ESTET · Portland
Portland's masters, heritage and discoveries
A culture guide for people who grew up with Tchaikovsky, the Nutcracker and the Mariinsky.
Masters
They have danced at the Mariinsky and played Carnegie Hall. Now they teach and perform here.
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Master of the week · Children's libraryYulia VoevodinaBooklyaBooklya began in 2017 on a Moscow–Portland flight: Yulia Voevodina was travelling with four suitcases of children’s books. In Moscow she had taught sociology at universities and worked in market research. Since 2019 Booklya has mailed Russian-language children’s books to any state, shipping free: more than 1,500 titles for ages two to fifteen. Since 2023 it is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The online book club reads by age: 7–8, 9–10, 11–12.«I looked around and my house was buried in children's books. I couldn't have imagined this pastime would become a business.»
Heritage
The names you have known since childhood, on Portland's stages.
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Saturday, December 5 · 2:00 PMSaint Nicholas in the East and WestFrom Byzantine chant to Arvo Pärt: Cappella Romana sings music about Saint Nicholas at St. Mary's Cathedral.St. Mary's Cathedral
Sunday, November 15 · 7:30 PMA Defiant Voice: Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, Bernstein’s Candide Overture and a world premiere by a student composer, played by the MYS orchestra.Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall · from $27.80
Thursday, December 17 · 7:00 PMHome for the HolidaysThe ensemble 45th Parallel Universe performs Christmas music and excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.Polaris HallDiscoveries
Our people where you didn't expect them.
Full calendar →Saturday, December 5 · 2:00 PM · until December 24George Balanchine's The NutcrackerThe son of a Georgian composer, who danced The Nutcracker as a child on the stage where it was born, Balanchine went on to make it America's Christmas tradition in New York.Keller Auditorium
Saturday, January 23Emanuel Ax Plays BeethovenEmanuel Ax was born in Lviv in 1949 to a family that survived the camps, and came to New York by way of Warsaw and Winnipeg.Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Saturday, April 10Don QuixoteZlatomir Fung was born in Corvallis, two hours from Portland, and at twenty became the youngest winner in the history of the Tchaikovsky Competition.Arlene Schnitzer Concert HallAlso this week
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The Philip Glass Ensemble: PowaqqatsiPhilip Glass, Powaqqatsi and a live ensemble: a film without words, where the music tells everything.Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hallfrom $29
White Bird Presents: Hung DanceTaiwan’s Hung Dance presents Birdy, a work where contemporary dance meets elements of Peking opera and tai chi.Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
Words at War: Ukrainian Poet Yaryna ChornohuzUkrainian poet, Marine infantry fighter and medic Yaryna Chornohuz on how ordinary life and war coexist in a single poem.WorldOregonFree
Schumann QuartetA quartet of three Schumann brothers and their violist: two evenings and two different programs, from Mozart and Brahms to Tchaikovsky.Lincoln Performance HallFor children
Everything for children →
Family StoriesTales of gratitude at the Japanese Garden: family story time for children in the Lemelson studio.Portland Japanese Garden$22.50
CinderellaCinderella dreams of the stage: Ezra Weiss’s original tap-dance musical at Northwest Children’s Theater.The Judy
The Amazing Bubble ManSquare, giant and fog-filled bubbles: a show by Louis Pearl, The Amazing Bubble Man, in Beaverton.Patricia Reser Center for the Arts · Beaverton$25–35
The Duke of Cello: Duke Ellington’s Jazz NutcrackerDuke Ellington’s jazz Nutcracker on six cellos: a holiday evening with 45th Parallel Universe at Polaris Hall.Polaris HallWhat ESTET stands on
150,000+Slavic and Eastern European residents in greater Portland, according to the city’s 2023 proclamationCity of Portland proclamation, 2023Population context, not ESTET readership.
21Portland masters in the guideAll artists →
SoonThe ESTET letter is being plannedRead the format preview →