Chamber Music Northwest Announces a Live, Four-Week 2021 Summer Festival

Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) presents its 2021 Summer Festival at Reed College continuing through July 25. The 51st annual festival features four weeks of live musical programming, as well as an at-home summer festival series.

CMNW is offering 13 more live, limited seating, in-person concerts through July 25 at Reed College's Kaul Auditorium; plus two free outdoor concerts for the community July 12 and 13. The AT-HOME Festival begins July 15 with produced recordings of the festival's 2021 live concerts and continues through August 31.

Week 2: Celebrating CMNW Artistic Director Emeritus And Clarinetist David Shifrin, And Friends

The 2020 Summer Festival was to be a celebration of Artistic Director Emeritus, and internationally renowned clarinetist, David Shifrin, for his 40 years of CMNW leadership. For week two of the 2021 festival, over 30 of CMNW's most beloved musicians join forces for audience favorites by Weber, Copland, and Mozart, as well as in multiple world premieres, including Marc Neikrug's theatrical chamber opera, A Song by Mahler.

SPECIAL EVENT: World Premiere A Song by Mahler

Tuesday, July 6 @ 7:30 pm

Reed College, Kaul Auditorium

In this unique union of music and theatre by Marc Neikrug, a celebrated concert singer struggles with early-onset Alzheimer's. Adjusting to this reality and its progression, she and her husband (also her accompanist) connect on this emotional journey through music. "I have written text to be performed as in a play, while composing music which, as in an opera, conveys underlying and essential emotional context," said Marc Neikrug in his program notes. Starring Jennifer Johnson Cano and Kelly Markgraf, featuring David Shifrin with the FLUX Quartet, and directed by Doug Fitch. Co-commissioned by CMNW with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, La Jolla, Lake Champlain and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festivals.

ARTISTS: Jennifer Johnson Cano, Kelly Markgraf, David Shifrin, FLUX Quartet

PROGRAM 3: Sounds of Brilliance & Unity

Thursday, July 8 @ 7:30 pm
Friday, July 9 @ 7:30 pm

Reed College, Kaul Auditorium

Artistic Director Emeritus and luminary clarinetist David Shifrin opens the concert with Weber's show-stopping Clarinet Quintet. Some of CMNW's and Oregon's most beloved musicians perform Jeff Scott's rag Startin' Sumthin', Valerie Coleman's uplifting Umoja (Unity), and Aaron Copland's sublime

Appalachian Spring suite to complete the ebullient evening.

• WEBER Clarinet Quintet

• Jeff Scott Startin' Sumthin' (2016)

• VALERIE COLEMAN Umoja (2021)

• COPLAND Appalachian Spring

ARTISTS: Rebecca Anderson, Kenji Bunch, Monica Ellis, Jonathan Greeney, Martin Hébert, Bella

Hristova, Braizahn Jones, Soovin Kim, Sarah Kwak, Paul Laraia, Earl Lee, Paul Neubauer, Tara Helen O'Connor, Monica Ohuchi, Karla Donehew Perez, William Purvis, Doug Reneau, Alan Richardson, Fred Sherry, James Shields, David Shifrin

PROGRAM 4: Premiering Vesper Flight & Les Adieux

Saturday, July 10 @ 7:30 pm
Sunday, July 11 @ 4 pm

Reed College, Kaul Auditorium

In a program of captivating works, a host of magnificent musicians present world premieres by two leading composers: Kenji Bunch's beautiful Vesper Flight for flutist Tara Helen O'Connor, and the much-anticipated premiere of David Ludwig's Les Adieux concerto, commissioned by CMNW to honor Artistic Director Emeritus, David Shifrin. The celebratory week concludes with the irrepressible joy of Mozart's Viola Quintet in C Major.

• KENJI BUNCH Vesper Flight for flute and piano World Premiere

• David Ludwig Les Adieux: for Clarinet and Chamber Ensemble World Premiere

• MOZART Viola Quintet in C Major

ARTISTS: Rebecca Anderson, Michael Anderson, Kenji Bunch, Gloria Chien, Monica Ellis, Jonathan Greeney, Martin Hébert, Bella Hristova, Braizahn Jones, Soovin Kim, Sarah Kwak, Paul Laraia, Earl Lee, Paul Neubauer, Tara Helen O'Connor, Monica Ohuchi, Karla Donehew Perez, William Purvis, Charles Reneau, Doug Reneau, Alan Richardson, Fred Sherry, James Shields, David Shifrin

Learn more at cmnw.org.

Recorded and produced concerts from the LIVE festival will premiere on cmnw.org two weeks after the live concert. These rolling online premieres begin on July 15 and run through August 7 - the entire festival is available on-demand through August 31.

9-concert AT-HOME Pass: $150
Single concert online pass (on sale July 9): $20

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