Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day! We like to take any excuse to express our affection for you, our audience of friendly music lovers. Today we find ourselves a little less than two months away from the 2020 festival, and very soon we will be announcing the programming for this year’s concerts. But for now, we have a few bits of news to share with you. 

Pop-Up PerformancesSince September, we've performed at several organizations as part of our Pop-Up Performance series: Central City Concern, The Muslim Educational Trust, and Rose Haven to name a few. These short concerts are designed especially for the underserved members of our community, and we only post information on the website for the Pop-Ups that are open to the public. So, if you don’t see something for a particular month, just know that we went somewhere to share the experience of live classical music with people who almost certainly would not otherwise have had that opportunity. It means a lot to us, and we know from your support that it does to you, too. The March 18th Pop-Up is open to the public and will be at the Historic Kenton Firehouse at noon. Click here for details.

Focus on the FestivalThis Spring marks our eighth festival — we start on Monday, April 13! The full festival is comprised of six casual full-length evening concerts (all at our new time of 7:00 pm), seven intimate Blitzes, four fun concerts created for kids, and one special event at a winery in Dallas, Oregon. The calendar with venue locations (and soon, programming) is posted on the Events page of our website. As always, these performances will feature Oregon Symphony musicians and their special guests, sharing repertoire with you from their personal favorites, up close, in comfortable settings in your neighborhoods — and always free of charge.
 
In past festivals, we’ve been delighted to feature special guest artists such as sopranos China Forbes (of Pink Martini) and Suzanne Nance (CEO of All Classical Portland.) This year, we are excited to announce that baritone Damien Geterwill be performing with us at our Gresham High School concert on April 17. He has recently finished a run of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He is also a composer whose An African American Requiem will be premiered by the Oregon Symphony on May 23, 2020. Stay tuned to find out what he’ll be singing along with a string quartet of Oregon Symphony musicians!
 
You can get a sneak peek of our upcoming festival on April 9 when we perform for Thursdays @ 3 on media sponsor All Classical Portland. You may listen to it on the radio, by streaming live online or the ACP app, or join us at the station (reservations required). If you miss it, don’t fret, the program will be available in the Audio Archive at AllClassical.org for two weeks after the performance. 

Video SpotlightOn our home page, you will see a video from Tualatin Valley Community Television featuring cellist Nancy Ives and violinist Sam Park talking about the origins of Classical Up Close and how it has evolved. We are excited about our collaboration with TVCT. It is not only a wonderful opportunity to spread the word about our mission to a broader community, but a chance to share a performance on free public access TV. A group of us recorded a video featuring Samuel Park in Vivaldi and LeClair: talk about bringing music to people where they live, work and play! Watch the video here.
 
As Nancy Ives mentions in the TVCT video, we know that people who care about this art form want other people to have access to it, and your support, both financially and through word of mouth, helps us provide that access. Thank you!
 
“Classical Up Close is like a big thank you note to the community, but it has turned out to be even more than that.” — Sam Park