Portland

Our Stories – Meet Maine Artist Samuel James

Our Stories – Meet Maine Artist Samuel James

We’ve been lucky to get to know musician, storyteller and writer Samuel James this year as one of our Commissioned Maine Artists. This has included winding conversations about music, culture, home and justice, along with impromptu performances over Zoom. And now, through this series, we hope some of you are getting to know this marvelous … Read more

Our Stories – Seeking Belonging

Our Stories – Seeking Belonging

The more than year-long pandemic has taught us much to take into the future together. One of the things many Ovations’ Members have mentioned to us is how our human need to gather and to belong — to groups, to communities, to a place and to each other — have been made more visible by our social … Read more

Program Notes for Fauré Quartett by Aimée M. Petrin

Faure Quartet

Dear Friends With 90 years of bringing the finest classical music to Portland-area audiences, who would ever have imagined we’d be doing so virtually?     Despite the changes in the world this past year, what hasn’t changed is Ovations’ dedication to classical and other chamber music forms; connecting our audiences LIVE with extraordinary performers from around … Read more

Our Stories – The Intersection of Art, Food and Culture

Community suppers. Church potlucks. Festive receptions. Learning how to cook traditional dishes then sitting down together to enjoy. Gathering to exchange art, food, culture and community is on the menu at Portland Ovations. Throughout the years, our welcoming Portland communities have opened their hearts and cookbooks to Ovations artists visiting us from away. Fondly we … Read more

Our Stories – POP 90’s Impact

What an unforgettable night! Being back on stage at Merrill, reveling in the beauty of that space with artists working together LIVE … and you were there, too, only not in your usual red velvet seats. And still: your dedicated support as well as the enthusiasm of so many local businesses and others made POP 90 … Read more

Program Notes for globalFEST by Aimée M. Petrin

DakhaBrakha

Dear Friends Each January when I go to NYC for the annual Association of Performing Arts Professionals conference, one event always stands out for its vastness, variety and promise to surprise: globalFEST. With programming across three stages and four bands on each stage over the course of the evening, the result is an experience of … Read more

Program Notes for the Fauré Quartett by Linda Russell

Faure Quartet

Pictures at an Exhibition Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) Modest Mussorgsky received musical training as a child but made his livelihood as a civil servant in Russian government circles until his dismissal in 1867 due to alcoholism. As one of a group of prominent nineteenth-century Russian composers known as “The Five” who endeavored to create music with … Read more

Our Stories – The Making of POP 90

We’re hoping you’re joining us next Thursday, March 25 for Ovations’ big, live-and-virtual kickoff celebration of our 90th anniversary year. When you do, you’ll be experiencing Ovations through the looking glass of our digital realms: we will be live at Merrill Auditorium, but you, our audiences, are not quite able to be with us there … Read more

Program Notes for “Samuel James Tells the Story of Tiny Bill McGraw” by Sarah Coleman

Friends,  As I curate our programming geared towards young audiences it is important that it covers the three major genres of the performing arts – theater, dance and music. Our final offering this season falls into the category of music. The list of musical artists is long and with the impact of the pandemic and … Read more