Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) presents its 56th annual summer festival from June 25 to July 19 at concert venues throughout Portland, Oregon. Themed CONFLUENCE: Our Shared Voices, the 2026 festival will present music to transcend cultural, geographical, and political borders and celebrate a range of musical traditions that have shaped chamber music today. CMNW will host more than 70 of the world and region’s finest chamber musicians—from piano and voice to winds and strings—as they converge on Portland to bring dozens of classic, new, beloved, and rarely performed masterpieces of boundless variety to life.
In addition to presenting concerts in large halls, CMNW offers a new music series in smaller venues and noontime Protégé Spotlight Recitals, as well as free outdoor community concerts, educational opportunities, and masterclasses. Early in the festival, CMNW will once again host the Young Artist Institute (launched in 2022) an intensive education program for 16 talented string players from around the world, ages 14–18. These young musicians will be featured in free showcases and perform throughout the community.
From Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim: “Music has the ability to connect us beyond words, labels, and borders, inviting us to celebrate both our differences and our common ground. Confluence: Our Shared Voices is a tribute to music’s power to unite and to the vibrant cultural heritages that continue to inspire the music we love.”
2026 Summer Festival | Highlights
- Historic and 21st-century masterpieces by J. S. Bach, Lembit Beecher, Leonard Bernstein, Brahms, Dvořák, George Gershwin, Kodály, Mozart, Maurice Ravel, Robert Schumann, Tchaikovsky, and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
- Performances by the greatest chamber musicians in the world, including violinist Jennifer Frautschi, cellist Clive Greensmith, clarinetists David Shifrin and Anthony McGill, flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, and 2022 Protégé Ensemble Viano Quartet.
- This year boasts three one-night-only special events: “modern-day Mozart” Kit Armstrong returns, mandolin master Chris Thile performs a handpicked program, and CMNW will remount George Takei‘s and Kenji Bunch’s epic Lost Freedom: A Memory for a larger audience.
- Oregon Bach Festival presents Bach’s soaring and celebratory Cantatas 201 and 207.
- CMNW’s visionary Protégé Project introduces bright stars cellist Jonah Ellsworth and violist Samuel Rosenthal.
- Captivating world premieres by some of America’s most exciting emerging composers including Steven Banks, Reena Esmail, and Donghoon Shin, plus recently written works that energize the New@Night series.
2026 Summer Festival | Key Links
- Press Photos Concert images posted shortly after each concert. Musician/composer/concert composites available.
- Education & Free Community Events
- 2026 Summer Festival
2026 Summer Festival | By The Week
As the festival unfolds, each week explores a different confluence of traditions, beginning with Sounds of America in celebration of the diversity of “America at 250.” From the iconic rhythms and harmonies of Bernstein’s West Side Story and Copland’s Appalachian Spring to spirituals, jigs, and an homage to the American Indian Southwest, this opening celebration paints a vivid musical portrait of the nation.
Week two, Songs from Home, honors the richness of global voices and the nostalgic sounds of homelands. The Indian-inspired soundscapes of Reena Esmail, the Estonian stories from Lembit Beecher’s grandmother, and the Czech-flavored melodies of Janáček and Dvořák all illuminate how identity and memory shape musical expression.
Musical Postcards celebrates how cultures encounter and transform one another. Brahms’s admiration of the fiery Hungarian musical spirit, Tchaikovsky’s fond memories of sojourns in Italy, and two world premieres inspired by Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus and Nina Simone together embody the sharing of stories across time and place.
Unity brings the festival to an exuberant close with universal classics such as Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Piazzolla’s Le Grand Tango, and masterworks by Robert Schumann and Mozart.
2026 Summer Festival | Commissions & Premieres
CMNW is one of the leading commissioners of new work in the nation. With over 140 new works commissioned and premiered since 1971, creating opportunity for composers to make new music is a long-standing commitment of CMNW. The 2026 festival presents three CMNW co-commissioned World, U.S., and West Coast Premiere works.
- Reena Esmail | String Quartet, World Premiere—CMNW Co-Commission for the Viano Quartet by Chamber Music Northwest, Chamber Music Tulsa, Coretet, and the Schubert Club.
July 5. Read notes here. - Donghoon Shin | Sonnets to Orpheus, U.S. Premiere—CMNW Co-Commission by Chamber Music Northwest, Istanbul Music Festival, Sejong Soloists, and Wigmore Hall.
July 9 & 11. Read notes here. - Steven Banks | to be free, West Coast Premiere—CMNW Co-Commission with the generous support of the members of the CMNW Commissioning Club.
