Oregon ArtsWatch

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Joe Cantrell

I spent my first 21 years in Tahlequah, Cherokee County, Oklahoma, assuming that except for a few unfortunate spots, ‘everybody’ was part Cherokee, and son of the soil. Volunteered for Vietnam because that’s what we did. After two stints, hoping to gain insight, perhaps do something constructive, I spent the next 16 years as a photojournalist in Asia, living much like the lower income urban peasants and learning a lot. Moved back to the USA in 1986, tried photojournalism and found that the most important subjects were football and basketball, never mind humankind. In 1992, age 46, I became single dad of my 3-year-old daughter and spent the next two decades working regular jobs, at which I was not very good, to keep a roof over our heads, but we made it. She’s retail sales supervisor for Sony, Los Angeles. Wowee! The VA finally acknowledged that the war had affected me badly and gave me a disability pension. I regard that as a stipend for continuing to serve humanity as I can, to use my abilities to facilitate insight and awareness, so I shoot a lot of volunteer stuff for worthy institutions and do artistic/scientific work from our Cherokee perspective well into many nights. Come along!

Local talent gushing excellence: 45th Parallel Universe’s “Caroline Shaw Concert Crawl”

A photo essay featuring Pyxis Quartet and mousai REMIX, who recently performed Shaw’s complete string quartet music as part of the “Sounds Like Portland” festival.

A different kind of satisfaction: Catching up with James Shields and ChatterPDX

The clarinetist-composer discusses the Sunday morning chamber music series he co-founded with cellist Trevor Fitzpatrick.

Fear No Music runs the marathon!

The experts of new music in Oregon presented what ended up being five hours of music composed in the Pacific Northwest.

A real hoot: Niel DePonte’s Concerts in the Barn

Three weeks of “combo concerts” at Butler Barn in Tualatin Valley combined different musical styles to celebrate summer.

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.

A paradise of aesthetic abundance: Jennifer Wright’s ‘Long Strings’ at Zidell Yards

An innovative Portland composer and friends make fresh music from discarded industrial heavy metal, a little brawn, and tales from the Greek gods.

Waterfront Blues Festival: For a 38th July Fourth holiday, Portland parties down

A compact two days of music and celebration bring big crowds to the city's waterfront and a sense of togetherness, get-down-ness and joy as summer kicks in.

The mother lode: Fear No Music’s season closer

Reflecting on the last final concert of FNM’s all-Oregonian season–featuring Nicholas Emerson, Nancy Ives, and Dao Strom–and a look back at the season itself, and what it means for the Oregon School of Composition in these trying times.

It is all one: Joe Cantrell and Nancy Ives’s “Celilo Falls” project and the Oregon Symphony

The multimedia project – now in an expanded form with fresh orchestration, new photographs, and a plethora of Native American art and artifacts – comes to The Schnitz the first weekend of June.

Footloose about the town: Classical Up Close hits its stride in a free concert series

For the 12th year, a merry band of roving Oregon Symphony musicians spills out of the concert hall and into churches, libraries, community centers and book stores, taking their music to the places where the people are.

Soundscapes and mindscapes: Fear No Music’s evening of electroacoustic music

The fourth in FNM’s season-long commitment to Oregon composers showcased music for piano, strings, and electronics by William Campbell, Ravi Kittappa, Caroline L. Miller, Kirsten Volness, and Anwyn Willette.

A noble effort: Classical Up Close enters thirteenth season

The series of pop-up performances and full-length concerts – all free of charge, all featuring Oregon Symphony musicians – springs into action at a variety of venues this month and next.

Dancing in the gaps: Vijay Gupta with 45th Parallel Universe

The violinist joined Pyxis Quartet for a concert centered on Osvaldo Golijov’s somber “Tenebrae”

As the U.S. tilts toward Putin, Ukrainians in Oregon play a different cultural tune

Marking the third year since the Russian invasion, supporters of Ukrainian sovereignty break out the music, flowers and flags of a long and proud cultural tradition.

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.

Play On: Every Brain Needs (Love) Music

Brain and heart: On Valentine's Day, Portland Chamber Music and neuroscientist Larry Sherman explored the many moods of love – and music's role in keeping it in tune.

The many faces of Monica Ohuchi: A photo essay

The pianist and Fear No Music executive director performed Caroline Shaw's "Gustave le Grey" at FNM's recent "Sounds Like Home" concert.

Splish-splash: Giant pumpkins on the lake

At the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta in Tualatin, the gargantuan gourds glide across the water like bloated kayaks as the crowd cheers onshore. Who says veggies can't be fun?

Waterfront Blues Fest: That’s a wrap

Portland's four-day blues bash at Tom McCall Waterfront Park beats the heat -- and photographer Joe Cantrell catches the sights and sounds and free-flowing joy of it all.

A blues explosion on the 4th of July

On the opening day of the Waterfront Blues Festival, photographer Joe Cantrell captures the sights and sounds from the stages to the crowd to the fireworks.

Classical Up Close: It’s all about those basses (and a lot more)

The chamber musicians wind up their movable feast of a spring season with a pair of concerts featuring a bass quartet, flute, steel pan drums, and composers from Haydn to Andy Akiho.

Classical Up Close: Taking the music to the people

The classical group's spring season of free pop-up and full-length shows gets out of the concert halls and into book stores, cafes, churches, and other places where people gather.

Classical Up Close rings out on radio

Some of Portland's finest classical musicians warm up for a new season of free and accessible small-scale concerts with a "Thursdays @ 3" broadcast on All Classical Radio.

Much love, much Strauss, grace, pure fun: Sebé Kan African Dance, Portland Chamber Orchestra, Camille Ortiz, and more at The Reser for an early New Year’s Eve

During the day, a family fun event featuring crayons, dance, music, and a noon ball drop. The evening before, PCO and Ortiz performed music from 19th-century Vienna.

An Aztec celebration in Garden Home

The Sempoashochitl Festival, in honor and celebration of Día de los Muertos and the glories of the marigold, brings a whirl of traditional dance, art, music and remembrance.

Let there be music (and tractors, too)

On a balmy July evening on a Beaverton farm, The Concerts at the Barn kicked off their summer season. For audience and musicians alike, the sights and sounds were delicious.

Whirling divas at The Reser

Life is a cabaret: Poison Waters and a bevy of drag stars dress up, feel their Pride, light the lights, and put on a show.

Blues Fest finale: Light up the sky

After a four-day feast of music and partying, the 2023 Waterfront Blues Festival winds up with a bang of Fourth of July fireworks over the river.

Blues Fest Day 2: Mysti Krewe, fiddles too

The skeleton celebrants of Mysti Krewe of Nimbus bring a sweet New Orleans flavor to Portland's annual outdoor bash of the blues.

Kicking it off: Waterfront Blues Day 1

The blues festival, a downtown summer highlight since 1988, lays down its groove through July Fourth. Photographer Joe Cantrell captures Saturday's opening-day action.