Cultural Heritage

Norman Huynh, Conductor
Steiger Butte Drum and Singers, Native American ensemble
Members of Portland State University Chamber Choir, Ethan Sperry, Conductor
Oregon Symphony

STRAVINSKY Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Michael GORDON Natural History
Grace MIEDZIAK New work (Fear No Music Emerging Composers Fellow, Oregon Symphony commission)
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21

Inspired by Crater Lake National Park, Michael Gordon’s Natural History weaves Native and symphonic music in this paean to the natural landscape. Plus, hear works by two of classical music’s most intrepid pioneers: Stravinsky’s experimental musical essay on wind and brass sounds, Symphonies of Wind Instruments, and Beethoven’s vivacious and dramatic Symphony No. 1. Native Oregonian Grace Miedziak enhances the program with a new work that celebrates the Pacific Northwest.

On Sunday, November 1st, Oregon Koto-Kai, the Japanese Koto Music Society of Oregon, will present its 15th Annual Fall Concert. This year’s concert will feature traditional and modern koto ensemble pieces selected to honor the koto mastery and memory of the late Kazue Sawai. The music will be complemented by beautiful art on stage created by local artist Satoko Motouji.

Kazue Sawai cofounded the Sawai Koto Institute based in Tokyo, Japan with her husband, koto master and composer Tadao Sawai. Not only was she the instructor and mentor to our Artistic Director, Mitsuki Dazai, but her passion and innovative playing style was an inspiration to our entire group and koto players worldwide. Our program honors that legacy with traditional pieces signature to her repertoire and boundary-pushing compositions from the Sawai catalog.

the tudor choir
+ doug fullington

Tudor England (c1485–1603) was deeply unstable — yet monuments of its Latin sacred music survived, including the Sarum rite chant used before the Reformation. This chant formed the basis of devotional works by Taverner, Sheppard, Fayrfax, and Tye. It appears directly in several pieces on this program — among them Sheppard’s deeply moving Libera nos, whose chant melody is shown here. This music is inseparable too from the stone abbeys and cathedrals it was made to fill. These Stones Remain restores these masterworks to their spiritual home, performed by the Northwest’s own Tudor Choir.

• Sacred Masterworks from Tudor England

Choreographer Lai Hung-Chung makes dances of striking beauty and intention. “Birdy,” his captivating signature work for Hung Dance, moves between suspense and explosive energy, between the weight of tradition and the pull toward something new. Hung Dance blends traditional Chinese arts, including tai chi, Peking Opera, and classical Chinese music, with contemporary dance technique and driving electronic music, creating work that is poetic and rhythmic at once. What audiences see on stage is a world in constant transformation, where bodies bend and resist, images linger, and the tension between holding on and letting go becomes the dance itself.

TAIPEI CITY, TAIWAN

Birdy

“…a dreamy sensibility with astonishing athleticism in culturally sensitive modern dance performance.” —Charlie Smith, Pancouver

Sponsored by George & Nancy Thorn. White Bird’s Uncaged Series Sponsor: Ronni Lacroute

The Friday and Saturday performances will have pre-show talks. Come early to hear from the dancers from 6:15–6:45 PM. No ticket needed.

Join us November 3rd for the Hung Dance Lecture Demonstration, FREE with RSVP here .

Hailed by France Musique as the new face of the classical guitar, Djibouti-born French guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre regularly delights audiences and critics worldwide with his charismatic artistry, embracing everything from Baroque-period repertoire to compositions by trailblazing contemporary composers. His jaw-dropping precision, technical mastery, and creative vision make works from all time periods sound as if they were written yesterday–alive, heartfelt, and filled with color. Don’t miss a passionate evening of Latin music, including many of Feuillâtre’s own arrangements.

This program is approximately 90 minutes.

“The music…fitted the guitar so well that, if you didn’t know better, you would have sworn they were written for them. They fitted the instrument absolutely beautifully in these transcriptions and Feuillâtre played them with such a lovely sense of legato and an understatedly gentle dynamic that, by the time the interval began, I found myself in something approaching a state of zen.”

