Don't Reserve Tickets! Portland Chamber Orchestra's Final Performance Was December 30
All Concerts Cancelled
The e-ticket website is still there, but after 79 years, the Portland Chamber Orchestra has dissolved, and at the final performance no one bothered to tell the audience.
Robert Kingdom, Board President, cited finances and lack of attendance. "We expected to just cover our expenses," he said, but instead of the 350 attendees they needed to break even, there were only 200.
Kingdom could have announced the decision earlier, said The Oregonian, but he did not.
Cancelled shows include "Lion & Lotus," a Lunar New Year concert scheduled for March 3, and "Banner & Burden: Music and Spoken Word," scheduled for May 19, both at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts.
The May 19 engagement was planned as a collaboration with the Oregon Poetry Association.
The chamber orchestra started in 1946, offering audiences a more intimate, close-up performance than the Schnitz (the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall), so called because of its main contributors, Harold and Arlene Schnitzer.
The Schnitz seats 2,776, including orchestra and balcony seating, a 94x32 foot stage with a 54x32 foot proscenium, dressing rooms for 90, and chic delicacies and cocktails.
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Before the big-money renovations, the location was known as the Paramount Theater.
The Paramount in downtown Portland once hosted rock bands and artists including Frank Zappa, The Pretenders, the Tubes, Ozzy Osbourne, Foghat, America, Joan Baez, Blue Öyster Cult, and Arlo Guthrie.
It's another loss for Portland, Oregon, as the city — especially the downtown area — continues its descent from picturesque and quirky to grimy, violent and dangerous. The downtown core was once a shopping district. Then unhoused people decided to break windows, shut down stores, drive away social services, and sit around complaining, buying drugs and whining.
These days walking downtown means tripping over tents and "zombies" — the forward procession of surly drunks who don't want a job. Another day, another riot, another demand for spare change. It's not 1984 or the final nuclear war, it's an everyday culture collapse. I grew up here, and I think "Keep Portland Weird " has gone too far.
Words and opinions ©Jenny Westberg, 2/17/26
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Portland Chamber Orchestra Beaverton tickets are available now at eTickets! Come watch live as Portland Chamber Orchestra visits Patricia Re
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