Joaquín Rodrigo, Concierto de Aranjuez featuring Georgi Dimitrov-Jojo, guitar

Intermission

Richard Strauss, Le bourgeois gentilhomme, op. 60

W.A. Mozart Violin Sonata in E Minor K. 304

JAZZ & BLUES MUSIC: The 2025 Festival features nationally acclaimed jazz, blues, gospel, and GRAMMY winning bands, 70 Northwest wines, fine art, food, and MORE.

Bands include: trumpeter and 10-time GRAMMY-winner Arturo Sandoval, vocal jazz and gospel icons Take 6, blues harmonica virtuoso Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland, GRAMMY-nominated jazz pianist David Benoit, jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan, The Rumba Kings, Seattle jazz singer Greta Matassa, jazz singer Halie Loren, Christopher Brown Quartet, Strange Pilgrims, Ben Rice & The PDX Hustle, Taylor Newville & The Riders, the Bridgetown Sextet, pianist Jasnam Daya Singh, and Oregon Hall of Fame blues guitarist Norman Sylvester Band.
18 concerts are scheduled for the 3-day festival, starting Friday August 22nd to Sunday August 24th.

Cost of event ranges from $25.00 to $250.00 entry ticket. Children 12 and younger are free!

Jacqueline is a new opera about legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré. A musical maverick, du Pré captivated audiences with her passionate playing and radiant charisma. By the age of 20, she was performing with the world’s finest orchestras. When she married conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, the dazzling couple became the Jackie and JFK of the classical world. Yet in 1971, du Pré began to lose feeling in her fingers. This opera portrays her journey with multiple sclerosis, illuminated by an emotional score that draws audiences into the soul of an artist whose music and spirit continue to resonate.

Composer Luna Pearl Woolf wrote Jacqueline specifically for celebrated soprano Marnie Breckenridge and renowned cellist Matt Haimovitz—who was du Pré’s protégé. These virtuosic artists revive their acclaimed performances in Portland. The opera had its world premiere at Tapestry Opera in Canada in 2020, earning rave reviews and five DORA award nominations. It was such a hit that the company reprised it two years later. Portland will be the third city to experience its magic.

Cost: $25-$110

For tickets and more information, visit orpheuspdx.org.

Experience the magic of the Siletz Bay Music Festival Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Johann Stuckenbruck.

PROGRAM:

Bernard Herrmann, Psycho Suite

Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring

Intermission

Nancy Ives, Spirit of Columbia

George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue featuring Mei-Ting Sun, piano

David Saffert is a Portland based, classically trained pianist from Wisconsin. He has been seen on stage in sketch comedy, improv, solo piano concerts, and in his very own music & comedy variety shows. David has worked as a pianist with such organizations as the Guthrie Theater, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Opera, Oregon Symphony, Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage and the Interlochen Arts Camp. He was recently featured in “All Classical Radio Artist Anthology: 40 Creatives of the Pacific Northwest” and was knighted by Portland’s Royal Rosarians. His first solo piano album, “Stopping Time,” came out Spring 2025 and is available at davidsaffert.com. David tours the country as Liberace in “Liberace & Liza: A Tribute” and is currently advised by Bo Ayars, Liberace’s own music director from 1973-1975.

Price: Concert is free, with freewill donation accepted. Reception to follow.

Villa Catalana Cellars and Ping and Woof Opera present an abridge version of Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte August 24th. The extensive gardens of Villa Catalana, a magical setting reminiscent of old Spain, over looks a large pond with a 12th century inspired stone villa as a backdrop. Bring your picnic, low backed chair or blanket and wine glasses. Wine is available for purchase by the bottle.

Musicians: Kari Burgess, Rebecca Sacks, Jocelyn Claire Thomas, Daniel Gibbs, Anthony Nguyen, Zach Lenox, Claire Forstman.

For tickets and more information visit villacatalanacellars.com

Portland’s only all-original jazz festival is back this Labor Day Weekend!

The 12th Annual Montavilla Jazz Festival, presented by Accelerator Design Studios, celebrates the vibrant voices of our city in a three-day village-style outpouring of boundary-pushing music by hometown artists. From Mae.Sun and Reb & The Good News to Mary Flower and Pa’lante PDX – there’s something for everyone!

Between August 29th and 31st, discover the scene, the sound, and the vibe of Portland’s most adventurous musicians with more than 25 concerts centered in East Portland’s historic Montavilla neighborhood and Mt. Tabor Park.

Get your Jazz Adventure Pass today to unlock the full festival experience!

Cost: Free-$99