Oregon Symphony

2024/25 Season

David Danzmayr, Jean Vollum Music Director

ANNUAL REPORT

Where Music Thrives, We All Thrive

The impact of a great orchestra extends far beyond music. It brings tens of thousands of people together. Offers comfort to those in pain. And inspires the next generation of artists. Through music, an orchestra can tell stories about forgotten places, elevate voices from underheard identities, and enrich an entire community with creativity.

Throughout the 2024/25 season, the Oregon Symphony filled all of these roles for our region – and more. Our exceptional musicians reached more than 450,000 people across hundreds of live concerts, free community events, private lessons, masterclasses, and national radio broadcasts. They played holiday recitals for children in cancer treatment and wrote lullabies with parents experiencing homelessness. They played all the greats: Mahler, Beethoven, Beyoncé, and the Rolling Stones. And they led music education for more than 20,000 music students across the Pacific Northwest.

These moments offered a space both for people of all backgrounds to gather together in community, and for them to experience the deeply personal emotions that only music can evoke. Because great music stays with us. It changes us. And it gives us permission to feel: to sit with joy, or grief, or beauty, in ways that transcend time or language.

We need experiences like these, now more than ever. And it’s been our great privilege to stand at the head of this remarkable institution and witness the ways it has consistently transformed our whole region for the better. We’re delighted to share some of the most powerful moments from this past season, all made possible by the generous support of our patrons and donors. Thank you for uplifting this important work.

Isaac Thompson
⁠President and CEO

Dan Drinkward
⁠Chair, Board of Directors
⁠

Exploring the Nature of Music

The harmony, rhythm, and power of nature took center stage in the Oregon Symphony’s 2024/25 season, The Nature of Music. Led by Jean Vollum Music Director David Danzmayr, the orchestra embarked on a thrilling exploration of the relationship between humanity and the natural world, from classical favorites like Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Copland’s Appalachian Spring to contemporary works by composers like Derrick Skye and Katherine Balch. Spanning wonder, awe, and terror alike, the season offered a profound and powerful meditation on our deep bond with nature.

Beyond our classical series, we continued to innovate and push the bounds of orchestral music. We welcomed some of the greatest musicians in the world to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, including the legendary Itzhak Perlman, rapper and activist Killer Mike (pictured), GRAMMY-winning composer Jessie Montgomery, funk favorites Tower of Power, and the genre-smashing virtuoso Lindsey Stirling. Our ever-popular film series traveled Back to the Future, while our one-night-only Specials paid a visit to Twin Peaks and fused Beyoncé’s greatest hits with Beethoven’s Seventh. From the youngest concertgoers to longtime subscribers, the season offered music to resonate with everyone.

Scaling Great Heights

We opened the season with one of the biggest works in the symphonic repertoire – Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, an epic journey through the beautiful and treacherous alpine landscape, depicted by cowbells, wind machines, and a massive ensemble of more than 100 musicians. To delve deeper into the music’s themes, history, and context, we partnered with the Mazamas Mountaineering Center for a spirited panel conversation about the intersection of music and climbing, and an exhibit at the Schnitz about the history of mountaineering on Mt. Hood, complete with historical artifacts and rare photos.

⁠Showcasing Native Stories

⁠For time immemorial, Celilo Falls stood as one of the defining features of the Columbia River and a sacred Native American fishing site–until 1957, when it was destroyed by the construction of The Dalles Dam. In June 2025, we premiered a new orchestral work that fused music, visuals, and poetry to honor the lost falls and their continued importance, written by Oregon Symphony Principal Cellist Nancy Ives, Cherokee photographer Joe Cantrell, and Shoshone-Bannock poet Ed Edmo. The premiere was enriched by multiple community partnerships with the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, the Confluence Project, renowned Warm Springs artist Lillian Pitt, and a live broadcast on All Classical Radio, offering a vibrant celebration of Native culture and expanding its impact far beyond the stage.

⁠The Joy of the Holidays

⁠Nearly 30,000 people joined the Symphony to celebrate the holiday season this year, with more than a dozen festive concerts spanning cultures and traditions. Beginning with our annual Mariachi Christmas concert, we also celebrated the 25th anniversary of Gospel Christmas, welcomed Snoopy and the gang for a live family show of A Charlie Brown Christmas, screened the rom-com favorite Love Actually, and rung in the New Year with a joyous performance of Beethoven’s Ninth.

