In The News

By Jean Noel Mugabo  On April 29, Portland Ovations will host two internationally celebrated musical groups from distinct yet related worlds at Merrill Auditorium in Portland. These are the five-time Grammy Award-winning and Gospel Hall of Fame inductees, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and the renowned Amadou and Mariam, on tour in the U.S. from … Read more

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD 3/21/2022 BY ERIC RUSSELL An 18-piece chamber orchestra featuring some of the top Black and Latinx classical musicians in the country is coming to Maine next week. The Sphinx Virtuosi will perform at Merrill Auditorium on Thursday, March 31, as part of Portland Ovations’ Seeking Resonance series, a partnership with Indigo Arts … Read more

By Jean Noël Mugabo The seven days that Toto Kisaku spent as a kidnapping and torture victim – and his subsequent rescue by his own assailant, who shot and killed his three friends – led to the creation of Requiem for an Electric Chair, a solo, multimedia theater piece, with a performance at Westbrook Performing … Read more

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD 11/14/2021 By Bob Keyes

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD 9/8/2021 BY BOB KEYES Aimée Petrin, executive and artistic director of Portland Ovations, programmed the 2021-’22 performance season around the idea of coming home. “I keep thinking of the season ahead as a welcome back, or a welcome home,” she said. “I think COVID has made the idea of home more pronounced. … Read more

The Ogunquit Playhouse continues its season into the fall in its 25,000-square-foot outdoor pavilion. Beginning Wednesday, the playhouse premieres “Mystic Pizza: A New Musical,” based on the 1988 movie. It tells the story of a trio of young working-class women who figure out the complexities of life while dishing up slices of pie in a … Read more

The State Theatre and Thompson’s Point in Portland will require vaccination proof or a negative test starting this weekend, while the Portland House of Music will do the same starting Aug. 26. Three major Portland music venues announced Wednesday that they will require audience members to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19, or a negative … Read more

Portland will celebrate its refugee communities and its reputation as a welcoming city with A Message From Far Away, an art-and-culture festival that begins with a free concert at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening on the Eastern Prom and continues at 12:30 p.m. Thursday with a downtown parade from Monument Square to Ocean Gateway. Kinan Azmeh … Read more

PORTLAND, Maine — Kinan Azmeh’s CityBand played at Fort Allen Park in Portland Wednesday night to kick off a series of events called ‘A Message From Far Away,’ Portland Ovations hosted the free concert featuring Azmeh, a clarinetist, and composer. Organizers say the events are a way for Portland to interact and be a part … Read more

The celebrations begin on August 4 with a free concert of Kinan Azmeh’s City Band at the Bandstand at Fort Allen Park on Portland’s Eastern Promenade. The concert is presented by Portland Ovations. On August 5, the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center and Mayo Street Arts will sponsor “Parade with US!” in support of immigrants, … Read more