Oregon ArtsWatch

Arts & Culture News
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Brett Campbell

Brett Campbell is a frequent contributor to The Oregonian, San Francisco Classical Voice, Oregon Quarterly, and Oregon Humanities. He has been classical music editor at Willamette Week, music columnist for Eugene Weekly, and West Coast performing arts contributing writer for the Wall Street Journal, and has also written for Portland Monthly, West: The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Salon, Musical America and many other publications. He is a former editor of Oregon Quarterly and The Texas Observer, a recipient of arts journalism fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (Columbia University), the Getty/Annenberg Foundation (University of Southern California) and the Eugene O’Neill Center (Connecticut). He is co-author of the biography Lou Harrison: American Musical Maverick (Indiana University Press, 2017) and several plays, and has taught news and feature writing, editing and magazine publishing at the University of Oregon School of Journalism & Communication and Portland State University.

Ralph Towner, Nancy King, and Glen Moore’s Oregon musical origins

Guitar virtuoso Towner has died at 85, following vocalist King's death last year. In the early 1960s they and jazz bassist Moore kicked off their world-class careers together at the University of Oregon.

Music News: Fred Child comes home to lead All Classical Radio

New leadership comes to All Classical Radio, Oregon Symphony, and Oregon Bach Festival. Plus: new homes for Oregon youth orchestras, and more Oregon music news.

Northwest Theatre Workshop’s Creative Evolution

As its founding leader steps down after a decade, the Portland theatrical innovator celebrates its play development model with a two-play showcase this weekend and next — and a coming new model of artistic leadership. 

‘York the Explorer’ brings a forgotten Oregon pioneer’s story back to life — and to the stage

This weekend's performances of Portland musician Aaron Nigel Smith's new folk opera tells the story of a crucial member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Music News: Leaders, companies, and arts in transition

Big changes are underway at Portland Opera, Oregon Bach Festival, the Britt Festival and more.

‘Inebria Me’: A telenovela of a folk opera

Liberating from repression: Composer San Cha's opera, premiering at Portland's TBA Festival, finds its inspiration in over-the-top Mexican soap operas.

Musical Playground – music for the fun of it at Beaverton’s Reser Center

The hands-on learning day where kids are set free to explore making music on a variety of instruments, from guitars to drums to violins, is just one of the art center’s many programs targeted toward engaging children and youth.

OrpheusPDX’s ‘Scipio’s Dream’ and ‘Jacqueline’ make opera intimate and modern

Chamber operas include an early Mozart rarity and the story of cellist Jacqueline du Pre.

Paul Safar & Marc Egea: Bridging Musical Cultures

Performing in concerts in Portland, Eugene and Springfield, a pair of musical masters from Barcelona and Eugene find common inspiration in a singular instrument

Music news: Orchestra leadership shuffles and more

Turnovers at the Oregon Symphony, Orchestra Nova Northwest and Opera in the Park, plus awards, honors, cutbacks, education initiatives and deaths shift the Oregon/Vancouver music scene.

Salem’s Theatre 33 finds a bigger stage

The Willamette University-based theater development program expands its offerings, and brings them to Portland this weekend.

A farewell to All Classical Radio’s Suzanne Nance and her pioneer spirit

Nance, the visionary chief executive of one of Oregon’s most adventurous arts organizations, will leave Portland to direct a major European opera festival in Ireland.

Oregon Origins Project: Evoking Oregon’s history and landscape through art

A pair of multimedia concerts at Beaverton’s Reser Center presents original visual and musical creations inspired by the state’s natural history.

Advocating for the arts at the Oregon Legislature

As the state's budgets tighten, musician and educator Darrell Grant takes a plea for arts funding to Salem — and brings back lessons in arts advocacy for other artists and arts followers to adopt.

Mariachi Tradición: Cultural education through music

Forest Grove High School music program’s 10th anniversary concert Saturday celebrates mariachi’s growing presence in Oregon schools.

Camerata PYP Goes Global — and Local 

The Portland Youth Philharmonic’s chamber orchestra performs new music by composers from around the world — and in Portland.

Believe the HYPE: Bag&Baggage’s new youth performance group exemplifies a company that looks to theater’s future

The Hillsboro Youth Performance Ensemble offers youth hands-on experience in theater craft and management through a paid workforce development program.

Fertile Ground: Homegrown plays, west of the hills

This year's greater Portland festival of new works inspires creation of original theater pieces in Beaverton, Hillsboro and beyond.

Music on the Move: Oasis Ensemble takes contemporary Oregon chamber music and more around the state

Eugene-based classical trio features award-winning veteran orchestra musicians, a rising star, and abundant new music.

Spark Plug: Taking risks, building trust

Loading its sets in and out of a coffee shop via U-Haul with each performance, the intimate theater collective brings new and homegrown theater works to Beaverton.

High times, low comedy: Theatre in the Grove’s ‘Reefer Madness: The Musical’ spoofs drug war hysteria

Campy modern musical adaptation of the notorious 1936 film brings illegal giggles to Forest Grove.

Music news & notes: March 2025

Happenings in Oregon classical music, including news about a nationally acclaimed Oregon radio station, a rising young Oregon musician, a new orchestra leader in Eugene, the impending end of a couple of beloved musical traditions, and more.

Unexpected connections, onstage and off

Bringing authenticity to neurodiversity: PHAME Academy and Artists Rep collaborate on Diana Burbano’s "Sapience," a play that deals in part with being on the spectrum.

Saxophones for Peace: Quadraphonnes & friends play Moondog

Portland’s supreme saxophone quartet and guest musicians perform the singular, strangely seductive sounds of one of America’s great musical eccentrics

Shakespeare, minimalist and feminist

Bag&Baggage Productions’ snappy "Beginnings & Endings" presents a stripped-down "Richard III" and a modern look at the Bard’s women.

Celebrating diversity in Hillsboro

In a time when cultural pluralism is under attack, groups in Washington County team up for an afternoon of connection and celebration through poetry, dance, music and food.

All Classical Radio’s Media Arts Center: Portland’s newest cultural hub

The venerable broadcaster’s move to new studios in downtown's KOIN Tower opens space for an energetic and expanded mission beyond the radio dial.

‘Hard Boiled Eggnog’: Who offed Santa?

Noel meets Noir in Bag & Baggage’s new family friendly holiday play.

TOC Portland: A new song for an old institution

The venue formerly known as The Old Church Concert Hall reimagines and expands its mission to provide greater support to its home community.

Words into Music part 2: Poetic Inspirations

Cascadia Composers teams up with a quartet of Oregon Poets Laureate in a concert of Northwest-spawned sounds and words