Sanctuary Hall at First Congregational

This program brings together Johann Sebastian Bach and two of his sons to explore how one musical lineage contains strikingly different voices. J. S. Bach’s compelling Triple Concerto anchors the program, while the distinctive voices of his sons reveal how far the next generation traveled in musical innovation. Johann Christoph Friedrich’s stormy Symphony in D Minor bridges Baroque structure with a more modern dramatic voice, contrasting with Carl Philipp Emanuel’s Flute Concerto, with its lyrical expressiveness and moments of striking intensity. Together, they frame a genuine generational dialogue: are these styles kindred spirits, or rivals sparring across time?

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.

This program brings together Johann Sebastian Bach and two of his sons to explore how one musical lineage contains strikingly different voices. J. S. Bach’s compelling Triple Concerto anchors the program, while the distinctive voices of his sons reveal how far the next generation traveled in musical innovation. Johann Christoph Friedrich’s stormy Symphony in D Minor bridges Baroque structure with a more modern dramatic voice, contrasting with Carl Philipp Emanuel’s Flute Concerto, with its lyrical expressiveness and moments of striking intensity. Together, they frame a genuine generational dialogue: are these styles kindred spirits, or rivals sparring across time?

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.

Celebrate the season with Messiah, performed on period instruments just as Handel intended, infusing his music with intimacy and charm. From the triumphant “Hallelujah” to its radiant arias and resounding choruses, this beloved oratorio continues to move audiences with its beauty, drama, and hope. Returning guest director Gary Thor Wedow, a specialist in historically informed performance and longtime Juilliard faculty member, leads the orchestra alongside world-class soloists and Portland Baroque Voices, PBO’s newly launched professional vocal ensemble, bringing clarity, energy, and dramatic insight to this timeless work.

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.

Celebrate the season with Messiah, performed on period instruments just as Handel intended, infusing his music with intimacy and charm. From the triumphant “Hallelujah” to its radiant arias and resounding choruses, this beloved oratorio continues to move audiences with its beauty, drama, and hope. Returning guest director Gary Thor Wedow, a specialist in historically informed performance and longtime Juilliard faculty member, leads the orchestra alongside world-class soloists and Portland Baroque Voices, PBO’s newly launched professional vocal ensemble, bringing clarity, energy, and dramatic insight to this timeless work.

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.

Celebrate the season with Messiah, performed on period instruments just as Handel intended, infusing his music with intimacy and charm. From the triumphant “Hallelujah” to its radiant arias and resounding choruses, this beloved oratorio continues to move audiences with its beauty, drama, and hope. Returning guest director Gary Thor Wedow, a specialist in historically informed performance and longtime Juilliard faculty member, leads the orchestra alongside world-class soloists and Portland Baroque Voices, PBO’s newly launched professional vocal ensemble, bringing clarity, energy, and dramatic insight to this timeless work.

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.

Celebrate the season with Messiah, performed on period instruments just as Handel intended, infusing his music with intimacy and charm. From the triumphant “Hallelujah” to its radiant arias and resounding choruses, this beloved oratorio continues to move audiences with its beauty, drama, and hope. Returning guest director Gary Thor Wedow, a specialist in historically informed performance and longtime Juilliard faculty member, leads the orchestra alongside world-class soloists and Portland Baroque Voices, PBO’s newly launched professional vocal ensemble, bringing clarity, energy, and dramatic insight to this timeless work.

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.

Scored for two violins and cello, this chamber program is perhaps the most intimate of the season. At its heart is John Antes, a Moravian composer whose music reflects a life lived across continents and shifting identities.

Set alongside works by Haydn, Stamitz, Bechler, and Hoffmann, this program becomes a transatlantic dialogue, exploring what it meant to be a musician in a newly forming America, rooted in the deep musical traditions of Moravian communities in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Portland Baroque Orchestra works to connect audiences of all ages and backgrounds to historically inspired music by providing spaces for interaction and conversation within and beyond traditional concert settings. From musical education tours in schools around the Portland Metro Area to accessible All Ages Concerts, PBO aims to ignite a musical passion in the next generation of Baroque musicians and aficionados.