— Seen and Heard International

The Old Church Concert Hall
Thursday, 11/5 • 7:30 pm

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

SINGLE TICKETS

Jake Shimabukuro is a world-renowned ukulele virtuoso whose groundbreaking artistry has redefined the instrument for the 21st century. Hailed as the “Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele,” Shimabukuro has captivated audiences across the globe with his masterful technique, innovative spirit, and deeply expressive performances that seamlessly blend elements of jazz, rock, classical, blues, folk, and traditional Hawaiian music.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, Jake began playing the ukulele at age four, quickly developing a unique style that pushed the instrument far beyond its traditional boundaries. He first gained international recognition after his jaw-dropping rendition of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” went viral, introducing millions to the ukulele’s untapped potential.

Over the course of his career, Shimabukuro has released numerous acclaimed albums, collaborated with an array of legendary artists—including Bette Midler, Yo-Yo Ma, Jimmy Buffett, Ziggy Marley, and Mick Fleetwood—and performed everywhere from the Sydney Opera House to the Hollywood Bowl and the Kennedy Center. His most recent projects showcase both his dazzling technical command and his growing focus on emotional storytelling through music.

Beyond the stage, Jake is a passionate advocate for music education and community outreach, frequently performing at schools and benefit concerts to inspire the next generation of musicians. Whether playing an intimate solo show or headlining with a full band, Shimabukuro continues to prove that the ukulele is an instrument of infinite possibilities—one that speaks a universal language of joy, connection, and hope.

"PORTLAND, OR — On Sunday, November 22, 2026, New York-based pianist, composer, and storyteller David Haney brings the world premiere of The Waters of Non-Existence: Vishnu to Portland, Oregon — an immersive concert work for piano, bass clarinet, bass, and spoken narration. The performance takes place at Augustana Lutheran Church at 4:00 PM and features two of Portland's most celebrated creative musicians: multi-reed master Ike Levin on bass clarinet and bassist Shao Way Wu. The Waters of Non-Existence: Vishnu draws on three ancient Vedic stories of the Hindu god Vishnu — the Preserver, the Dreamer of Worlds, the God who enters human life in moments of cosmic need — and reimagines them within a contemporary New York City setting. The result is an evening of music and mythology that contemplates what it means for the divine to live among us: in the streets, in the subways, in the silences between notes. The concert is drawn from Haney's new album, The Waters of Non-Existence, released in June 2026 on Ravello Records / PARMA Recordings — a work that has earned national press attention and critical praise since its release."

Join PSU professor and violinist Tomás Cotik and pianist Shinmyung Rho for an evening celebrating some of the most captivating works in the French violin repertoire. The program features the elegance and imagination of Claude Debussy’s Violin Sonata, the lyrical charm of Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne and Cortège, the expressive intensity of Francis Poulenc’s Violin Sonata, and two beloved works by Maurice Ravel: the Violin Sonata No. 2 and the dazzling virtuoso showpiece Tzigane. Spanning the late Romantic and early modern eras, these works reveal the remarkable palette of colors, textures, and emotions that characterizes French music, showcasing its refinement, imagination, and brilliance.

Learn more about Portland State University School of Music & Theater's Strings area.

In Buddhist thought, the Tree of Life is a symbol of awakening, wisdom, and the interconnectedness of all life. Its roots reach deep into the earth while its branches extend toward the sky, reminding us that each generation grows from those that came before and that our lives are shaped by the communities and traditions that sustain us.

Opening the PSU Choirs' concert season, "Tree of Life" explores these themes through music that spans continents and centuries. Performed by the PSU Chamber Choir, Rose Choir and Thorn Choir, the program pairs cherished works from the Classical choral tradition with music by a new generation of Southeast Asian composers. At its center is Indonesian composer Bagus Utomo's Gayatri, inspired by the legendary queen whose wisdom and spiritual devotion remain an enduring part of Indonesian cultural heritage. The concert also features works by Budi Susanto Yohanes, Ily Matthew Maniano and Matthew Lyon Hazzard. Several of these pieces will be recorded later this year by the internationally acclaimed PSU Chamber Choir at Skywalker Sound, offering audiences an opportunity to hear this music before it is released.

This concert will be performed twice: November 20 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, November 22 at 4:00 PM.

View the full 2026-2027 Choir Season, Tree of Life.

Learn more about the Portland State University School of Music & Theater Choirs.

