A Powerful Voice Rises: Soloists in the Spotlight
January 12, 2025 | 7:30 PM
Newmark Theatre
MYS’ dynamic January concert will feature a guest artist who breaks the barriers of how and where classical music can be performed and enjoyed: Hunter Noack!
In performance with Symphony Orchestra, Noack will present Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2, Op.18 with an encore of an arrangement of All By Myself by Eric Carmen, which is based on the second movement of the concerto. Noack is a classical pianist and founder of the wilderness concert series, “IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild™”, a unique example of solo performance breaking the confines of the concert hall.
The concert will also feature the winners of MYS’ Concerto Competition and the world premiere of a composition from a YCP/Authentic Voice student composer Frazar Henry.
Tickets are also available on the Portland’5 website or in person at the Newmark Box Office which opens at 2 hours before the concert.
Music for Millions: Film and Video Games
March 2, 2025 | 4:00 PM
Newmark Theatre
Orchestral music extends its reach to break barriers through film and video games.
Repertoire:
- Waloyo Yamoni (“We Overcome the Wind”) by Christopher Tin, with Pacific Youth Choir
- Suite from Palia by Steffen Schmidt, MYS alum and successful composer of music for video games, including Palia, a life simulation massively multiplayer online game
- Suite from Star Wars by John Williams, including I. Main Title, II. Princess Leia’s Theme, III. The Imperial March, IV. Yoda’s Theme, and V. Throne Room & End Title.
- The Authentic Voice world premiere of Music for a Short Animated Film by the Young Composers Project, inspired and accompanied by the premiere screening of a short film by young animators from Portland Art Museum’s Center for an Untold Tomorrow
Sinfonietta Orchestra will also perform.
Tickets are also available on the Portland’5 website or in person at the Newmark Box Office which opens at 2 hours before the concert.
esperanza spalding
June 17, 2025 | 7:30 PM
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
MYS’ 50th Anniversary Season finale features five-time GRAMMY winner, Portland native, and barrier breaker esperanza spalding in performance with MYS musicians.
Repertoire includes:
- MYS-commissioned piece by esperanza spalding exploring the connection between the land and spirit. This piece will be orchestrated in partnership with Puerto Rican Jazz musician and composer Edmar Colón, whose orchestrations include the title track of esperanza spalding’s GRAMMY Award-winning album 12 Little Spells and a commission consisting of 16 orchestral pieces for the National Symphony Orchestra.
- Ebony and Ivy by esperanza spalding
- Midnight in Carlotta’s Hair by the great Wayne Shorter
In honor of another barrier breaker, MYS will perform Florence Price’s Symphony No. 4, referred to as her most sophisticated, intricate, and personal symphony.
About esperanza spalding
Born in 1984 in Portland, Oregon, esperanza spalding (a.k.a. irma nejando) is an eaabibacliitoti* artist, trained and initiated in the North American (masculine) jazz lineage and tradition. Her work interweaves through various combinations of instrumental music, improvisation, singing, composition, poetry, dance, therapeutic research, storytelling, teaching, regenerative agriculture, urban land & artist-sanctuary custodianship, and growing in love as a daughter, sister, cousin, niece, auntie, great-auntie, friend, while collaboratively decolonizing within and through her hometown community. She co-founded and serves as lead curator for Prismid Sanctuary, a non-profit that creates and stewards artist residency, performance, and workshop space in Portland, Oregon.
esperanza continues to collaborate and perform in new productions of “…(Iphigenia)”, an opera written by Wayne Shorter, for whom she wrote the libretto and co-produced its 2021/2022 premieres // is currently developing a mockumentary in collaboration with brontë velez and San Francisco Symphony // researching and developing liberation rituals in jazz and black dance // and through the Songwrights Apothecary Lab continuing a lifelong collaboration with practitioners in various fields relating to sound, healing, and cognition to develop music with enhanced therapeutic potential.
With her dance company Off Brand gOdds (co-founded with Antonio Brown) and the Songwrights Apothecary Lab she leads multi-week performance, teaching, workshop, and therapeutic-arts research residencies in collaboration with colleges and arts venues across the Americas, and throughout the world.
Her forthcoming installation “I love being Black/Quit saying I’m Black” opens in a near future, commissioned and produced by institutions who do the work themselves of learning about, reaching out to, and offering comprehensive support to eaabibacliitoti (and other ancestored) artists rather than demanding we take on the burden of proving our competency and worthiness to receive the resources required to deliver our medicine – uncontorted & well-rested – to our communities/the world.
*European-African ancestored being influenced by American cultures living in Indigenous Lands of Turtle Island
Portland Overture Strings will also perform.
Tickets are also available on the Portland’5 website or in person at the Schnitzer Box Office which opens at 2 hours before the concert.
Looking for Community Concert tickets? Follow this link to our Community Concert page.
Downtown Series Tickets
- Tickets are available on the MYS website until 1:00pm the last weekday before the concert. After that time, you will need to purchase your tickets on the Portland’5 website or at the door of the venue on the night of the event.
- All tickets in Portland’5 venues are reserved seating. Seating maps provided on the MYS website may be used to request seats however, in some cases you may be given seats near your original selection. In that event, we will contact you to inform you of the change.
- Tickets purchased within 10 days of the concert will be automatically held at the MYS Will Call table.
- Downtown tickets purchased via the MYS website are physical printed tickets, email delivery is not available.
- Student, Alumni, and Senior (65+) discounts are offered for Downtown Concerts. Current MYS students are free.
- MYS students must have a ticket for the Downtown Concerts, please remember to select the MYS Student ticket type and use the discount code found in the weekly announcements to claim one free ticket per student.
- MYS Student tickets also may be claimed in person on the day of the concert at the Portland’5 Box Office. Free MYS Student tickets may not be redeemed online from Portland’5. These free tickets are not available for Dress Circle (Schnitzer) or 1st Balcony Boxes and Rows A & B (Newmark).
- The MYS Student discount is for use by currently enrolled students only, it is not available for friends and family.
- ADA seating is available, please contact the MYS Office 503-239-4566, or the Portland’5 Box Office for assistance.
COVID-19 Concert Attendance Policy
Audience Members:
- Masks are optional for all MYS concerts.
- Follow this link for more information about the Portland’5 COVID policy.
This policy is subject to change. Updates will be posted on this page: https://www.portland5.com/covid-19-update