Using all of your senses, let’s go on a little imaginative journey…there are scents of summertime foods on warm breezes, melodies floating past your ears, friendly faces welcoming you to step inside…such anticipation you can almost taste it, right? And then, that feeling comes like an inward smile on an upward breeze: you are going to have an uplifting next couple of hours full of inspiration and adventure!

Across five weeks with us this summer, you’ll experience our Beethoven-inspired Summer Festival that is so much more than Beethoven, and tempts all of your senses! The musical selections this summer illuminate how Beethoven’s genius generated ever-reverberating ripple effects to the world of music.

Let’s take a quick walk through the thematic five weeks ahead…

Week 1 | BEETHOVEN’S SOUND—Inspiring a Sonic Revolution
From convention-breaking instrumentation and structure to earbending polyphonics, brain-twisting chords, and utterly unpredictable progressions, Beethoven boldly redefined the sound of classical music. His revolutionary sonic palette influenced every subsequent composer—his successors and today’s composers alike.

Week 2 | BEETHOVEN NOW—Challenging Today’s Youth
Whether being captivated by his Sixth Symphony in Disney’s mesmerizing Fantasia, or learning to play Für Elise for a piano recital, Beethoven’s music has inspired and challenged millions of emerging artists—including our Young Artist Institute musicians. Be thoroughly amazed throughout the holiday week hearing the next generation of great chamber musicians as they explore Beethoven’s works with their fresh interpretations.

Week 3 | BEETHOVEN’S FIRE—Igniting Explosive Innovation
“Massive,” “shocking,” “controversial,” and “incomprehensible” are just a few of the words contemporary critics used to describe Beethoven’s revolutionary approach to composition. In Promethean style, Beethoven infused his music with previously unimaginable smoldering introspection, white-hot emotion, and blazing joy. Celebrate Beethoven’s genius with a musical bonfire of incendiary works!

Week 4 | BEETHOVEN’S PIANO—Propelling Piano to Center Stage
Bold and powerful, subtle and sublime, Beethoven’s unprecedented focus on the piano forever altered the course of musical history. From his piano trios and sonatas to his piano quartets and quintets, Beethoven placed the piano center stage, challenging both pianists and the instrument in unprecedented ways, and propelling it to the forefront of music.

Week 5 | BEETHOVEN’S VIRTUOSITY—Launching Music & Musicians to New Heights
“The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents, 'Thus far and no farther,'” wrote Beethoven—and push further he did. Beethoven demanded more from both instruments and musicians than ever before, thus redefining musical virtuosity. Our final week features some of the world’s finest musicians performing virtuosic masterpieces that stretch their limits.

AND THERE’S MORE!

We spotlight both well-loved and new music by today’s greatest living composers—inspired by Beethoven’s revolutionary foundations—that excites, invigorates understanding, and inspires from the very roots of chamber music and into where today’s chamber music form has grown.

Special Event! A not-to-be-missed experience, Portland audiences will bear witness to the World Premiere of Prophecies of Fire, the final major work for chamber ensemble by the legendary, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams. Prophecies of Fire will be premiered by the mesmerizing Sandbox Percussion. This utterly immersive musical experience will be performed in-the-round on the floor at Reed College’s Kaul Auditorium.

Be In the Room When It Happens! Take your seat to be among the first listeners for the music of the moment—and the artists of the future. We'll premiere seven commissioned works and explore the music of emerging and leading composers of today, including: John Luther Adams, Stewart Goodyear, Marc Neikrug, Kyle Rivera, Joan Tower, Jörg Widmann, and Portland’s Kenji Bunch.

New@Night! The casual Wednesday evening contemporary music series at The Old Church features some of today’s most innovative and creative composers for three concerts this summer.

Plus, there are THREE free outdoor concerts to enjoy in Newberg, Milwaukie, and Vancouver! Please consider yourself warmly invited to come celebrate the diversity of classical music with us this summer—let us enliven and expand your musical palette!

Your Summer Adventure in Music Awaits…
Experience Beethoven’s SOUND, FIRE, PIANO, VIRTUOSITY, and his impact on music TODAY!

5 Weeks | 70+ Artists | 6 Premieres | 7 CMNW Commissions | 60+ Events

EXPLORE THE FESTIVAL at cmnw.org!