Join us for a free musical performance featuring shinobue flute, Tsugaru shamisen and a piano performance by Maido Mind. This cultural performance will be held in the Jordan Schnitzer Japanese Arts Learning Center. Yumi Torimaru and Nozomi Imade, who come from profoundly different musical backgrounds, formed Maido Mind in 2022. Yumi studied traditional Japanese instruments including taiko drum, shinobue (bamboo flutes), and Tsugaru shamisen (Japanese lute). Classically trained Nozomi started studying piano at the age 3 and studied vocal music at a prestigious music university in Japan. Both women were born and raised in the Kansai region of Japan. In the Kansai dialect, “Maido” is a versatile word used as a greeting, a farewell, and a thank you. The mind enables a person to be aware of the world and their experiences: to think and to feel. Maido Mind, with Yumi on shinobue and Nozomi’s piano and vocal performance, offers a wide variety of music, from tradition to modern, standard to original, and Japanese to Western.

Tudor England (c. 1485–1603) was deeply unstable—yet monuments of its Latin sacred music survived, including the Sarum rite chant used before the Reformation. This chant served as the basis for devotional works by Taverner, Sheppard, Fayrfax, and Tye. It appears directly in several pieces on this program—among them Sheppard’s deeply moving Libera nos, whose chant melody is shown here. This music is inseparable from the stone abbeys and cathedrals it was made to fill. These Stones Remain restores these masterworks to their spiritual home, performed by the Northwest’s own Tudor Choir.

Selected chants from Tudor England

Portland Mezzo-Soprano and Composer Dr. Lisa Neher launches Pacific Art Song, a concert series dedicated to Western Classical Art Song, with a program titled Summer Nights. A celebration of French song, the program transports audiences to the era of intimate salons, where friends gathered in living rooms to enjoy music shared up close. The centerpiece of the program, Hector Berlioz’s Les Nuits d'été (Summer Nights), explores longing, loss, and love across five songs that set vibrant poetry with closely interwoven parts for the voice and the piano. The work is the first major song cycle written by a French composer. Complementing Berlioz’s groundbreaking piece are masterworks by Pauline Viardot and protégé Lili Boulanger, brilliant French women composers long marginalized because of their gender. Completing the program are two world premieres composed by Neher herself. Chanson d’automne (Song of Autumn) and L’heure du berger (The Hour of the Shepherd) set poetry of Paul Verlaine. Dubbed “Prince of Poets” by his peers, Verlaine’s name is synonymous with French song.

Why art song now? “We’re living in an era of 15-second TikTok videos and the constant dopamine rush of notifications on our devices,” says Neher. “But what we’re all longing for is something real and embodied. This concert is an invitation to slow down and connect with your senses, to hear and see and feel the music in a community.”

Performers:
Dr. Lisa Neher, mezzo-soprano and composer
Hannah Early, piano
Susan McBerry, guest lecturer

There will be a pre-concert talk by Susan McBerry at 2:40 p.m.

the tudor choir
+ doug fullington

Tudor England (c1485–1603) was deeply unstable — yet monuments of its Latin sacred music survived, including the Sarum rite chant used before the Reformation. This chant formed the basis of devotional works by Taverner, Sheppard, Fayrfax, and Tye. It appears directly in several pieces on this program — among them Sheppard’s deeply moving Libera nos, whose chant melody is shown here. This music is inseparable too from the stone abbeys and cathedrals it was made to fill. These Stones Remain restores these masterworks to their spiritual home, performed by the Northwest’s own Tudor Choir.

• Sacred Masterworks from Tudor England

In Buddhist thought, the Tree of Life is a symbol of awakening, wisdom, and the interconnectedness of all life. Its roots reach deep into the earth while its branches extend toward the sky, reminding us that each generation grows from those that came before and that our lives are shaped by the communities and traditions that sustain us.

Opening the PSU Choirs' concert season, "Tree of Life" explores these themes through music that spans continents and centuries. Performed by the PSU Chamber Choir, Rose Choir and Thorn Choir, the program pairs cherished works from the Classical choral tradition with music by a new generation of Southeast Asian composers. At its center is Indonesian composer Bagus Utomo's Gayatri, inspired by the legendary queen whose wisdom and spiritual devotion remain an enduring part of Indonesian cultural heritage. The concert also features works by Budi Susanto Yohanes, Ily Matthew Maniano and Matthew Lyon Hazzard. Several of these pieces will be recorded later this year by the internationally acclaimed PSU Chamber Choir at Skywalker Sound, offering audiences an opportunity to hear this music before it is released.

This concert will be performed twice: November 20 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, November 22 at 4:00 PM.

