Some of this fall\u2019s most recommended classical music shows feature music inspired by stories and voices lost to or neglected by history \u2013 including, but not limited to, women. Fortunately, the genre is no longer all about dead men \u2013 many concerts prominently feature music written by women who are very much alive and performing and composing, including the youngest ever Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw, who lives right here in Portland and whose innovative, emotionally engaging music graces several of this fall\u2019s concerts.<\/p>\n Besides her sterling soprano voice and starring performances with every major American opera company, Karen Slack is renowned for venturing far beyond the standard operatic repertoire and performing music by contemporary and unfairly neglected composers. Accompanied by pianist Kevin Miller, the 2025 Grammy winner, who also serves as Portland Opera\u2019s Artistic Adviser, will sing music by some of today\u2019s brightest rising composers: Jasmine Barnes, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Carlos Simon, and more, including Portland Opera\u2019s Music Director Damien Geter.<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13-14, Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 12625 S.W. Crescent St., Beaverton; $36-$56, <\/i>thereser.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n On a January evening in 1880, a 45-year-old \u201cdissipated woman\u201d named Alice Tierney was found strangled and strung up on a Philadelphia fence. The police called it an accident. Today, composer Melissa Dunphy lives on that property, and when she learned about Tierney\u2019s death, she and librettist Jacqueline Goldfinger decided to try to tell as much of her story as they (and the four fictional archeologist they created for their original opera) could unearth. <\/p>\n \u201cAlice Tierney\u201d is one of two one-act operas presented by New Wave Opera. Founded by a pair of Portland Opera chorus singers, NWO showcases contemporary music by a diverse array of today\u2019s composers, featuring accomplished singers accompanied by chamber ensembles. In the program\u2019s other West Coast premiere, \u201cMarie Curie Learns to Swim\u201d by composer Jessica Rudman and librettist Kendra Preston Leonard, the famed Nobel Prize winning physicist\u2019s daughter forces her mother to confront the (ultimately deadly) dangers of her groundbreaking radium research.<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19-21, University of Portland Mago Hunt Recital Hall, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd.; $20-$40, <\/i>newwaveopera.org<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Like its other concerts this season, the former Columbia Symphony orchestra\u2019s season opening program pairs connected contemporary and classic works. This show features an orchestral version of Portland composer Caroline Shaw\u2019s dramatic \u201cEntr\u2019acte,\u201d <\/i>plus acclaimed British composer Anna Clyne\u2019s \u201cSound and Fury,\u201d alongside the fun Haydn symphony (nicknamed, approximately, \u201cThe Absent-Minded Dude\u201d) that inspired it.<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, Mt. Hood Community College, Gresham, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 12625 S.W. Crescent St., Beaverton; $36-$56, <\/i>novanw.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n The adventurous large choir brings together artists, a 30-member orchestra, advocates, survivors, local celebs, and supporters for a concert that raises money for and awareness of breast cancer research. The centerpiece: a 70-minute oratorio written by 10 American composers that integrates music, personal stories and narration. A portion of the proceeds benefit Pink Lemonade Project, which provides programs and services for Oregonians affected by breast cancer.<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 S.W. Broadway; $26-$104, <\/i>orsingers.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n The regional composers\u2019 collective \u2014 one of America\u2019s largest \u2014 celebrates Northwest riparian resplendence with new, homegrown music performed by the Metolius Trio: pianist Andrew Cannestra, violinist Ben Ehrmantraut, and cellist Austin Bennett. The program includes works covering a wide range of styles by familiar Oregon composers (Theresa Koon, Nicholas Yandell, Paul Safar) along with fresh voices Ian Wiese, Alon Nechushtan, Mary Fineman, Steven P. James, I\u2019lana S. Cotton, and Brian Field.<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, Lincoln Performance Hall, room 75, 1620 S.W. Park Ave.; $10-$30, <\/i>cascadiacomposers.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n The peerless all-woman vocal ensemble, best known for its luminous performances of medieval and other ancient music, this time ventures into the 20th century with British composer Gustav Holst\u2019s \u201cChoral Hymns from the Rig Veda,\u201d and into the 21st a pair of similarly spiritually inspired contemporary compositions: \u201cAll Shall Be Well\u201d by Carol Jones, and the great American composer Steve Reich\u2019s brief, beguiling \u201cKnow What Is Above You.