Oregon ArtsWatch

Arts & Culture News
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Angela Allen

Angela Allen writes about the arts, especially opera, jazz, chamber music, and photography. Since 1984, she has contributed regularly to online and print publications, including Oregon ArtsWatch, The Columbian, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Willamette Week, The Oregonian, among others. She teaches photography and creative writing to Oregon students, and in 2009, served as Fishtrap’s Eastern Oregon Writer-in-Residence. A published poet and photographer, she was elected to the Music Critics Association of North America’s executive board and is a recipient of an NEA-Columbia Journalism grant. She earned an M.A. in journalism from University of Oregon in 1984, and 30 years later received her MFA in Creative Writing/Poetry from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Portland with her scientist husband and often unwieldy garden. Contact Angela Allen through her website.

Shimmering voices: Trio Mediæval with guests Caroline Shaw & Danni Lee

The Norwegian-Swedish vocal trio invited the Oregonian duo to join them on their recent Friends of Chamber Music concert in Portland.

An amazing run: Portland State Opera’s production of “The Eleanors”

Composer/librettist Jodi Goble and co-librettist Michael Ching’s WWII-era opera celebrates the Greatest Generation.

A tragedy crackling with comedy: Portland Opera’s “La Bohème”

PO’s seasonal warhorse production at The Keller, running through November 23, hits all the marks.

A hotbed of engaging and eclectic music: David Schiff, Darrell Grant, Storm Large, and Alejandro Belgique with Oregon Symphony

As part of the “Sounds Like Portland” festival, OSO and Grant premiered Schiff’s new piano concerto, Large performed Kurt Weill’s “Seven Deadly Sins,” and the orchestra performed the young composer’s “Ostinato.”

Glowing brighter: Harpist Brandee Younger at The Old Church

The jazz harpist, hosted once again by PDX Jazz, performed her own compositions and celebrated the music of her predecessors Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby.

A sense of fragrance and bloom: Trio Afiori and composer Alex Ho

An interview with the British-Chinese composer — commissioned by the recently formed trio of pianist Gloria Chien, clarinetist Anthony McGill, and mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron — ahead of the trio's upcoming Chamber Music Northwest concert.

Tall and visible among turbulent water: OrpheusPDX’s “Scipio’s Dream”

The Portland opera company presented one of Mozart’s youthful – and, until recently, unstaged – operas.

A roar of sound: Chamber Music Northwest Top 5 of 2025

Highlights from this year’s summer festival, with a postscript.

Contributing to the ecosystem on a broader spectrum: CMNW’s Protégé Project

Now in its fifteenth year, the program nurtures performers and composers already in the midst of their professional careers.

The best birthday present: Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival turns ten

WVCFM celebrates its 10th season with commissioned work from this year’s composer-in-residence, Akshaya Tucker, alongside music by Caroline Shaw, Kian Ravaei, plus Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Schubert.

Jam the sound that light makes: ‘Passion for Bach and Coltrane’ at Oregon Bach Festival

Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, A.B. Spellman, and a jazz trio joined forces to bring Jeff Scott's award-winning homage to Bach and Coltrane back to Oregon.

Hearkening back: Joseph Marcell narrates ‘Markus Passion’ at Oregon Bach Festival

The actor, along with four singers and the OBF Baroque Orchestra directed by Julian Perkins, performed the Malcolm Bruno reconstruction of Bach's "pocket passion."

Music chose me: Kit Armstrong at CMNW and OBF

The keyboardist, composer, and mathematician discusses his storied background; his performances of Bach and his own music at this year’s summer festivals; the church he bought in France; and why he never practices.

Washes of color: The “Brandenburg All-Stars” at Chamber Music Northwest

CMNW co-directors Soovin Kim and Gloria Chien, mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, violinist Shunske Sato, harpsichordist Kit Armstrong, and other stellar musicians joined forces to perform Bach, Mendelssohn, and Mahler.

Heaven on earth: A history of University of Oregon’s Beall Concert Hall and its famous Jürgen Ahrend organ

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the concert hall, the well-tuned home of many Oregon Bach Festival concerts.

A little retro and thoroughly modern: Chamber Music Northwest 2025 pairs Baroque and contemporary composers

This year’s festival, “Echoes of Bach,” features a bevy of familiar performers and composers, including several Protégé Project alums, in five weeks of programs that range from Bach and Bottesini to Kian Ravaei and Ethan Soledad.

I can hear it in the wind: “Celilo Falls” with the Oregon Symphony

The expanded collaborative work by photographer Joe Cantrell, storyteller Ed Edmo, and composer Nancy Ives premiered at The Schnitz this month.

A sense of awesomeness: Organist Paul Jacobs in Eugene

The virtuoso, a favorite of Oregon Bach Festival audiences, performed a solo concert of Ives, Franck, Mendelssohn, Stanley, Brahms, and Bach in Beall Hall.

Love, death and power: Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s “The Shining” at Portland Opera

The Stephen King adaptation captured the book’s spooky mood and emotional complexity–and found an enthusiastic audience.

In Seattle, a ‘Magic Flute’ with bells and whistles

Mozart's marvelous, 233-year-old fantasy gets a colorful and brightly animated contemporary update at Seattle Opera.

Jazz Fest, week 2: Hanging around with Jovino Santos at The Old Church

The Brazilian-American pianist-flutist-composer and his quintet performed a spontaneous set to an enthusiastic audience.

Jazz Fest, week 1: A feast of sound from Terence Blanchard to Jimmie Herrod and much more

Despite some cancellations and a postponement by Erykah Badu, this year's festival has been flooding the city with terrific and widely varied sounds in 35 venues around town.

Magician status: Wu Han and David Finckel’s evening of “Russian Revelry”

Chamber Music Northwest hosted the pianist and cellist performing music of Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Myaskovsky.

More colors, more timbres, more palette: 45th Parallel Universe premieres new Andy Akiho composition at The Reser

The Oregon composer’s new chamber piece “Copper Variations” was featured in a concert of contemporary classical music alongside works by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Daniel Wohl.

Togetherness counts: The Florestan Trio returns to The Old Church

The Portland trio–pianist Janet Guggenheim, violinist Carol Sindell, and cellist Hamilton Cheifetz–performed an evening of Mendelssohn, Haydn, and Beethoven.

The piano ain’t got no wrong notes: Aaron Diehl Trio at The Reser

The jazz pianist, with bassist David Wong and drummer Aaron Kimmel, performed a set of originals and uncommon tunes by Jobim, Monk, and Shorter.

Utterly in charge: Chamber Music Northwest directors (current and former) Gloria Chien, Soovin Kim, and David Shifrin

The trio–piano, violin, clarinet–opened CMNW’s non-summer season with music by Brahms, Bartók, Stravinsky, and Ravel.

All the small things we can be grateful for: Magos Herrera and Vinicius Gomes at The Old Church

The Mexican singer and Brazilian guitarist performed songs from Herrera’s recent albums.

A powerful poetic punch: Portland Opera premieres Dmae Lo Roberts and Kenji Oh’s ‘Shizue: An American Story’

After a short run at the Brunish Theatre, Portland Opera To Go will take the internment-themed opera to schools across Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Harrowing and uncomfortable: “The Handmaid’s Tale” at San Francisco Opera

Poul Ruders and Paul Bentley’s setting of the Margaret Atwood classic, running at SFO through Oct. 1, offered many disturbing moments and little peace.