(Graphic | Courtesy of Chamber Music Northwest)
Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) is excited to announce its groundbreaking in-person and online 2021 Summer Festival. Beginning July 1, the 51st annual festival will feature four weeks of stellar musical programming showcasing performances by the world’s most renowned artists. With carefully planned health and safety protocols, CMNW will offer 17 live, limited-seating concerts July 1 through July 25 at Reed College’s Kaul Auditorium; plus, two outdoor concerts for the community. The live festival concerts will be professionally recorded and streamed online beginning two weeks later on July 15, with access on cmnw.org through August 31.
CMNW’s 2021 Summer Festival will feature 65 of the nation’s finest chamber musicians performing a wide variety of works, from classics to new works, including the much-anticipated world premiere of Marc Neikrug’s A Song by Mahler that was previously scheduled to premiere at the 2020 Summer Festival. Additionally, the multitalented Israeli pianist and composer Matan Porat will perform improvisational accompaniment for two free Buster Keaton silent comedy movie night performances as outdoor, community concerts in Gresham and North Portland.
From Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim: “After a year without live music, we are so excited to share our joyful and reflective 2021 Summer Festival — our first as Chamber Music Northwest’s new artistic directors! Some of CMNW’s favorite performers will return, such as the Dover and Brentano string quartets, and cellist Paul Watkins of the Emerson Quartet. The East Coast Chamber Orchestra, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, pianist Marc-André Hamelin, guitarist Jason Vieaux and bass-baritone Davóne Tines headline the star-studded cast who will make their CMNW debuts. Timeless classics such as Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings and Copland’s Appalachian Spring will be heard alongside five exciting world premieres. We are proud to present this array of thrilling and deeply moving repertoire, performed by the greatest artists in the world, and that audiences near and far can enjoy both live in Portland or remotely.”
COMMISSIONED WORKS
Chamber Music Northwest’s 2021 Summer Festival features string quartets, renowned soloists, today’s greatest living composers, local and national musicians and boasts four new CMNW-commissioned works and a fifth additional world premiere. Creating opportunity for composers to create new music is a long-standing hallmark of CMNW, with more than 130 new works commissioned and premiered since 1971.
For the 2021 Summer Festival, CMNW will present: David Ludwig’s Les Adieux: for clarinet and chamber ensemble commissioned to honor CMNW Artistic Director Emeritus David Shifrin in 2020; the world premiere of Marc Neikrug’s A Song by Mahler, a theatrical chamber opera co-commissioned by CMNW with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the La Jolla, Lake Champlain and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festivals; Matan Porat playing his lilting Piano Quintet premiere with the Dover Quartet; and the unprecedented composition Duo for Guitar and Saxophone by Pierre Jalbert, written for, and performed by, saxophonist Branford Marsalis and guitarist Jason Vieaux. The festival will also include the world premiere of Portland composer Kenji Bunch’s new Vesper Flight, written for internationally acclaimed flutist Tara Helen O’Connor.
WEEK-BY-WEEK HIGHLIGHTS
WEEK 1: THE BRILLIANCE OF THE EAST COAST CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
This year’s festival kicks off with the high-energy East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO) whose 15 members — including the acclaimed Jupiter Quartet — dazzle over two programs, including a concerto featuring new Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim. Catch them in the concert hall or at pop-ups around town!
WEEK 2: CELEBRATING DAVID SHIFRIN & FRIENDS
After a year of anticipation, we finally celebrate our internationally renowned Artistic Director Emeritus and clarinetist David Shifrin for his 40 years of CMNW leadership! Over 30 of CMNW’s most-beloved musicians join forces for audience favorites by Weber, Copland and Mozart, as well as in multiple world premieres, including Marc Neikrug’s theatrical chamber opera, A Song by Mahler.
WEEK 3: A WEEK OF VIRTUOSITY
Full of award-winning star performers like Marc-André Hamelin, Branford Marsalis, Jason Vieaux and the Dover Quartet, this week features two more world premieres of CMNW commissions, along with thrilling masterpieces by Ornstein and Bartók. Monday and Tuesday evenings, CMNW presents free Buster Keaton movie nights with pianist and composer Matan Porat on the eastside at Gresham Arts Plaza, and at University of Portland in North Portland.
WEEK 4: REFLECT, REJOICE & REIMAGINE
The final week features the CMNW 2021-22 Artists-in-Residence, the Brentano Quartet, and the Chien-Kim-Watkins Trio in Classical masterpieces by Haydn, Schubert and Brahms. The inspired festival finale presents the astounding bass-baritone Davóne Tines in selections from his selections from his deeply moving MASS, and Schubert’s divine cello quintet.
COMMUNITY ACCESS & EDUCATION
Chamber Music Northwest is committed to making great music and music education accessible in our community. With a consideration given to the pandemic, the 2021 Summer Festival will include two free, outdoor community concerts featuring Movie Nights with pianist and composer Matan Porat at underserved outer eastside and North Portland locations. CMNW will coordinate short pop-up concerts throughout Portland the first week in July featuring East Coast Chamber Orchestra and other week 1 musicians. Complimentary AT-HOME passes will be offered to local music education organizations that serve students from diverse backgrounds and underrepresented communities. The local community is invited to weekly open rehearsals at Reed College on Wednesday mornings (advance reservations required). Each week the public is invited to watch free musical conversations and masterclasses with visiting musicians that will be streamed at cmnw.org.
CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST 2021 SUMMER FESTIVAL
LIVE Summer Festival
Thursday, July 1-Sunday, July 25, 2021
Kaul Auditorium, Reed College
Advance ticket reservations are required. Limited live seats (max 150 occupants) are available in the 750 occupancy auditorium.
AT-HOME Summer Festival
Thursday, July 15-Saturday, August 7, 2021
Recorded and produced concerts from the LIVE festival will premiere on cmnw.org two weeks after the live concert. These rolling online premieres begin on July 15 and run through August 7 — the entire festival is available on-demand through August 31.