After much planning and anticipation, we’re thrilled to announce our 46th season, which is practically overflowing with variety, excitement, and most importantly, wonderful music! Although our website is currently undergoing maintenance, tickets (both season and individual) are currently on sale on our Brown Paper Ticket page!
Luminous Night of the Soul: The Music of Ola Gjeilo, with special guest Ola Gjeilo and Thomas Barber.
Saturday, October 18 @ 8:00 pm
Sunday, October 19 @ 3:00 pm
St. Philip Neri, 2408 SE 16th Ave, Portland (map)
This concert will feature internationally-renowned composer Ola Gjeilo and local trumpeter Thomas Barber. Both will accompany CAE in a selection of Mr. Gjeilo’s choral works. Mr. Gjeilo will also perform some of his solo piano literature.
CAE at the Grotto
Sunday, November 30th, 8:00 p.m.
The Grotto, 8840 NE Skidmore St., Portland (map)
CAE is pleased to be singing as part of the Grotto’s annual Christmas Festival of Lights. We will be performing a variety of seasonal music by Lauridsen, Gjeilo, Gorecki and Rutter, as well as traditional carols. Admission to the concert is free with paid admission into the Festival of Lights. Please see the Grotto’s web site for details http://www.thegrotto.org/.
Handel’s Messiah/Judas Maccabaeus with Portland Chamber Orchestra
Wednesday, Dec. 17 @ 7:30 p.m., St. Henry Catholic Church, 346 NW 1st St, Gresham (map)
Friday, Dec. 19 @ 7:30 p.m., St. Matthew Catholic Church, 447 SE 3rd Ave, Hillsboro (map)
Saturday, Dec 20 @ 7:30 p.m. St Andrew Catholic Church, 806 NE Alberta St, Portland (map)
Sunday, Dec. 21 @ 3:00 p.m. Lewis & Clark Chapel, 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Rd, Portland (map)
CAE will once again join forces with the Portland Chamber Orchestra and a stellar line up of guest soloists. This year selections from Handel’s Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus will be performed.
CAE Pops! Music at the Movies
Saturday, February 21 @ 7:30 pm
Hollywood Theater, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland (map)
In our 3rd annual pops concert, CAE will perform music from the best of Hollywood, complete with film clips!
Viennese Masters
Saturday, April 18 @ 7:30 pm
Sunday, April 19 @ 3:00 pm
Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave, Portland (map)
In our final concert of the season, we pay tribute to the great composers who called Vienna home, including Brahms, Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn and others.
And now, artistic director David De Lyser will be giving you a brief overview of what we have planned for all of these performances. Dig in, enjoy, and remember to reserve your tickets!
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I’m excited. I hope after you read this that you will be as well. Our 46th season, and my third with the group, is about to begin, and I am at a bit of a loss for words on how to describe it. Over 10 concerts in 8 different venues, we will collaborate with an internationally-renowned composer, a local professional jazz musician, one of the finest chamber orchestras in the Northwest, the historic Hollywood Theater and the Portland Rose Festival. Here’s what’s in store…
In October, we are very honored to be able to present the music of Norwegian-born Ola Gjeilo, with Mr. Gjeilo himself accompanying us, along with his good friend and local trumpeter Thomas Barber. I first came across the music of Ola Gjeilo in 2008. His music was already starting to get people’s attention, and the last 6 years have seen his popularity grow exponentially. He was the composer in residence with Grammy-award winning Phoenix Chorale and their 2012 recording of his choral works, Northern Lights, was named as one of the best classical vocal albums of the year. His music has now been performed by choirs all over the world. But “classical” is not the best way to describe his music. He draws inspiration from movies and cinematic music, as well as popular and jazz music on which he was raised. Perhaps the Houston Press said it best – his music is a “…film score waiting to happen.” In the composer’s own words, it’s “concert music – but in a kind of cinematic style.” To that I would add sweeping, dramatic, and absolutely gorgeous. And he’ll be right here. Sitting at the piano. Playing both written and improved accompaniment as we sing his music. In case you’ve bought into the myth that the only good “classical” music is old classical music, I highly encourage you to attend one of these concerts, and experience for yourself the power and beauty of contemporary choral music.
As we head into the holiday season, we look forward to once again collaborating with the Portland Chamber Orchestra and an amazing lineup of soloists for four performances of music from Handel’s Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus. Concerts will be held in Gresham, Hillsboro, Northeast Portland and at Lewis and Clark College. This is music that stirs the soul. There’s a reason it is still performed going on 300 years after it was composed. Choral singers talk about the “it” moment – that undefinable state of consciousness and connection between conductor, choir (in this case also orchestra) and audience that great music allows for. Perhaps transcendent is perhaps the best way to describe it. But it’s one of the reasons we do this. Last year’s Messiah concerts with the PCO had many such “it” moments. I know this year’s performances will as well.
In our 3rd annual CAE Pops! Concert, we’re heading to Hollywood! In every sense of the word. We’ll be performing music from the movies at the Historic Hollywood Theater, complete with clips and stills from the movies themselves. This promises to be a fun evening of some of the best choral music composed and adapted for film.
In our final concert series, we revisit some of the classical choral repertoire that is near and dear to our hearts, including Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer, and works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and others who called Vienna home, however briefly. These are works that got many of us into choral singing, and like Handel, they continue to inspire both audiences and singers centuries after they were composed.
So we hope you will come out to the concerts this year and let the music enrich and entertain you. That’s why we’re here. And now it’s time for us to get to work.
David De Lyser
Artistic Director
Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland
*Individual and season tickets are on sale here, or call 503-488-3834
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