July 12 & 13. Read notes here.
2026 Summer Festival | New@Night Concert Series
Always thrilling, our New@Night concerts are an energizing and sonically delightful series. These concerts showcase new and recently written works from some of today’s most innovative composers performed by dynamic musicians in an inviting setting. Patrons are invited to come early to grab a drink and join us for a Musical Conversation at 6 PM, enjoy the early concert at 7 PM, and stay after to mingle with the artists!
July 1 @ 7 PM | The Old Church: Echoes of Home
GYÖRGY LIGETI Viola Sonata
KIRSTEN VOLNESS Shima Enaga
TRADITIONAL Glimpses of Muqam Chebiyat (Arr. Wu Man)
KIT ARMSTRONG Études de dessin
GYÖRGY LIGETI Musica Ricercata, No. 7
July 8 @ 7 PM | Alberta Rose Theatre: SPECIAL EVENT | George Takei’s Lost Freedom: A Memory
PAUL WIANCKO American Haiku
GIOVANNI SOLLIMA Lamentatio
STEVEN BANKS Surrender & Through My Mother’s Eyes
KENJI BUNCH Lost Freedom: A Memory
July 15 @ 7 PM | The Old Church: Across the Americas
HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS Assobio a Játo (The Jet Whistle), W 493
CURTIS STEWART Invention No. 1 Double Down
DAVID SERKIN LUDWIG Shekhinah
VIVIAN FUNG Rhapsody
KRZYSZTOF KOMEDA Ballad for Bernt (Arr. Leszek Możdżer)
BILLY STRAYHORN Take the “A” Train (Arr. Oscar Peterson)
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Flight of the Bumblebee (Arr. Konstanty Vilensky)
Protégé Project
The 2026 Summer Festival Protégé Project Artists are cellist Jonah Ellsworth and violist Samuel Rosenthal. These superb musicians will be in Portland for several weeks during the summer festival and will perform Protégé Spotlight Recitals, and alongside master musicians for mainstage concerts.
Chamber Music Northwest’s Protégé Project is a world-class professional residency for emerging and well-on-their-way musicians—soloists, ensembles, composers—that cultivates and encourages the growth of chamber music’s rising stars. Protégé Project Artists are featured in CMNW Summer Festival concerts and present music engagements in the community. Since its founding in 2010, Chamber Music Northwest’s Protégé Project has played a key role in launching the professional careers of dozens of America’s finest young chamber musicians including the now internationally renowned ensembles Imani Winds, Dover Quartet, Jasper String Quartet, Akropolis Reed Quintet, Kenari Quartet, Opus13, and Viano Quartet*—all whom we’ve delightedly brought back to Portland in later years. Individual artists have earned impressive accolades since their protégé time with us. Recent examples include: violinists such as Diana Adamyan, Benjamin Beilman, Nikki Chooi, Bella Hristova, Anna Lee, Isabelle Ai Durrenberger,* and Claire Wells;* pianists Yekwon Sunwoo, Yevgeny Yontov, Zitong Wang, and CMNW Artistic Director Gloria Chien;* cellist Zlatomir Fung; bassist Nina Bernat; composers Andy Akiho, Alistair Coleman,* Kian Ravaei, Chris Rogerson, and Gabriella Smith; and many others. The 2026 Summer Festival Protégé Project Artists are cellist Jonah Ellsworth and violist Samuel Rosenthal. *Protégé Project Artists back for 2026 festival
>> Learn More About Cmnw’s Protégé Project
Education & Community Engagement
In addition to mainstage concert programming are CMNW’s robust Education & Community Engagement (ECE) programs. For the 2026 Summer Festival, CMNW will offer six free community concerts (held around Portland and in Newberg), four open rehearsals, four masterclasses, and nine pre-concert prelude performances—five featuring the Young Artist Institute (YAI) students and four featuring local young musicians. Also planned in a collaboration between YAI and ECE are two days of “pop-up” performances with groups of YAI musicians who will visit over a dozen community spaces such as farmer’s markets, senior living homes, hospitals, care facilities, and more.
>> Learn More About CMNW’s Ece Programs Here
Young Artist Institute
Launched in 2022, Chamber Music Northwest’s Young Artist Institute (YAI) is an intensive education program for 16 talented string players from around the world, ages 14–18. For the 2026 cohort, the three-week program is held from June 15 to July 4 on the University of Portland campus. During and just prior to CMNW’s 2026 Summer Festival, the young musicians are featured in performances throughout the community, including free showcases, pre-concert preludes, pop-ups around town, and on SoundsTruck NW’s mobile concert stage for a community concert.
