Chamber Music Northwest's free Virtual Summer Festival concerts announced

FREE VIRTUAL SUMMER FESTIVAL CONCERTS ANNOUNCED

(Portland, OR) May 29, 2020 – Chamber Music Northwest, presenter of the largest chamber music festival in the Northwest, has adapted its 50-year running Summer Festival into a free Virtual Summer Festival running June 22 - July 26. The five weeks of digital concerts will feature new performances, favorite performances from recent years, and interviews with classical music’s biggest stars including the Emerson, Miró, and Dover Quartets, Ida and Ani Kavafian, André Watts, Edgar Meyer, Peter Schickele, David Shifrin & more! Concerts will premiere 7 pm each Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, June 22 - July 26 and will be available until 11:59 pm the next day on Chamber Music Northwest’s YouTube channel. Full schedule available at CMNW.org.

Highlights of the 15-concert digital festival include the Miró Quartet performing Beethoven’s late string quartets in an exclusive performance from their hometown of Austin, TX; new music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Kevin Puts, David Lang, Christopher Theofanidis, and more; Jazz, Tango, Bluegrass, and more boundary-breaking chamber music; and David Shifrin’s final performance as Chamber Music Northwest Artistic Director.

“This will be the first summer in over 40 years that I won't be performing in Portland with Chamber Music Northwest, but I am glad to be able to join you online with our Virtual Summer Festival" says David Shifrin, Chamber Music Northwest’s Artistic Director of forty years who will be passing on artistic leadership to Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim after the summer. 

“When it became clear that we would not be able to perform live concerts this summer, our entire CMNW community came together to find ways to continue to share the great music that is the heart and soul of our existence" explains Shifrin. "Through the magic of excellent audio and video recordings and the internet, I have been able to assemble programs unaffected by the constraints of time, space, and expense, bringing together the great Emerson Quartet playing Barber’s Adagio in 2015, the Emerson and Calidore Quartets playing Mendelssohn’s Octet in 2017, and the Guarneri Quartet and me performing Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in 2009 – the final season of their decades-long reign as the most celebrated string quartet in the world, and years before Calidore met their mentors the Emerson Quartet!”

Though Chamber Music Northwest has canceled its traditional ticketed Summer Festival and is offering free digital programming instead, the organization is committed to its musicians and staff. Chamber Music Northwest has paid all 88 Summer Festival musicians half of their compensation to assist them at this challenging time and has committed to continued employment for its year-round staff.


Virtual Summer Festival
Free! June 22- July 26 | tune in at CMNW.org or Chamber Music Northwest’s YouTube channel
Full schedule at https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival  


Opening Night with the Emerson, Guarneri & Calidore Quartets
Premieres Monday, June 22 at 7 pm, available through Tuesday, June 23 at 11:59 pm
Celebrate the opening of our Virtual Summer Festival with three of the world’s finest string quartets – Emerson, Guarneri, and Calidore – performing Barber’s exquisite Adagio for Strings, Brahms’ Clarinet Quartet, and Mendelssohn’s epic Octet for Strings.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/opening-night-with-the-emerson-guarneri-calidore-quartets/1104


Schumann & Tchaikovsky Delights
Premieres Thursday, June 25 at 7 pm, available through Friday, June 26 at 11:59 pm
Opus One Piano Quartet – featuring revered artists Ida Kavafian, Anne-Marie McDermott, Steven Tenenbom, and Peter Wiley – and former Chamber Music Northwest Protégé ensemble the Rolston String Quartet, known for its “electrifying performance(s)” (Strings Magazine), perform masterworks by Schumann and Tchaikovsky.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/schumann-tchaikovsky-delights/1105


CMNW Live from NY: Neubauer, Kavafian, Tenenbom & Wiley
Premieres Saturday, June 27 at 7 pm, available through Sunday, June 28 at 11:59 pm
In these new exclusive performances, internationally-acclaimed violist Paul Neubauer and his virtuoso family will perform “live” from their Manhattan living room then violinist Ida Kavafian, violist Steven Tenenbom, and cellist Peter Wiley will perform Mozart’s Divertimento from Ida and Steve’s home – a musical gift from their homes to yours!
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/at-home-with-kavafian-neubauer-tenenbom/1112


Chamber Stories: The Carnival of the Animals & More
Premieres Monday, June 29 at 7 pm, available through Tuesday, June 30 at 11:59 pm
Be transported by music that tells a story, from the classic Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals with narration by pianist Orion Weiss to contemporary works Portraits of Langston by Valerie Coleman and Bruce Adolphe’s urban fairy tale Marita and Her Heart’s Desire.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/chamber-stories-the-carnival-of-the-animals-more/1107

 
New@Night: Our Favorite New American Music
Premieres Thursday, July 2 at 7 pm, available through Friday, July 3 at 11:59 pm
Discover some of our favorite new American classical music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Kevin Puts, David Lang, Christopher Theofanidis – including two new exclusive premieres of work commissioned by Chamber Music Northwest!
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/newnight-our-favorite-new-american-music/1108


