The Portland Chamber Music Festival presents internationally renowned artists and ensembles performing a wide range of repertoire with an intimate, family feel. PCMF's offerings include exquisite concerts performed at the highest levels of artistry and production, innovative genre-bending programs, and informal connections with extraordinary artists for students and community members of all ages.

Schedule of Events:

August 14, 2025:

7:30 PM: Program I: A World of Romance

A world of Romanticism awaits in this glorious program, opening with a pair of reflective works written a century apart. Amy Beach’s Romance was composed for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, which devoted a portion of its show to women composers. Jamaican-born Eleanor Alberga describes her Lullaby as “a kind of acknowledgement of my European heritage and a realisation that two World Wars are part of my history also.” Despite the small ensemble size, Brahms's trio is a supremely musical epic, masterfully crafted in an exquisite setting with viola taking the traditional clarinet role. The program concludes with Dvo?ák’s sunny, spontaneous String Sextet, about which one of his contemporaries wrote, “God himself must have been walking the Czech Lands when his humble servant bequeathed to us a work of such excellence and sanctity.”

?Amy Beach Romance, Op. 23 (1893)

Eleanor Alberga No-Man’s-Land Lullaby (1996)
Tai Murray, violin; Henry Kramer, piano?

Johannes Brahms Clarinet (Viola) Trio, Op. 114 (1891)
Melissa Reardon, viola; Raman Ramakrishnan, cello; Henry Kramer, piano??

Antonín Dvo?ák String Sextet, Op. 48 (1878)
Amy Schwartz Moretti, David Bowlin, violins; Marcus Thompson, Melissa Reardon, violas; Brant Taylor, Raman Ramakrishnan, cellos

Run Time: Approximately 1 hour 45 minutes including intermission

Location: Stevens Square Theater, 631 Stevens Ave, Portland ME

Ticket Prices: $46 general admission / $83.50 reserved seating / $12 children & students

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August 15, 2025:

7:30 PM: Charles Overton and Friends

When harpist Charles Overton blew the roof off at his Maine debut with PCMF @ SPACE in 2023, one attendee declared it "perhaps the greatest, most intimate, jazz performance of my life! Including NYC shows!" PCMF is thrilled to welcome Charles and friends back for an evening of original compositions, jazz standards, and ingenious pop covers; in partnership with the multi-disciplinary arts center SPACE.

Equally at home in an orchestra, playing chamber music, or in a jazz club, Charles Overton explores his own multifaceted musical identity and the sonic versatility of the concert grand harp. Extraordinary virtuosity is just the tip of the iceberg: Charles's warmth, curiosity, and creativity infuse every performance with a joyfully contagious inspiration.

Meet The Artists:

Lee Fish, drums
Devon Gates, bass/vocals
Gregory Groover Jr., saxophone
Kevin LaFleur, electric guitar
Charles Overton, harp

Run Time: Approximately 2 hours

Location: SPACE Gallery, 538 Congress Street, Portland ME

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August 16, 2025:

7:30 PM: Program II: Heart Strings

Zoltán Kodály’s Serenade, a rambunctious blend of folk inspiration and modern harmonies wrapped in classical form, was written during a fraught period when he was accused of crimes against the state. Yet his close friend Bartók considered the piece a delight: "We find ourselves in a fairy world never dreamed of before." Henriette Renié was one of the foremost authorities on the harp in Edwardian England, gaining prominence as virtuoso performer and composer in an era where fame was socially unacceptable for women. Her gorgeous trio is a sensitive, heartfelt gem. Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his Piano Quintet four years after being denounced for pandering to the decadent tastes of the bourgeois West, deliberately infusing his own distinctive voice into traditional Classical forms. Combining shades of Bach and Russian circus music, the piece builds towards an ending that is at once enigmatic and bittersweet.