This one-hour event is perfect for new listeners and families to learn about why Baroque music is so unique. Hear Portland Baroque Orchestra musicians play their instruments and explain how they work. This event will also provide time for folks to ask questions and learn more about how PBO creates historically inspired performances. This event is General Admission seating and has a special price ($5 for youth and $10 for adults) to help welcome in more music lovers who have long been curious about what a PBO production is like. What music will be performed? Step into the world of early English consort music, flourishing in Restoration England under Charles II (1661-1685). Curated by Principal Cellist Joanna Blendulf, this All Ages Concert includes tenor and bass viols, violas, violins, violone, theorbo, organ, and harpsichord.

Step into the world of early English consort music, flourishing in Restoration England under Charles II. Curated by Principal Cellist Joanna Blendulf, this year’s Podium concert presents a rare combination of instruments: tenor and bass viols, violas, violins, violone, theorbo, organ, and harpsichord, creating a sound that is intimate and reedy. Purcell’s celebrated Chacony is underpinned by a hypnotically repeating bass line that yields to the Fantasia upon One Note, where a single unchanging pitch anchors the music while the ensemble spirals around it. William Lawes’ Consort Sett No. 6 (a personal favorite of Joanna’s) is dramatic, unpredictable, and ahead of its time. Music by Matthew Locke adds theatrical flair with stormy scenes from The Tempest, before the concert culminates in John Jenkins’s Newark Siege: a musical battle that pits bass viols against one another in a riveting finale.

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.

Step into the world of early English consort music, flourishing in Restoration England under Charles II. Curated by Principal Cellist Joanna Blendulf, this year’s Podium concert presents a rare combination of instruments: tenor and bass viols, violas, violins, violone, theorbo, organ, and harpsichord, creating a sound that is intimate and reedy. Purcell’s celebrated Chacony is underpinned by a hypnotically repeating bass line that yields to the Fantasia upon One Note, where a single unchanging pitch anchors the music while the ensemble spirals around it. William Lawes’ Consort Sett No. 6 (a personal favorite of Joanna’s) is dramatic, unpredictable, and ahead of its time. Music by Matthew Locke adds theatrical flair with stormy scenes from The Tempest, before the concert culminates in John Jenkins’s Newark Siege: a musical battle that pits bass viols against one another in a riveting finale.

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.

In the Baroque sensibility, death was not something to fear but rather a peaceful homecoming, and no composer understood that better than Bach. The program culminates in his beloved cantata Ich habe genug, a deeply consoling meditation on death that unfolds like a lullaby. Countertenor Tai Oney returns to PBO, bringing a warm, mellow sound that pairs naturally with the oboe, an instrument Bach uses like an echo or guiding spirit alongside the singer. Works by Telemann, Scarlatti, Torelli, and Pergolesi build steadily toward this destination, including Telemann’s Oboe Concerto in C Minor, a dramatic spotlight for the instrument.

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.

In the Baroque sensibility, death was not something to fear but rather a peaceful homecoming, and no composer understood that better than Bach. The program culminates in his beloved cantata Ich habe genug, a deeply consoling meditation on death that unfolds like a lullaby. Countertenor Tai Oney returns to PBO, bringing a warm, mellow sound that pairs naturally with the oboe, an instrument Bach uses like an echo or guiding spirit alongside the singer. Works by Telemann, Scarlatti, Torelli, and Pergolesi build steadily toward this destination, including Telemann’s Oboe Concerto in C Minor, a dramatic spotlight for the instrument.

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.

A Little Night Music brings the season to a glowing close with music that shimmers, intrigues, and delights. The program features nocturnal scenes and street music, including Boccherini’s beloved La Musica Notturna delle strade di Madrid, with its vivid bells and rhythms, before culminating in Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, an irresistible classic that continues to captivate listeners. Showcasing the orchestra’s strings at their most luminous, this is not music for sleep but for wonder: a nocturnal celebration that invites reflection, joy, and a final flourish to close the season.

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.

A Little Night Music brings the season to a glowing close with music that shimmers, intrigues, and delights. The program features nocturnal scenes and street music, including Boccherini’s beloved La Musica Notturna delle strade di Madrid, with its vivid bells and rhythms, before culminating in Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, an irresistible classic that continues to captivate listeners. Showcasing the orchestra’s strings at their most luminous, this is not music for sleep but for wonder: a nocturnal celebration that invites reflection, joy, and a final flourish to close the season.

Check out the 2026/27 Season Brochure. Download the season order form and mail it in for the earliest access to the best seats in the house.