⁠The Beethoven Experience

⁠It’s impossible to choose just one favorite work by Beethoven...so why stop there? In January 2025, we presented a month-long celebration of the great Austrian composer and his legacy, from a note-perfect rendition of his Violin Concerto by Clara-Jumi Kang to a mashup of the Seventh Symphony with Beyoncé’s greatest hits. We also held two weeks of free community events, including a joint rehearsal and concert with 100 members from 13 local orchestras and a Day of Beethoven featuring youth musicians and a panel discussion featuring Dr. Larry Sherman of OHSU.

⁠Premiering Akiho’s ‘Nisei’

⁠In October 2024, we presented the West Coast premiere of Composer-in-Residence Andy Akiho’s new cello concerto, Nisei. Written for renowned cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, Nisei fuses rhythms inspired by Trinidadian steel pans, the Japanese Kodō, and West African drum ensembles with a chamber orchestra to explore themes of racial and cultural identity. Akiho and Zeigler accompanied the premiere with an intimate recital and Q&A at the Portland Japanese Garden.

Education & Access

Music is at the heart of every great city – and great things happen when music brings us together. At the Oregon Symphony, we’re committed to expanding access to music throughout our entire community, from the youngest children to our most vulnerable neighbors. Because we know a musical city is a stronger city.

Last year, we were honored to work with hundreds of community partners to bring free musical experiences to more than 35,000 adults and children. We held the eighth annual Lullaby Project in partnership with Path Home Family Village, allowing parents experiencing houselessness to write and record original lullabies for their children. We welcomed more than 7,000 fourth graders to the Schnitz for our spring Link Up concert (pictured), where they sang, clapped, and played along with the orchestra on recorders. And we provided free concert tickets to hundreds of veterans and their families, honoring their service through music.

A Portland Showcase

We welcomed 1,757 people to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in April 2025 for our annual Celebration Concert, a tribute to Portland’s exceptional community organizations and service agencies. This free concert presented an hour of performances by some of the finest musicians in the city, including Ginaia Black (pictured) of the Portland Opera, Thomas Lauderdale of Pink Martini, Hunter Noack of In a Landscape, Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, and the full Oregon Symphony orchestra. We also presented the annual Wonder Award to the International Children’s Arts Network of All Classical Radio for their groundbreaking work developing radio programming for children.

The Sounds of Science

Calling all aspiring mad scientists! In February 2025, we partnered with OMSI for a very special Family concert exploring the Sounds of Science. Joined by a professional narrator, an OMSI science educator, and 2,000 excited children and their families, the orchestra and Harold & Arlene Schnitzer Associate Conductor Deanna Tham fused scientific demonstrations with compositions by Tchaikovsky and Debussy to reveal how vibrations, pitch, volume, and sound waves create music.

Festive Music For All

In December 2024, a small ensemble of Symphony musicians traveled to Coffee Creek Correctional Facility for a festive concert of carols and other holiday favorites – our first visit to the prison since 2019. The group played for a delighted and grateful audience of 65 adults in custody, who sang along to “Jingle Bells,” gave rapturous standing ovations, and were moved to tears more than once during songs like “White Christmas.” The hall was full of laughter, smiles, and good feelings for the entire evening, with music providing a sense of healing and restoration.

⁠Music In The Schools

Guest pianist Joyce Yang paid a special visit to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, where she played a short recital for an enraptured audience of 200 K-3 students, many of whom were piano students themselves. After her performance, the students eagerly peppered her with questions about her experience as a professional musician, the places she had traveled, how many hours she practices a day, and what she loves most about being a pianist. Yang’s appearance was planned in partnership with local education nonprofit Play It Forward.

⁠Playing Side-by-Side

In March 2025, we traveled to McNary High School in Salem for a Side-by-Side rehearsal and concert with the high school orchestra. This unique program paired young musicians with the professional musicians of the Oregon Symphony, literally seated side by side. The program began with a morning rehearsal, with the older musicians playing next to the students and offering them guidance and mentorship. The full ensemble then performed in concert for an audience of 500 middle school students. Many students expressed immense excitement about the experience, with one musician sharing: “It made me realize how much I love music and want to do it in the future and make it my life.” – McNary High School Student

Financial Stability

The Oregon Symphony was proud to welcome nearly 200,000 concertgoers to downtown Portland this year, enlivening our city core with exceptional performances and rapturous crowds. As we look back at this season, we are grateful to the many donors, ticketbuyers, and supporters who made our successes possible. Thank you for helping us strengthen our region with the power of music.