CLASSICAL

Oregon Symphony: Emanuel Ax
Jan 11–15, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
This piano phenom, Yo-Yo Ma’s go-to guy for cello-piano duets, performs Strauss’s Burleske and Bach’s Concerto in D minor. Ax’s performance is sandwiched between two Beethoven pieces for a meaty all-German program. 

Vladimir Feltsman
Jan 12–13, Lincoln Hall
This Soviet-born pianist was banned from performing in his native country after he applied for an exit visa in 1979. Feltsman finally emigrated to the United States in 1987 but remains an advocate for Russian composers. At this Portland Piano International recital, he’ll play a sonata by his countryman Aleksandr Scriabin, as well as pieces by Haydn, Schubert, and Schumann. 

THEATER

Shackleton's Antarctic Nightmare
Jan 11–25, Portland Story Theater 
Reviving a show that’s sold out three Portland runs—plus a stint at New York’s United Solo Festival—Portland Story Theater cofounder Lawrence Howard will regale audiences with the epic tale of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 endeavor to become the first man to traverse Antarctica. As the title suggests, the trip didn’t go well. 

Chinglish
Jan 11–Feb 9, Portland Center Stage
Like Lost in Translation, only set in China and without the ennui, Tony winner David Henry Hwang’s 2011 comedy, produced here by Portland Center Stage, maps the Sino-American cultural divide via the misadventures of an American trying to land a business deal in the People’s Republic. 

Concerts

Summer Cannibals
Jan 9, Doug Fir Lounge
Coming fast on the heels of their debut No Makeup, this buzz-building local garage-rock outfit celebrates the release of a new four-song EP Make You Better, which adds just a bit more aggression to the jagged guitars and impassioned vocals from frontwoman Jessica Boudreaux. 

The Builders and the Butchers
Jan 10, Doug Fir Lounge
One of Portland's most beloved folk-rock outfits brings their rollicking live show to the Doug Fir. I once saw them at an outdoor beer festival; when they realized they wouldn't have time for an encore, they climbed down into the crowd with acoustic guitars while the sound guys started tearing down and played the most high energy version of Simon & Garfunkel's "Cecilia" that I've ever heard, with the audience drunkenly singing every word. All I'm saying is, you should probably go on Friday.

Dance

3x3
Jan 9–26, Leftbank Project
In keeping with its mission to “draw dance away from the stage,” POV Dance has collaborated with musicians and a filmmaker to present a multimedia work, 3x3, in the lobbies, corridors, and “intimate nooks” of North Broadway’s Leftbank Project complex. 

Visual Art

I.M.N.D.N. – Native Arts for the 21st Century
Jan 13–Feb 12, The Art Gym
The Art Gym presents a star list of the region’s most vividly inventive Native American artists, including Rick Bartow, Wendy Red Star, and Hachivi Edgar Heap of Birds.

Portland Collects: PMOMA Presents Work From Private Collections
Jan 11–Feb 7, Portland Museum of Modern Art
For this exhibition, PMOMA draws artwork from the domestic sphere and puts in in the gallery setting. In a city chock full of artists, collectors play an crucial role in supporting the creative community through art purchase and collecting. Taking sold pieces out of the homes they enliven and into the gallery setting, PMONA showcases a wide spectrum of work and emphasizes the significance of art commerce in a forum removed from commercial pressures.