Better Together: Highlighting PDX Arts Allies
Radical collaboration is core to who we are at Resonance Ensemble. This year marks 15 seasons, made possible in part by the deep partnerships we’ve cultivated across the years with organizations, educators, artists, and community leaders both in Portland and beyond. As part of our special anniversary season, we are highlighting collaborations with 15 of the amazing Portland-based organizations we are proud to call our arts allies. We encourage you to take the time to learn more about each of our partner organizations. As a community, we are better together.
Part Five - Allies for a Stronger Portland Arts Community
Here at Resonance Ensemble, we believe that a vibrant arts community like Portland's can only thrive when arts organizations support and uplift each other's work. One way we continually strive to foster this collaborative spirit in our community is through our season partnership program—providing mutual support and resources to fellow arts organizations who share our values. Today we highlight four of these amazing partners who share this collaborative vision for a better arts ecosystem in our community.
Missed earlier segments from Better Together? Click below to read more:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Fear no music
Fear No Music musicians—including past Resonance collaborators Kenji Bunch (composer), Nancy Ives (composer, RE board member), and James Shields (clarinet).
Fear No Music promotes music education for audiences of all ages and experience levels. Their visionary youth mentorship program piloted by composer and Artistic Director Kenji Bunch, their Locally-Sourced Sounds series that highlights composers from our region, and the recent launch of their De-Mystifying New Music series all speak to their dedication to making new music more accessible than ever. Both Resonance Ensemble and Fear No Music believe in providing free access to high-quality programming—Fear No Music through their live concert programming, and Resonance with our Resonance Ensemble Access Project initiative (REAP), which provides free digital access to all of our programming.
Fear No Music musicians at the performance of Mass for the Endangered this past June (2023)
With a shared commitment to connect audiences with composers of today, Resonance Ensemble and Fear No Music have collaborated on a number of programs—including the recent Oregon premiere of Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered at Lewis and Clark College this past June, which featured Resonance Ensemble alongside 13 of Fear No Music’s masterful musicians under the baton of our own Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon.
Fear No Music’s Kenji Bunch embraces poet A. Mimi Sei following the premiere of his work Shout Out! at Portland Protests (March 2023).
With Resonance actively commissioning new works each season, it has been our honor to collaborate on this vital and sensitive process of bringing new work to life with the musicians of the Fear No Music ensemble. This past spring, Fear No Music performed with Resonance at Portland Protests, which featured three world premieres by pairs of Portland-based artists: Resonance’s A. Mimi Sei and Fear No Music’s Kenji Bunch, composer Kimberly Osberg and Poet-in-Residence, Dr. S. Renee Mitchell, and poet Vin Shambry and composer Judy A. Rose.
Sharing values of accessibility, providing a platform for the voices today, and a “fearless” engagement with challenging music (both technically and emotionally), we are proud to collaborate with a partner that believes in so much of what matters most to us.
See our collaboration in action | Learn more about Fear No Music
Portland opera
From Portland Opera’s recent production of The Marriage of Figaro.
“Our friendship and partnership with Resonance Ensemble has grown over the last two years and we’re honored to collaborate with such a forward-thinking and community focused arts-organization. Liz Bacon Brownson and Kimberly Osberg at Resonance understand the power of uniting Portland’s arts organizations and how together we can grow and uplift instead of compete. Our organizations have much in common including the leadership of Artistic Advisor Damien Geter, celebrating the beauty of the human voice, a dedication to cultural equity, and keeping our organizations financially sustainable. We’re grateful for our partnership and this community for supporting Resonance Ensemble. Cheers to the next 15 years!”
Both Resonance Ensemble and Portland Opera prioritize the highest level of artistry from our musicians—and, with so many of our musicians participating in both Resonance Ensemble and Portland Opera programming, we are proud to mutually support the careers of several dozen Portland-based vocalists in our community each season.
Damien Geter, Artistic Advisor, Resonance Ensemble and Music Director, Portland Opera (Photo by Rachel Hadiashar)
Supporting highly-crafted performances of music by living composers, both Resonance Ensemble and Portland Opera regularly work to showcase the voices of today. Damien Geter, involved with Resonance Ensemble from the beginning (and whose own career has sky-rocketed following the successful premieres of the Resonance Ensemble-commissioned work, An African American Requiem) also serves as interim Music Director for the Portland Opera. “I think Damien is a genius,” says Sue Dixon, General Director of Portland Opera, also citing “the brilliant work Damien is already doing as an artist and leader in our community and field.” You can see Damien at both Resonance Ensemble’s Black Art Song event this February (curated by Geter himself) and conducting Portland Opera’s performance of The Snowy Day by Joel Thompson this March. Thompson’s work will also be featured on Resonance’s program, Amendments: Righting Our Wrongs — and closing the loop, Geter’s work will be featured on MISSION 15!
