Portland State Chamber Choir
2023-2024 Concert Season
All of our events have up to date event pages on the School of Music and Theater Events Calendar.
FROM DUST TO DAWNThe PSU Chamber Choir, Rose Choir and Thorn Choir present their annual Fall concert on themes of renewal. A highlight will be the Portland premiere of Ethan Sperry's first original choral composition "Dust", based on a text by Coty Raven Morris.
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Friday, November 10th, 2023 | 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 12th, 2023 | 4:00 pm Lincoln High School 1750 SW Salmon St. Portland, OR 97205 Tickets $15 general, $7 students & seniors |
Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream
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Mendelssohn transports us to Shakespeare’s fantastical world of fairies and magic spells, with puckish strings, chattering woodwinds, and brassy fanfares. Principal Guest Conductor Jun Märkl leads this enchanting work alongside Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration — an electrifying musical poem exploring the spiritual journey of passing lives. Featuring the Sopranos and Altos of PSU's Thorn and Chamber choirs.
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Saturday, November 18th, 2023 | 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 19th, 2023 | 2:00 pm Monday, November 20th, 2023 | 7:30 pm The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall 1037 SW Broadway Portland, OR Tickets start at $25 |
Handel's messiah
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No composition kindles the warmth of the holiday season like Handel’s Messiah. Bringing to life the theatrical splendor that’s made Messiah an audience favorite for 300 years, the Portland State University Chamber Choir and a quartet of astounding soloists join your Oregon Symphony for Handel’s meditation on faith, hope, and redemption.
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Saturday, December 2nd, 2023 | 7:30 pm
Sunday, December 3rd, 2023 | 2:00 pm Monday, December 4th, 2023 | 7:30 pm The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall 1037 SW Broadway Portland, OR Tickets start at $25 |
Past Virtual Concerts
Still We Rise - Part I
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Portland State Chamber Choir Small Ensembles
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Wednesday, December 9, 2020 | 7:00 pm Streaming online for free |
Due to Covid-19 gathering restrictions, the 40 members of the PSU Chamber Choir could not meet as a full ensemble. Nonetheless, we persevered making music wearing masks and rehearsing mostly outdoors. Still We Rise: Part I features a variety of smaller groups made up of members of the Portland State Chamber Choir performing music by Black, Brown and Indigenous composers including Shireen Abu-Khader, Marques Garrett, Matthew Lyon-Hazard, Frank Duarte, Samuel Taylor-Coleridge, Daphine Chibinga, Jason Harris and Remel Derick. You will also hear from many of the composers themselves. The performances were recorded in the exquisite acoustics of St. Philip Neri Catholic Church.
"Christmas" with the Portland State Choirs
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Portland State Chamber Choir, Rose Choir and Thorn Choir
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Tuesday, December 22, 2020 | 7:00 pm
Streaming online for free |
This is NOT your usual holiday concert: our conductor Ethan Sperry claims to know more Christmas carols than any other living Jew. The Portland State Chamber Choir has had a tradition of caroling in various neighborhoods in Portland as well as at family and corporate parties. As none of this is possible this year, we decided to bring you our eclectic blend of some of the most difficult christmas carol arrangements ever written, mixed with some exquisitely beautiful choral music on the theme of Peace. The concert features small groups of the PSU Chamber Choir and guest appearances by the PSU Rose Choir and Thorn Choir.
Towards You - Part I
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Portland State Chamber Choir
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Wednesday, April 7, 2021 | 7:00 pm
Streaming online for free |
As Covid cases are on the decline, the PSU Choirs have been able to rehearse indoors, masked and distant, in a variety of configurations, combining to create different configurations of voices. The "Towards You" concerts consist of pre-recorded live performances captured in the exquisite acoustics of St. Philip Neri Catholic Church in SouthEast Portland at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Mt. Angel, Oregon, as well as outdoors at the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland's historic Chinatown.
The Portland State Chamber Choir spent the majority of Winter 2021 term learning music for double chorus by Bach and Gabrieli as well as a newly commissioned work by Matthew Lyon Hazzard. Each Choir rehearsed in separate rooms, combining only for the performance. This concert also includes a memorial to Professor Emeritus Bruce Browne who led the PSU Choirs from 1978 to 2006 and passed away in late 2020. Audiences will also hear PSU Chamber Choirs from the 1990s and 2000s performing music by Morten Lauridsen, Veljo Tormis, Gyogy Ligeti and Eric Whitacre and a virtual choir tribute from many of his former students.
The Portland State Chamber Choir spent the majority of Winter 2021 term learning music for double chorus by Bach and Gabrieli as well as a newly commissioned work by Matthew Lyon Hazzard. Each Choir rehearsed in separate rooms, combining only for the performance. This concert also includes a memorial to Professor Emeritus Bruce Browne who led the PSU Choirs from 1978 to 2006 and passed away in late 2020. Audiences will also hear PSU Chamber Choirs from the 1990s and 2000s performing music by Morten Lauridsen, Veljo Tormis, Gyogy Ligeti and Eric Whitacre and a virtual choir tribute from many of his former students.