\u201d<\/p>\n 7 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18-19. St. Philip Neri Church, 2408 S.E. 16th Ave.; $16-$47, <\/i>inmulieribus.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n The orchestra gets all jazzy with Portland\u2019s own homegrown bassist\/singer composer legend, who\u2019ll perform some of her own exciting, original songs, along with award-winning rising star Jessie Montgomery\u2019s stirring \u201cHymn For Everyone,\u201d and a pair of major works by one of jazz\u2019s greatest-ever composers, the venerated Wayne Shorter, whose late-life collaboration with spalding was a highlight of both their careers.<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18-19, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 S.W. Broadway; $35-$163, <\/i>orsymphony.org<\/u><\/i><\/a>.<\/u><\/i><\/p>\n When anyone \u2014 or any organization \u2014 reaches its 40th birthday, either midlife crisis or complacency often sets in. Not so with Oregon\u2019s oldest new music organization. Not only does this irresistible chamber music concert feature contemporary music inspired by the Pacific Northwest, including two written by local composers (Caroline Shaw and 3A violist Wendy Richman), plus Japanese composer Dai Fujikura\u2019s \u201cPerpetual Spring,\u201d which the group recorded a few years ago. They\u2019re also all commissioned by Third Angle, and one is a world premiere. The show includes poetry recited by erstwhile Oregon Poet Laureate Kim Stafford. Even in midlife, Third Angle is keeping classical music fresh and locally grown.<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 22-23, World Forestry Center, 4033 S.W. Canyon Road; $35-$45, <\/i>Thirdangle.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n In recent years no Oregon classical music organization has incorporated social justice concerns into its programming as astutely, devotedly \u2014 and entertainingly \u2014 as Resonance Ensemble and Fear No Music. Now the two socially conscious contemporary music groups \u2014 one all-vocal, the other all-instrumental \u2014 team up for a concert of new music written entirely by some of Portland\u2019s finest composers: Stacey Philipps, Sydney Guillaume, Cecille Elliott, Ren\u00e9e Favand-See, and Caroline Shaw. Award winning composer\/singer\/sound artist and Reed College prof Bora Yoon, joins Resonance and FNM regulars with her signature amalgamation of electronics, voice and immersive media. <\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, Benson Polytechnic High School Auditorium, 546 N.E. 12th Ave.; $5-$40, <\/i>resonancechoral.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n At a moment when the long-dominant culture is striving to erase certain aspects of history to conform to national mythology, this new made-in-Portland folk opera elevates an unfairly neglected character of the storied Lewis & Clark exhibition. Using historical source material, award winning Portland musician and educator Aaron Nigel Smith (music and book) and poet\/activist\/journalist S. Renee Mitchell (lyrics) tell the story of York, the enslaved Black man who was an essential part of the celebrated journey of discovery that helped shape America. Set to a multicultural mixture of folk, classical, reggae, jazz, and hip-hop music, \u201cYork\u201d takes audiences of all ages on their own voyage to discover hidden truths behind the myth.<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Friday- Saturday, Oct. 24-25, Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 12625 S.W. Crescent St., Beaverton; $20-$35, <\/i>thereser.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n This new all-star trio (prize winning clarinetist Anthony McGill, Grammy Award-winning singer Fleur Barron, and CMNW artistic Director and pianist Gloria Chien) performs a fascinating program of contemporary compositions (all commissioned by CMNW) by Kian Ravaei, Alex Ho and Imani Winds founder Valerie Coleman, plus a couple of Brahms classics.<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 S.W. Park Ave.; $20-$77, <\/i>cmnw.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n You may know about the tragic exchange of Hindus and Muslims that followed the end of British rule on the Indian subcontinent after World War II. A less deadly but still fraught exchange happened after World War I, when many thousands of ethnic Greeks and Turks were forcibly uprooted from areas their ancestors had occupied for centuries. In his new \u201cThe Lost Anthem,\u201d co-commissioned by Cappella Romana, composer Dimitris Skyllas tells this poignant story through original music performed by the esteemed Portland vocal consort and musicians of 45th Parallel Universe, setting poetry in English, Greek, and Turkish. This all-contemporary program from a vocal group best known for ancient sounds includes selections from the \u201cRequiem\u201d by one of the most revered Greek composers, Mikis Theodorakis (who scored \u201cZorba the Greek\u201d), 20th century English composer John Tavener, and the world premiere of \u201cMystical Versicles\u201d by another contemporary Greek composer, Christos Hatzis.