Name: ¡El Espectacular! Concert at the Reser
Start: 2026-01-24T19:30:00
Location: Patricia Reser Center for the Arts

Adam Eccleston

Orchestra Nova Northwest

ONN’s signature January special event celebration honoring Ashley Roland and Jamey Hampton. Introducing Cognizart young artists and featuring a new flute concerto by Portland composer Giancarlo D’Addona Castro, performed by Adam Eccleston, alongside festive works by Freddy Vilches and others in a vibrant celebration of Pan-American voices.

¡El Espectacular! Concert at the Reser

Patricia Reser Center for the Arts

This extraordinary program presents a work of the powerful, contemporary voice of composer Carlos Simon, whose works resonate with history, hope, and heart. Pianist Artina McCain returns to perform George Gershwin’s brilliant Piano Concerto in F, a work that blends classical traditions with the bold rhythms of jazz and pulses with energy, romance, and the unmistakable spirit of the American Jazz Age. The program closes with Peter Boyer’s Ellis Island: Dream of America, a poignant and inspiring tribute to the immigrants who shaped the American story. Innovative in its format, the work brings elements of the theater and multimedia into the concert hall, employing actors and projected historical images from the Ellis Island archives. The spoken texts for the work come from the Ellis Island Oral History Project, an historic collection of interviews with actual immigrants about their experiences emigrating to America. This dynamic work reminds us of the hopes, struggles, and dreams that built a nation.

ELLIS ISLAND: Dream of America

Mt. Hood Community College

ONN presents a program that honors the powerful legacy of LGBTQ+ composers whose voices have shaped the classical music canon. Leonard Bernstein’s The Age of Anxiety, a symphony in name and a piano concerto in spirit, traces a soul’s search for meaning in a fractured world. Inspired by W.H. Auden’s Pulitzer prize-winning poem, the music journeys through introspection, disillusionment, and, ultimately, hope — with the solo piano as its restless, poetic voice. ONN welcomes the return of dazzling piano soloist Sara Davis Buechner in her fourth appearance with ONN. The orchestra is featured in the powerful Symphony No. 5 in E Minor of Piotr Tchaikovsky, a deeply emotional journey that weaves darkness and hope, struggle and triumph. Often interpreted as a reflection of Tchaikovsky’s inner turmoil and longing, the symphony builds to a triumphant finale — a powerful reminder of resilience through art. ONN celebrates these two remarkable composers, acknowledging their courage in living authentically in times when their identities were often marginalized.