Oregon ArtsWatch

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Lorin Wilkerson

A lifelong musician and writer, Lorin Wilkerson has been a part of the Portland classical music scene as a performer, writer, and non-profit board member for over 15 years. He has performed with the Portland Symphonic Choir, Bach Cantata Choir, and Classical Revolution PDX, and served on the boards of the Bach Cantata Choir and Musica Maestrale. A member of the Music Critics Association of North America, he has written for Willamette Week, Hollywood Star, Oregon Music News and other publications. An avid birder, he is the Field Notes Editor of Oregon Birds, the journal of the Oregon Birding Association.

An ethereal architecture: In Mulieribus presents “All Shall Be Well”

November 4, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

The women’s vocal ensemble sang music by Holst, Pärt, Reich, Carol J. Jones, Joanne Metcalfe, Olivia Sparkhall, and Shruthi Rajasekhar, on texts from Julian of Norwich and the Rig Veda to Pirkei Avot and the Psalms.

Different branches of the same tree: A conversation with In Mulieribus managing director Jessica Blau

October 4, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

The longtime arts administrator, opera singer, and flamenco dancer discusses the role of administrative work in keeping the arts alive.

Always working in the light: New Wave Opera’s double feature

October 1, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

NWO presented a pair of women-centered operas: one about Marie Curie learning to swim, the other about the unknown woman “Alice Tierney.”

Always all or nothing: Cliburn medalist Evren Ozel’s Portland Piano International recital

September 22, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

The bronze medalist brought sensitive lyricism and dexterity to his interpretations of Scarlatti, Beethoven, Bartók, Fauré and Schumann.

Confess!: Renegade Opera’s “hot as hell” production of “Waking the Witch”

September 16, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

RO’s setting of the Ashi Day chamber opera drew parallels between 16th-century witch-hunts and their present day equivalents.

An electric current: OrpheusPDX’s production of “Jacqueline”

September 3, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

Luna Pearl Woolf and Royce Vavrek’s setting of the life of cellist Jacqueline du Pré.

Participating in the ritual: Central Oregon’s Sunriver Music Festival

August 21, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

The joys and miracles of live music in the rustic Great Hall, with SRMF director Brett Mitchell, concertmaster Yi Zhao, pianist and Cliburn medalist Vitaly Starikov, and an orchestra full of stars.

Franck, Ravaei, Schiff and Schubert at Chamber Music Northwest

August 2, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

From lieder and David Schiff’s evergreen “Gimpel” music to new music inspired by Kian Ravaei’s shuffling iPod.

The funny thing about friendships: Musica Maestrale’s Hideki Yamaya

July 24, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

Reflecting on a decade-plus of friendship with the early music specialist on the occasion of Yamaya’s move to Utrecht.

Sheer, trembling majesty: Oswald Huỳnh’s Bach ode, Berio’s “Folk Songs,” and Fauré’s “Requiem”

July 14, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

Mezzo Fleur Barron and baritone Elliot Madore joined the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus and Modern Orchestra for a concert of stellar performances.

Birdsongs of Opera—The Second Flocking

July 11, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

Renegade Opera returns with another series of costumed, avian-themed, outdoor performances of operatic classics.

A long, strange trip: Birder and ArtsWatcher Lorin Wilkerson traverses the West, from Red Rocks to The Cliburn in Texas

July 3, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

From Oregon through Colorado and Utah to Fort Worth and back, with a report on the famous piano competition and its medalists.

Fully reflective of life: PSU Opera’s Puccini double-header

May 7, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

Portland State University’s opera program presented a pair of strikingly different productions of “Suor Angelica” and “Gianni Schicchi.”

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

May 2, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

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.

The gift of song: Yoko Greeney and Amelia Lukas perform “Music of the Birds”

March 24, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

The pianist and flutist performed bird-themed music by Japanese and Oregonian composers at the Portland Japanese Garden.

Grief is one of the faces of love: The Midwinter Revels’ “Norse Fire, A Celebration of the Solstice”

January 8, 2025Lorin Wilkerson

This year’s Revels production featured a smorgasbord of Northern music and traditions.