Portland Opera first joined Resonance Ensemble’s mission to foster a more collaborative arts community this past year, participating in our “Arts Madness” campaign in March. Led by Resonance Ensemble, the campaign was an unprecedented collaborative endeavor to raise awareness of the vibrant arts offerings in Portland—and will continue bigger than ever this coming March.
“Sue Dixon, Jen Wechsler, and their team at Portland Opera share our values around creating a more collaborative arts community,” says Director of Marketing and Operations Liz Bacon Brownson. “We are so grateful for Portland Opera’s continued support, and look forward to continuing this partnership.”
Learn more about Arts Madness | Learn more about Portland Opera
chamber music northwest
Chamber Music Northwest's Soovin Kim and Gloria Chen with East Coast Chamber Orchestra (July 2023)
Nicole Lane, Marketing & Communications Director for Chamber Music Northwest
Speaking of amazing marketing staff, Resonance Ensemble is so grateful for the efforts of Nicole Lane at Chamber Music Northwest, who inspires us with her tireless advocacy for the arts and consistent presence at local arts events. Nicole is someone who shares Resonance Ensemble’s commitment to creating tangible connections, and has been an integral part of our partnership with Chamber Music Northwest.
Members of CMNW’s 2023 Young Artist Institute
Both Resonance Ensemble and Chamber Music Northwest work to highlight music by artists from a wide array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Chamber Music Northwest’s commissions have included composers from both Portland and beyond, including pieces presented as part of their Protégé Project.
“Commissioning new works by underrepresented composers is a shared commitment at the core of both Chamber Music Northwest and Resonance Ensemble," says Artistic Director Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon. “It was only natural that we support one another’s work.”
Resonance Ensemble is committed to championing the voices of today. We do that directly through our own robust commissioning supported by the Dinah Dodds Fund for the Creation of New Art—and also through supporting amazing organizations like Chamber Music Northwest that understand, champion, and actively create opportunities for living composers to share their work. We are grateful for their active support and look forward to continuing our partnership in the years to come, fostering more opportunities for the artists of today.
Learn about the Dinah Dodds Fund | Learn more about Chamber Music Northwest
third angle new music
Resonance Ensemble performs at their Intensive Care concert, with special guest performances that included Third Angle’s Sarah Tiedemann on flute. (Photo by Rachel Hadiashar)
With a shared commitment to championing the voices of today, Resonance has been collaborating and pushing boundaries with Third Angle New Music for more than a decade.
Special guest performer Sarah Tiedemann warms up before the Resonance concert. (Photo by Rachel Hadiashar)
Beginning with our sold-out performance of Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel at the Portland Art Museum in 2012, Resonance and Third Angle joined forces for several environmental-themed works by composer John Luther Adams. Notably, Resonance Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon sang with Third Angle and Sō Percussion as a soloist for Steve Reich’s "Drumming." Third Angle’s Artistic Director Sarah Tiedemann in turn joined Resonance as a flutist for our Intensive Care concert. Such cross-collaborations underscored the shared spirit between the two ensembles.
The Black Art Matters Campaign. Damien Geter and Darrell Grant. (Photo by Intisar Abioto)
The partnership reached new “heights” in 2019 when both organizations were awarded Creative Heights Grants from the Oregon Community Foundation. The grants supported ambitious projects—Third Angle’s world premiere of Darrell Grant’s jazz opera Sanctuaries and Resonance's premiere of Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem. Collaborating under the OCF umbrella, the teams worked with a consultant to devise innovative ways to engage the Portland community around these groundbreaking new works, addressing issues that resonated on a deeply communal level.
From Under the Overpass - featuring Resonance’s Damien Geter and Darrell Grant (piano, composer) (courtesy of Oh! Creative)
However, the unforeseen challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the original premiere plans. Undeterred, both Third Angle and Resonance Ensemble adapted swiftly, finding new avenues to share these essential works. Resonance Ensemble launched the Under the Overpass video series, which included an excerpt from Third Angle’s Sanctuaries project. This collaboration not only shared the music but also provided vital context on Portland's history of redlining practices to a global audience.
As the partnership continues to evolve, the spirit of collaboration remains strong. Darrell Grant, the composer of Sanctuaries, is set to premiere a new work with Resonance Ensemble this March as part of the Amendments: Righting Our Wrongs program.
“Third Angle truly shares our vision of fostering the music of tomorrow,” says Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon. “We can’t wait to see where our collaborations with Third Angle take us next.”
See our collaboration in action | Learn more about Third Angle New Music
WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER
This post is the last in our series, BETTER TOGETHER.
A warm thank you to ALL of our artistic partners from the past 15 years, and for our audiences for continuing to make these radical collaborations possible.
UP NEXT…
We’ve been putting something special together to celebrate our 15th Anniversary. More from us soon…