?Zoltán Kodály Serenade, Op. 12 (1920)
Tai Murray, David Bowlin, violins; Marcus Thompson, viola

Henriette Renié Trio for Harp, Violin and Cello (1901)
Amy Schwartz Moretti, violin; Raman Ramakrishnan, cello; Charles Overton, harp

Dmitri Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57 (1940)
David Bowlin, Tai Murray, violins; Melissa Reardon, viola; Brant Taylor, cello; Henry Kramer, piano

Run Time: Approximately 90 minutes including intermission

Location: Stevens Square Theater, 631 Stevens Ave, Portland ME

Ticket Prices: $46 general admission / $83.50 reserved seating / $12 children & students

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August 17, 2025:

5:00 PM: Summer Salon and Benefit

Please join us for an exclusive salon concert and fundraiser in support of the Portland Chamber Music Festival’s 2025 summer season. Guests will enjoy an intimate performance and informal conversation with PCMF Artistic Director Melissa Reardon, joined by Avery Fisher Career Grant-winning pianist (and Cape Elizabeth native) Henry Kramer. Extraordinary artistry, elegant refreshments, and the company of fellow chamber music enthusiasts in a stunning, light-filled contemporary farmhouse setting, all while raising vital funds towards PCMF's artistic, education, and outreach programs.

Location: Home of Mr. Stacey A. & Mrs. Cristina Giulianti, Falmouth, Maine

Ticket Prices: $250
$160 of each ticket is tax deductible.

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August 21, 2025:

7:30 PM: Program III: Beethoven, Brahms, and the Bard

Exquisite threads of music and literature are woven together in this theatrical exploration of love and loss. The emotional resonance of Shakespeare’s timeless play becomes doubly dramatic through intertwining spoken passages with Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite, a bold, 20th century interpretation of the star-crossed love story. Beethoven was inspired by the tragic tomb scene for the lovely and lyrical Adagio of one of his earliest string quartets. Finally, Brahms’ radiant String Sextet No. 2, infused with bittersweet longing and lush lyricism, was inscribed to a woman he loved from afar. Together, music and language form a poignant meditation on love’s beauty, fragility, and the timeless power of artistic expression.

?Sergei Prokofiev Suite from Romeo and Juliet  (1936)
Chad Hoopes, violin; Benjamin Hochman, piano

William Shakespeare Selected readings from Romeo and Juliet (1597)
Walter van Dyk, reciter

Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18 (1800)
Susie Park, Chad Hoopes, violin; Melissa Reardon, viola; Nina Lee, cello
?
Johannes Brahms String Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36, “Agathe” (1865)
?Anthony Marwood, Susie Park, violin; Melissa Reardon, Cara Pogossian, viola; Nina Lee, Raman Ramakrishnan, cello

Run Time: Approximately 2.5 hours including intermission

Location: Stevens Square Theater, 631 Stevens Ave, Portland ME

Ticket Prices: $46 general admission / $83.50 reserved seating / $12 children & students

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August 23, 2025:

7:30 PM: Program IV: Festival Grand Finale

Mozart wrote his virtuosic Oboe Quartet at a pivotal time, when he left his family and home town of Salzburg and struck out on his own in Vienna. Reflecting his growing independence, this quartet gets a modern makeover when Steven Banks—whose artistry was declared “transformational” by Seen & Heard International—reinterprets the oboe voice on saxophone. Joaquín Turina freely adapted mainstream European musical structures to suit his own expressive ideas, infusing Spanish folk tunes and the clack of castanets into his delightful Piano Quartet. In a lyrical contrast, Ernest Chausson’s Concerto wears its heart on its sleeve. Unreservedly showy and surging with passionate outpourings, this exquisite gem makes for an expansive, season-ending flourish. 

?Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Oboe Quartet in F Major, K. 370 (transcribed for saxophone by Steven Banks)
Steven Banks, saxophone; Chad Hoopes, violin; Cara Pogossian, viola; Nina Lee, cello

Joaquín Turina Piano Quartet in A Minor, Op. 67 (1931)
Susie Park, violin; Melissa Reardon, viola; Raman Ramakrishnan; cello; Benjamin Hochman, piano

Ernest Chausson Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, Op. 21 (1891)
Anthony Marwood, Chad Hoopes, Susie Park, violin; Melissa Reardon, viola; Nina Lee, cello; Benjamin Hochman, piano

Run Time: Approximately 90 minutes including intermission

Location: Stevens Square Theater, 631 Stevens Ave, Portland ME

Ticket Prices: $46 general admission / $83.50 reserved seating / $12 children & students

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Dates: August 14 - 23, 2025

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