Portland Media Kit

On Stage (performing arts + music)

"So much is going on in Portland’s arts and culture scene that it takes a tightly managed schedule and incredible stamina to do it all". – Alaska Airlines Magazine

Portland offers a selection of urbane cultural offerings one would expect to ﬁnd in a city twice its size: an established regional theater (Portland Center Stage), a resident symphony (Oregon Symphony), an opera company (Portland Opera), touring Broadway shows (the Broadway Across America series), as well as a collection of more specialized cultural organizations. Fortunately, Portland also delights by revealing an impressive range of progressive, smaller-scale programming. And nowhere is Portland’s trademark eclecticism more apparent than in its live music scene — from jazz at Jimmy Mak’s to indie rock at the Doug Fir — which is embraced both by local fans and the many noted musicians who call Portland home.

Dance/Movement

Portland always seems to be in motion. The Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT) has developed a distinctly American repertoire and style, performing the classics of ballet as well as contemporary and premiere works. OBT’s state-of-the-art facility includes a glass-enclosed rehearsal studio that is open to public viewing. The city is also home to several consistently innovative and evocative dance and movement companies, including BodyVox, which explores movement with a focus on athleticism and theatrical elements; and Do Jump! Extremely Physical Theater, which made its New York debut in 2000. White Bird brings world-renowned dance companies to Portland’s stages and supports local dance organizations.

BodyVox – www.bodyvox.com
Do Jump! – www.dojump.org
Oregon Ballet Theatre – www.obt.org
White Bird – www.whitebird.org

Music

Ever since the Kingsmen recorded “Louie, Louie” here in 1963, Portland has been a haven for musicians and music fans alike. Now home to a highly regarded opera company, nationally acclaimed annual blues and jazz festivals, and popular bands like Pink Martini, Portland’s music scene is an attraction in its own right.

Classical and Opera

Ranked among the United States’ top opera companies, the Portland Opera draws growing audiences with its emphasis on both theatricality and musicality, its use of projected English translations, and its anything-but-stuffy approach to opera and musical theater.

The Oregon Symphony entertains more than 300,000 people annually, performing works from classical to pop under music director and conductor Carlos Kalmar. Chamber Music Northwest, one of the most successful music festivals in the nation, presents an annual five-week season of concerts on the grounds of Reed College and Catlin Gabel School.

For a trip back in time, Strings magazine calls the Portland Baroque Orchestra one of the nation’s “finest purveyors of the vitality of early music.” Portland is also home to the oldest youth orchestra in the United States: the Portland Youth Philharmonic, established in 1924. Composed of exceptional students between the ages of 10 and 23, it is considered one of the world’s most outstanding.

Chamber Music Northwest – www.cmnw.org
Oregon Symphony – www.orsymphony.org
Portland Baroque Orchestra – www.pbo.org
Portland Opera – www.portlandopera.org
Portland Youth Philharmonic – www.portlandyouthphil.org

Jazz and Blues

Jimmy Mak’s, recognized by Down Beat magazine as “one of the world’s top 100 places to hear jazz,” features terrific house bands and regular appearances by acclaimed national jazz acts. Just east of Portland, Gresham’s Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, held the first weekend of August, has attracted top performers for more than 25 years.

Portland is also home to the largest blues festival west of the Mississippi, and the second largest in the nation — the Waterfront Blues Festival. Every Fourth of July weekend, more than 120,000 attendees enjoy 100+ performances and a fireworks display at the south end of Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Over the past 20 years, the Blues Fest has benefited the Oregon Food Bank, collecting 1.2 million pounds (0.54 kilograms) of food and more than $3.4 million to combat hunger in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Jimmy Mak’s – www.jimmymaks.com
Mt.Hood Jazz Festival – www.mthoodjazz.org
Waterfront Blues Festival – www.waterfrontbluesfest.com

Rock and Pop

Musicians from around the world enjoy playing to Portland’s packed houses of enthusiastic music lovers — some artists like it so much, they stay; indie rock transplants include Modest Mouse and members of Spoon and Gang of Four. The city’s diverse venues showcase everything from Top 40 to punk. Portland is also dedicated to developing the next generation of musicians; since its founding in 2001, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls has schooled hundreds of girls in the ways of rock.

Originally built as a vaudeville house in 1928, the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall is a National Historic Register property whose Broadway marquee is crowned by a 65-foot-high (19.8-meter-high) “Portland” sign illuminated with 6,000 lights. In addition to resident companies like the Oregon Symphony, the “Schnitz” regularly hosts touring artists, from Norah Jones to Tom Jones.

McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, a renovated 1914 dance hall, plays host to many national acts and “rocks” with its unique floating dance floor. Another McMenamins property, the White Eagle Saloon and Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel, features nightly live music and 11 guest rooms above the bar. If the music doesn’t keep you awake, the ghosts that are purported to inhabit this 1905 building just might. Nearby, Mississippi Studios has made a name for itself as an acoustic mecca, eliciting intimate performances from acts both local and national in its cozy venue.

The Doug Fir Lounge anchors the burgeoning East Burnside district. With its fir-walled restaurant and acoustically impeccable subterranean music venue, the Doug Fir attracts hip acts from around the globe. The adjoining Jupiter Hotel offers reasonably priced rooms and matches the club’s mid-century aesthetic.