Students in the 2026 YAI cohort come from as far as China, India, and Japan and have soloed with orchestras around the U.S. and Europe. Their accolades include selection for and prizes at YoungArts, Sphinx Competition, National Youth Orchestra, the Fischoff and St. Paul String Quartet Competitions, and many more. They hail from prestigious preparatory programs including New England Conservatory, Royal Conservatory in Toronto, Seattle Chamber Music Society, San Francisco Conservatory, The Juilliard School, and Portland’s own Portland Youth Philharmonic.
Hand-in-hand with the YAI program is the CMNW Collaborative Piano Fellowship. This fellowship program features the talents of two exceptional graduate-level pianists. Selected from major conservatories, 2026 Piano Fellows Jiarong Li and returning pianist Pualina Lim will rehearse, perform, and learn alongside the young artists to refine their skills in the challenging art of collaborative performance with a soloist.
The 2026 YAI faculty includes esteemed musicians and teachers: CMNW’s Artistic Director Soovin Kim, Jessica Lee (violin), Dimitri Murrath (viola), Nicholas Cords (viola), and Peter Stumpf (cello). The Institute is managed by violinist and music education powerhouse Alyssa Tong and will be supported by Operations Associate Paul Kim and Resident Mentors & Production Assistants Jacob Mills and Alexandra Tong.
>> Learn About Yai & 2026 Cohort Here
About Chamber Music Northwest :
Now in its 56th season, Chamber Music Northwest serves more than 25,000 people annually in Oregon and SW Washington with exceptional chamber music through over 100 events annually, including our flagship Summer Festival, year-round concerts, community activities, educational programs, broadcasts, and innovative collaborations with other arts groups. CMNW is the only chamber music festival of its kind in the Northwest and one of the most diverse classical music experiences in the nation, virtually unparalleled in comparable communities.
Chamber Music Northwest’s mission is to inspire our community through concerts and events celebrating the richness and diversity of chamber music, performed by artists of the highest caliber, presenting our community with exceptional opportunities for enjoyment, education, and reflection. Chamber Music Northwest is led by Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim, and Executive Director Peter Bilotta.
Over the past five decades, Chamber Music Northwest has engaged an incredible range of musicians, composers, board members, staff, volunteers, and audiences from diverse backgrounds, heritages and lived experiences whose contributions have been a vital part of who we are today. CMNW exists to offer listeners and musicians musical encounters that inspire collective appreciation and joy. We will endeavor to use the power of our musical programming and educational programs to include myriad of cultures and perspectives, to embrace every generation, and magnify a broad variety of artistic voices. In actively doing this work to enrich our entire community, we make our stand against hate and discrimination, create opportunities that make meaningful and lasting change, and ensure a multitude of musical voices are elevated, heard, and celebrated.
Chamber Music Northwest embraces the artistry of each individual, and believes that unique cultural heritages and myriad of backgrounds are profound strengths to be celebrated, both in our musical family and in our community at large. We stand firmly against, will not tolerate, and condemn discrimination, bigotry, and violence directed at any persons, or groups of people, based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identification, country or nation of origin, physical or intellectual ability.
We value all members of our community and will actively work to dismantle systems of exclusion and discrimination. While we will stumble and fail, we will continually strive to embrace, promote, present, commission, engage, and perform the music of an infinite variety of voices of artists, cultures, heritages, traditions, histories, and imaginations to express the universal power to move the human heart and inspire connection through music. Though we will fall short, and will never do enough to right the wrongs of systemic racism and other forms institutionalized discrimination in our culture and art form, we commit ourselves to elevating the work of musicians and composers who are Asian, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, women, LGBTQIA, or of intersectional or other underrepresented identities, to match the emphasis placed on classical music’s historically traditional artists.
Chamber Music Northwest is an international leader in celebrating chamber music’s enduring relevance and diversity, with more than 100 commissions and premieres of new works as well as its Protégé Project, which cultivates the next generation of dynamic chamber music performers by supporting exceptional, early-career chamber musicians and composers in their professional development. In June 2022, Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) launched the Young Artist Institute (YAI), an intensive education program for 16 talented string players from around the world, ages 14-18. The three-week YAI program includes a faculty of esteemed musicians and teachers. This groundbreaking program also includes a Collaborative Piano Fellowship for two pianists.