Things felt rather than heard: Fear No Music’s “Sounds Like Home”

December 4, 2024Lorin Wilkerson

FNM’s all-Oregonian concert continued last month with Ryan Francis’ “Voynich Transcriptions” and works by Charlie Bruggemann, Andy Akiho, Caroline Shaw, and Kenji Bunch.

Possibility space(s): “Little Ones” and “The Raven” at Renegade Opera’s “Artist in Conversation Stage(s)”

November 21, 2024Lorin Wilkerson

On two nights in November, RO presented a workshop reading of Danielle Olana Jagelski and Rhiana Yazzie’s opera-in-progress about students at Utah’s Intermountain Indian School and a staged performance of Jesse Preis’ “fach-free” opera.

Breaking new ground: Andy Akiho’s “Nisei” concerto for cellist Jeffrey Zeigler

October 22, 2024Lorin Wilkerson

The composer’s new work, performed earlier this month by Zeigler and the Oregon Symphony, moved his soundworld forward with sweet legato melodies and consciousness-shifting textures.

Shameless reverence: Renegade Opera’s “Orlofsky’s Party”

October 9, 2024Lorin Wilkerson

RO’s modern retelling of “Die Fledermaus” at The Judy toyed with light opera conventions and contemporary social issues.

Such heavenly harmony as we can attain: William Byrd Festival enters its 25th year

August 29, 2024Lorin Wilkerson

A slice of the recently-concluded festival, featuring Ross W. Duffin’s union of Byrd’s music with poetry by Sir Philip Sidney and Cantores In Ecclesia singing music of modern British composers alongside Byrd’s.

Challenging Apollo: Stewart Goodyear, Amelia Lukas, Chloe Mun, and Radovan Vlatković at Chamber Music Northwest

August 5, 2024Lorin Wilkerson

Pianist-composer Goodyear, flutist Lukas, pianist Mun, and hornist Vlatkovič joined forces with CMNW co-artistic directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim for a pair of July chamber music concerts at Reed College’s Kaul Auditorium.

Sonorous mystery: An imaginative presentation of Holst and Stravinsky at Oregon Bach Festival

July 18, 2024Lorin Wilkerson

A warm, synaesthetic performance of “Symphony of Psalms” preceded the multi-media “The Planets,” both under Alevtina Ioffe’s commanding direction, at OBF 2024.

‘Blessed with a bounteous lineage’: Evergreen & Oak Trio at Lady Hill Winery

October 18, 2023Lorin Wilkerson

Mezzo-composer Lisa Neher, flutist Rose Bishop, and pianist Abbie Brewer performed a concert of “innovative yet beautiful” chamber music in Saint Paul.

‘Something so elastic that it will embrace anything’: Hannah Penn and Maria Garcia with Third Angle New Music

October 11, 2023Lorin Wilkerson

The singer and pianist presented an intimate evening of songs and poetry.

‘Why do I think it’s not beautiful?’: Fear No Music opens season with concert-lecture series aimed at de-mystifying new music

October 3, 2023Lorin Wilkerson

FNM followed its mandate, with two days of demonstrations and performances of electro-acoustic and chance-based music by Annie Gosfield, Eve Beglarian, Kaija Saariaho, Hannah Ishizaki, Adina Izarra, and Kamala Sankaram.

‘The battles are all for naught, yet always they must be fought’: Unpacking the meanings of ‘Adam’s Run,’ performed by Renegade Opera

September 19, 2023Lorin Wilkerson

The Portland production of the doomsaying contemporary opera balanced farce and gloom.

Bursting with fresh ideas built on familiar styles: CMNW’s ‘Uncovered Voices’

July 30, 2023Lorin Wilkerson

The concert of mostly new and contemporary music featured Amelia Lukas performing Deena T. Grossman and Tania Léon; Anthony McGill, Gloria Chien, and Catalyst Quartet performing Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Brahms; and music by pianist-composer Stewart Goodyear.

There is a common thread: umama womama at CMNW

July 19, 2023Lorin Wilkerson

The composer-performer flute-viola-harp trio premiered their own music alongside R. Murray Schafer’s similarly Debussy-influenced trio.

With thirsty ears: A report from New Music Gathering 2023

July 5, 2023Lorin Wilkerson

NMG 2023 acknowledged loss and celebrated recovery with concerts indoors and outside.