<\/p>\n 2 p.m. Saturday Nov. 15, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 3131 N.E. Glisan St.; $33-$58, <\/i>cappellaromana.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n Portlanders are lucky that Friends of Chamber annually brings the Tak\u00e1cs String Quartet to town. Any opportunity to experience possibly the world\u2019s finest chamber music ensemble is to be treasured, but this appearance is especially valuable, because Tuesday\u2019s performance will include a fifth player. Violist Jordan Bak enables them to perform Mozart\u2019s greatest chamber compositions, his two viola quintets, which are comparatively rarely performed because there are oodles of touring string quartets and few if any quintets. Monday\u2019s show includes Debussy\u2019s sole, magical quartet, a Haydn gem, and a newly commissioned quartet by the excellent contemporary composer Clarice Assad \u2014 who FOCM is also bringing to Beaverton\u2019s Reser Center with her own trio Nov. 2.<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, Dec. 8-9, Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 S.W. Park Ave.; $32-$63, <\/i>focm.org<\/i><\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n The most memorable explorations aren\u2019t always the successful. Take Robert Scott\u2019s doomed Antarctic expedition, or the 1996 attempted climb of the world\u2019s highest peak, detailed in Jon Krakauer\u2019s \u201cInto Thin Air\u201d. In a daringly innovative production created by San Francisco\u2019s excellent Opera Parall\u00e8le, that latter disaster, as told in the much-admired British composer Joby Talbot and librettist Gene Scheer\u2019s 2014 one-act opera \u201cEverest,\u201d is reimagined as a kind of immersive graphic novel. Instead of the usual live musicians, this production uses recorded singers and orchestral music, along with animated film storytelling and interactive experiences (e.g. rain ponchos for the audience and other props). In some ways it\u2019s less than a traditional operatic experience \u2014 but in others, much more.<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12-20 and 2 p.m. Dec. 21, World Trade Center Theatre, 121 S.W. Salmon St.; $50, <\/i>portlandopera.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.oregonlive.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some of this fall\u2019s most recommended classical music shows feature music inspired by stories and voices lost to or neglected by history \u2013 including, but not limited to, women. Fortunately, the genre is no longer all about dead men \u2013 many concerts prominently feature music written by women who are very much alive and performing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2012167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2012167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2012167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2012167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2012167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/resizer\/v2\/5UXR6NR375EK3EH3XUII3KEWCM.jpg?auth=7f21ac20dc522db8fee417f82148415a3a8c6955f8f45609621915f7ba581002&width=1280&quality=90\")
<\/picture>Karen Slack: \u2018African Queens\u2019 \u2013 Presented by Portland Opera<\/b><\/h3>\n
\u2018Atoms & Artifacts\u2019 \u2013 New Wave Opera<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/resizer\/v2\/ZQPSEIKEHVCLDE2ME2FSWSFJKM.jpg?auth=f40329988945b4f6075b0fad60471fc3f7427ace2dbfe9c81ad858e861e09f4a&width=1280&quality=90\")
<\/picture>\u2018LINEAGE: Sound & Fury\u2019 \u2013 Orchestra Nova Northwest<\/b><\/h3>\n
\u2018Sing for the Cure: A Proclamation of Hope\u2019 \u2013 Oregon Repertory Singers<\/b><\/h3>\n
\u2018Three Rivers\u2019 \u2013 Cascadia Composers<\/b><\/h3>\n
\u2018All Shall Be Well\u2019 \u2013 In Mulieribus<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"Esperanza](\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/resizer\/v2\/KESGIALX3ZF4DCZOQPJIALJOYA.jpg?auth=caeb8d3e97e0e836741f47cdbca22127be8afb019b7dbc95ce7189a7ee47300c&width=1280&quality=90\")
<\/picture>esperanza spalding \u2013 Oregon Symphony<\/b><\/h3>\n
\u2018Evergreen\u2019 \u2013 Third Angle New Music<\/b><\/h3>\n
\u2018The Sound of Us\u2019 \u2013 Resonance Ensemble and Fear No Music<\/b><\/h3>\n
\u2018York the Explorer\u2019<\/b><\/h3>\n
Trio Afiori \u2013 Presented by Chamber Music Northwest<\/b><\/h3>\n
\u2018Living Memories\u2019 \u2013 Cappella Romana and 45th Parallel Universe<\/b><\/h3>\n
Tak\u00e1cs Quartet \u2013 Presented by Friends of Chamber Music<\/b><\/h3>\n
\u2018Everest\u2019 \u2013 Portland Opera<\/b><\/h3>\n