View the full 2026-2027 Choir Season, Tree of Life.

Learn more about the Portland State University School of Music & Theater Choirs.

Choreographer Lai Hung-chung makes dances of striking beauty and intention. Birdy, his captivating signature work for Hung Dance, moves between suspense and explosive energy, between the weight of tradition and the pull toward something new. Hung Dance seamlessly blends traditional Chinese arts – including Tai Chi, Peking Opera, and classical Chinese music – with current dance techniques and driving electronic music to create work that is poetic and flowing, rhythmic and impressive. What you see on stage is a work in constant transformation: bodies that bend and resist, images that linger, a world where the tension between holding on and letting go becomes the dance itself.

Hailed by France Musique as the new face of the classical guitar, Djibouti-born French guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre regularly delights audiences and critics worldwide with his charismatic artistry, embracing everything from Baroque-period repertoire to compositions by trailblazing contemporary composers. His jaw-dropping precision, technical mastery, and creative vision make works from all time periods sound as if they were written yesterday–alive, heartfelt, and filled with color. Don’t miss a passionate evening of Latin music, including many of Feuillâtre’s own arrangements.

Mikis Theodorakis, one of Greece's most treasured and prolific composers, was widely known for film scores, such as the iconic "Zorba the Greek". This concert pays tribute to Theodorakis prolific body of work, including some of his lesser-known pieces and compositions that highlight Theodorakis' role as a symbol of resistance.

Whether your taste runs to folk or classical music, this concert has something for you. The Kombos Collective (including artists from San Francisco, Washington, DC and local Portland artists) will perform a range of Theodorakis' most beloved songs — pieces as historically significant as they are musically beautiful. This includes "Ballad of Mauthausen," set to the poetry of Holocaust survivor Iakovos Kambanellis, and widely regarded as one of the most beautiful songs ever written about the Holocaust. In addition to live music, attendees will learn about the enduring cultural significance of Theodorakis' music.

This program is organized by the Hellenic-American Cultural Center & Museum, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of Greece and Greek Americans in the Pacific Northwest.

Join PSU professor and violinist Tomás Cotik and pianist Shinmyung Rho for an evening celebrating some of the most captivating works in the French violin repertoire. The program features the elegance and imagination of Claude Debussy’s Violin Sonata, the lyrical charm of Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne and Cortège, the expressive intensity of Francis Poulenc’s Violin Sonata, and two beloved works by Maurice Ravel: the Violin Sonata No. 2 and the dazzling virtuoso showpiece Tzigane. Spanning the late Romantic and early modern eras, these works reveal the remarkable palette of colors, textures, and emotions that characterizes French music, showcasing its refinement, imagination, and brilliance.

Learn more about Portland State University School of Music & Theater's Strings area.

Join PSU professor and violinist Tomás Cotik and pianist Shinmyung Rho for an evening celebrating some of the most captivating works in the French violin repertoire. The program features the elegance and imagination of Claude Debussy’s Violin Sonata, the lyrical charm of Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne and Cortège, the expressive intensity of Francis Poulenc’s Violin Sonata, and two beloved works by Maurice Ravel: the Violin Sonata No. 2 and the dazzling virtuoso showpiece Tzigane. Spanning the late Romantic and early modern eras, these works reveal the remarkable palette of colors, textures, and emotions that characterizes French music, showcasing its refinement, imagination, and brilliance.

In Buddhist thought, the Tree of Life is a symbol of awakening, wisdom, and the interconnectedness of all life. Its roots reach deep into the earth while its branches extend toward the sky, reminding us that each generation grows from those that came before and that our lives are shaped by the communities and traditions that sustain us.

Opening the PSU Choirs' concert season, "Tree of Life" explores these themes through music that spans continents and centuries. Performed by the PSU Chamber Choir, Rose Choir and Thorn Choir, the program pairs cherished works from the Classical choral tradition with music by a new generation of Southeast Asian composers. At its center is Indonesian composer Bagus Utomo's Gayatri, inspired by the legendary queen whose wisdom and spiritual devotion remain an enduring part of Indonesian cultural heritage. The concert also features works by Budi Susanto Yohanes, Ily Matthew Maniano and Matthew Lyon Hazzard. Several of these pieces will be recorded later this year by the internationally acclaimed PSU Chamber Choir at Skywalker Sound, offering audiences an opportunity to hear this music before it is released.