The Force Of Love
November 10, 2024, 7:30 pm
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Love as a force to break barriers, as in the stories of Leonore and Florestan, Orpheus and Eurydice, and Romeo and Juliet.
Repertoire:
- Leonore Overture No. 3 by Ludwig van Beethoven
- Orpheus Undone by Missy Mazzoli, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony and Ricardo Muti in 2020
- Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- World premiere of a piece by a student composer, as part of The Authentic Voice commissioning series in partnership with Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project.
Concert Orchestra will also perform.
Tickets on sale soon!
Music for Millions: Film and Video Games
March 2, 2025 7:30 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 on sale soon!
esperanza spalding
June 17, 2025 7:30 PM
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
MYS is proud to welcome barrier-breaking five-time Grammy winner and Portland native esperanza spalding for its season finale.
MYS is commissioning a piece by esperanza spalding for bass, voice, and symphony, exploring the connection between the land and spirit. esperanza will perform the new work with MYS Symphony Orchestra and jazz students, along with Ebony and Ivy by esperanza spalding, and 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, one of her most substantial symphonies. Composed in 1945, this work was never performed during Price’s life and was presumed lost until 2009, when it was rediscovered in her former summer home in Illinois. Price’s Symphony No. 4 received its world premiere by the Fort Smith Symphony on May 12, 2018.
MYS is no stranger to Price’s work. In 2019, Symphony Orchestra performed the U.S. West Coast premiere of Price’s Symphony No. 1, and took this piece abroad in Italy and Austria as part of its international tour that same summer.
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 on sale soon!
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