Portland offers two annual rock festivals. MusicFest NW features national and local acts performing in venues around town for four days each September. PDX Pop Now! is a free, all-ages festival that highlights as many as 50 Portland artists at a single venue over the course of two days every summer.

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall – www.pcpa.com
Crystal Ballroom, White Eagle Saloon – www.mcmenamins.com
Doug Fir Lounge – www.dougfirlounge.com
Mississippi Studios – www.mississippistudios.com
MusicFest NW – www.musicfestnw.com
PDX Pop Now! – www.pdxpopnow.com
Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls – www.girslrockcamp.org

Roots, World Music and More

Portland doesn’t just attract rockers — from world beat to world orchestra; from roots music to the only-in-Portland MarchFourth Marching Band — a trip to a local club can transport you across the miles, and years.

Portland has rhythm! Ghanaian master drummer Obo Addy, one of the first musicians to fuse traditional African and international pop music into the sound known as “world beat,” has made Portland his home since 1978. In addition to teaching music at Lewis & Clark College, Addy leads two ensembles performing traditional and original works.

Another beat-focused group is Portland Taiko Ensemble, an award-winning Asian American drumming troupe that weaves rhythm, melody, humor and movement together into an exhilarating musical experience.

Founder/front man Thomas Lauderdale describes the 12-piece Pink Martini music group as “somewhere between a 1930s Cuban dance orchestra, a classical chamber music ensemble, a Brazilian marching street band and Japanese film noir.” One music critic called it “cocktail music with a worldly twist.” Whichever take you prefer, this internationally acclaimed “little orchestra” has loads of cross-generational appeal. The group has performed with symphonies across America, including the Boston Pops; made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival; and appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. Keep an eye out for Pink Martini’s local appearances or pick up their latest CD — Hey Eugene! — as a Portland memento.

For 10 years, the Pickathon Indie-Roots Music Festival has celebrated the music of Americana. Held at the sprawling Pendarvis Farm southeast of Portland, this three-day festival features alt-country, folk, bluegrass, jug bands and more. And attendees are encouraged to pick their own music while camping out under the old-growth trees.

Ever wonder what happened to those high-school band geeks? They grew up to be some pretty cool kids: About 30 of them make up Portland’s MarchFourth Marching Band, a truly unique collective that includes horn and drum sections, as well as stilt-walkers, unicyclists and fire-eaters. They describe themselves as “Duke Ellington meets Sgt. Pepper” with “a familial community reminiscent of the Grateful Dead.” You have to hear — and see — them to understand.

Each summer, the Oregon Zoo presents a popular series of outdoor concerts that feature national and international acts from a wide range of genres. Past performers have included Youssou N’Dour, the Indigo Girls and Los Lobos.

MarchFourth Marching Band – www.marchfourthmarchingband.com
Obo Addy – www.oboaddy.com
Oregon Zoo concerts – www.oregonzoo.org/Concerts
Pickathon – www.pickathon.com
Pink Martini – www.pinkmartini.com
Portland Taiko – www.portlandtaiko.org

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art

Think that art and commerce don’t mix? Try telling that to the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), Portland’s leader in cutting-edge performances, experimental theater, new music and dance. PICA shares its building — a renovated warehouse in the Pearl District — with trendsetting ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, most famous for its work for Nike and Starbucks. The result: a synergistic hub where business, art and community thrive. PICA works to “advance the emerging ideas in new art by fostering the creative explorations of contemporary artists,” and its mission comes to life with spectacular results during the annual TBA (Time-Based Art) Festival. Each September, TBA blends the weird and the wonderful, attracting artists — from dancers to ﬁlmmakers to sculptors and more — whose work pushes buttons and boundaries as it explores global issues.

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art – www.pica.org

Stage

Artists Repertory Theatre offers plays of depth and vibrancy in an intimate environment. The Miracle Theater Group, which schedules a variety of plays and performances throughout the year, is the Northwest’s largest Hispanic arts and culture organization. Imago, a small theater troupe, combines the ingredients of movement, mime and visual illusion to create a performance you’re unlikely to ﬁnd in other cities. And Portland’s premier professional theater company, Portland Center Stage, presents classic and contemporary plays in the Gerding Theater, a sustainably renovated historic building that formerly served as the Portland Armory.

With a vigorous nod to nostalgia, the Live Wire! Radio Variety Show regularly fills the house — the Aladdin Theater, that is — with audiences eager to participate in the taping of this two-hour radio program. An even larger audience tunes in to hear the taped shows, aired on KOBP-FM 91.5 (Oregon Public Broadcasting) a few days later. As audience members clap, cheer and boo on cue, actors create hilarious sound effects and play multiple roles in spoofs of radio dramas and old-timey commercials. The show’s guests include musicians, authors, actors and comedians, all of whom are interviewed — usually after performing — by Live Wire’s host, Courtenay Hameister.

For younger theater aficionados, both Northwest Children’s Theater and Oregon Children’s Theatre (OCT) stage classic and contemporary children’s literature and conduct year-round classes for kids. Tears of Joy Theatre creates amazing puppet theater that has been recognized nationally for its commitment to excellence and innovation.

Artists Repertory Theatre – www.artistsrep.org
Imago – www.imagotheatre.com
Live Wire! – www.livewireradio.org
Miracle Theatre Group – www.milagro.org
Northwest Children’s Theater – www.nwcts.org
Oregon Children’s Theatre – www.octc.org
Portland Center Stage – www.pcs.org
Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre – www.tojt.com