CMNW LIVE from Austin: Miró Plays Beethoven’s Late Quartets
Premieres Saturday, July 4 at 7 pm, available through Sunday, July 5 at 11:59 pm
In this new exclusive performance from their hometown of Austin, TX, the Miró Quartet will perform Beethoven’s monumental late string quartets, concluding Op. 130 as originally intended with the controversial and thrilling Op. 133 Grosse Fugue!
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/miro-plays-beethovens-late-quartets/1106


Breaking Boundaries: Tango, Jazz, Bluegrass & More
Premieres Monday, July 6 at 7 pm, available through Tuesday, July 7 at 11:59 pm
Chamber Music Northwest is nationally renowned for expanding the boundaries of chamber music by presenting many musical styles. In this diverse program, you’ll hear Tango, Jazz, Bluegrass, and one of our unique collaborations with Portland contemporary dance company BodyVox performed by the Dover Quartet, Edgar Meyer, and more.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/breaking-boundaries-tango-jazz-bluegrass-more/1110


Impressions of France
Premieres Thursday, July 9 at 7 pm, available through Friday, July 10 at 11:59 pm
Chamber Music’s biggest stars – André Watts, Ida Kavafian, Paul Neubauer, Tara Helen O’Connor, Emerson String Quartet, and more – perform colorful works by great French composers Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Poulenc, and Ravel.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/impressions-of-france-virtual/1111


CMNW LIVE from Austin: Miró Quartet Beethoven’s Finale
Premieres Saturday, July 11 at 7 pm, available through Sunday, July 12 at 11:59 pm
In this new exclusive performance from Austin, TX, the Miró Quartet will conclude their year-long cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets with Opus 131 – considered by Beethoven his greatest achievement in the quartet form – and Opus 135 and 130 Finale, his last compositions before his death.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/miro-quartet-beethovens-finale/1109

20th Century Masters: Stravinsky, Bartók & Shostakovich
Premieres Monday, July 13 at 7 pm, available through Tuesday, July 14 at 11:59 pm
Our future Artistic Directors pianist Gloria Chien and violinist Soovin Kim and friends perform masterpieces by Bartók and Shostakovich, followed by Stravinsky’s powerhouse The Rite of Spring for piano four hands performed by pianists Anne-Marie McDermott and Gilles Vonsattel.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/20th-century-masters-stravinsky-bartok-shostakovich/1113


Peter Schickele Celebration
Premieres Thursday, July 16 at 7 pm, available through Friday, July 17 at 11:59 pm
Celebrate the great American composer and humorist Peter Schickele (aka P.D.Q. Bach) on his 85th birthday! Our program will include his acclaimed Spring Ahead clarinet quintet, commissioned and premiered by CMNW in 2014, plus selections of his serious (and silly) music.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/peter-schickele-celebration/1114


CMNW LIVE from Boston: Beethoven’s Archduke Trio & More
Premieres Saturday, July 18 at 7 pm, available through Sunday, July 19 at 11:59 pm
In this new exclusive performance from their hometown of Boston, future Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim, plus cellist Paul Watkins from the Emerson String Quartet, will play Beethoven piano trio masterpieces from his first to his masterful “Archduke Trio.”
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/beethovens-archduke-trio-more/1116


Protégés at the Alberta Rose
Premieres Monday, July 20 at 7 pm, available through Tuesday, July 21 at 11:59 pm
Discover the next generation of classical music stars in this program of Ravel, Mozart, and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time performed by Chamber Music Northwest Protégé Project artists and mentors. Chamber Music Northwest’s Protégé Project is a world-class professional residency for emerging professional musicians. 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.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/proteges-at-the-alberta-rose/1117


CMNW LIVE from Nashville: Edgar Meyer & Friends
Premieres Thursday, July 23 at 7 pm, available through Friday, July 24 at 11:59 pm
In a new exclusive performance from his home in Nashville, Grammy Award-winning bassist and composer Edgar Meyer and his family and friends will treat us to an evening of classical and crossover music, including a world premiere composed by his son and CMNW Protégé George Meyer.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/edgar-meyer-friends-from-nashville/1118


Summer Festival Grand Finale!
Premieres Saturday, July 25 at 7 pm, available through Sunday, July 26 at 11:59p m
In his final performance as Chamber Music Northwest Artistic Director, David Shifrin will treat us to the world premiere of a new clarinet solo written for him by David Ludwig and revisit great performances of Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C Minor with solos by oboist Allan Vogel and violinist Soovin Kim and more.
https://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/virtual-summer-festival/summer-festival-grand-finale/1119


ABOUT CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST 

Now in its 50th season, Chamber Music Northwest shares the richness and diversity of chamber music with more than 50,000 people through 80 events annually, including our Summer Festival of outstanding concerts, illuminating outreach activities, educational programs supporting young musicians, and innovative collaborations across the Portland Metro region. 

As one of the nation’s leading chamber music presenters, Chamber Music Northwest brings to our community the world’s greatest musicians and composers, from rising-star members of our Protégé Project and exceptional local musicians to world-renowned artists that include Grammy Award winners, Avery Fisher Prize honorees, and MacArthur “Genius Award” recipients. Together they collaborate to perform the expansive 500-year chamber music repertoire, ranging from beloved classics and hidden masterpieces to contemporary works and less conventional projects. 

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.

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