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Finding one’s entry point into the world of live classical music is a daunting prospect. The canon is enormous and dominated by dead white European men. Tickets for even a small-scale performance are often priced to favor those with a hefty entertainment budget. And there’s an air of haughty pretension that still hasn’t been washed away by events like the Oregon Symphony backing up Killer Mike or Portland Opera performing a work based on The Shining.
The most refreshing antidote to the above that I’ve found in recent months is Chatter PDX. Kicked off last June by James Shields, principal clarinetist for the Oregon Symphony, the weekly chamber music concert is as unassuming as it can be. Tickets for each event are only $20, and the performances take place nearly every Sunday at 10:30 am at a storefront downtown.
“It used to be a Men’s Wearhouse,” says Shields, who serves as both general manager and co-artistic director of Chatter PDX. “It feels like part of the ethos. It’s got problems. We only have one restroom, so we have to ferry people up to the third floor when it’s more crowded. But it’s a really good place for us to get started.”
What has been attracting both longtime classical music lovers and newcomers is Chatter’s programming. Shields and his creative partner, Trevor Fitzpatrick, tend to pair a centuries-old piece of chamber music with more contemporary work. Last month, for example, they set Beethoven’s bright and verdant fifth string quartet with a short playful piece by young Black composer Kevin Day written in response to that same work by Ludwig Van, and “Entr’acte,” Caroline Shaw’s deconstruction of the string quartet form.
To break up the sections of the weekly Sunday event, rather than take an extended intermission, local educator and writer Justin Rigamonti—one of only four members of Chatter’s lean four-member staff—invites a poet to read some of their work followed by a few moments of contemplative silence. The latter was particularly needed at that same December show as we were gently snapped out of musical reverie by Alexa Luborsky, who read several powerful pieces haunted by the horrors of the Armenian genocide of 1915.
Shields will be the first to admit he can’t take credit for the inspiration behind this concert series. The concept was actually brought to life in Albuquerque, N.M., back in 2002 by David Feldberg, a violinist with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and the late cellist Eric Walters. It began as a chamber ensemble that prized contemporary work and unusual instruments but evolved into the core Chatter concept with spoken word joining the music and a mix of old and new. The New Mexico chapter now has its own dedicated performance space and recently held its 800th weekly event.
It was in Albuquerque that Shields was introduced to Chatter, initially known as the Church of Beethoven. Then a member of the NMSO, he would attend every Chatter show when he was performing as part of the program, eventually being brought on staff. Even after taking a job at the Canadian Opera Company, Shields, as he puts it, “endured five years of culture shock” flying back and forth between Toronto and New Mexico to be part of Chatter. Though he’s lived full time in Portland since 2016, he still returns to Albuquerque at least once a month to play shows and help out with the original Chatter’s programming.
Hanging in the back of Shields’ mind was the idea of taking the Chatter concept out of New Mexico to other parts of the globe. He had some preliminary discussions about hosting similar events in Toronto, but, he says, “I was maybe a little too young at that time.”
“I was kind of busy enough here in Portland,” he continues, “but I turned 40, and something about that, that weird aging crisis I had the next morning, I started to have this feeling of, I gotta do this now, I gotta see if this works.”
So far, Chatter PDX has been working. The first show in June 2024 drew in only 35 people, but by the fifth test run show at the end of that month, more than 100 people showed up. By September, Shields and the team went all in, mapping out 50 weeks of shows. And, though I’ve only been to a few, it’s been impressive to see how few empty seats are left by the time the show gets underway.
Equally extraordinary is how raw and alive the music sounds. Even work that dates back to the 18th century that is something of a comfort zone for a rotating cast of players, many of whom are borrowed from Oregon Symphony, has a fresh snap to it. That sensation, Shields says, is exactly what he’s looking for.
“We really try to prize inspiration and engaged performances,” he says, “ and shy away from, and push back on, some of that elitist, perfectionistic stuff that kind of comes with classical music.”
SEE IT: Chatter PDX at Pacific Center, 851 SW 6th Ave., chatterpdx.org. 10:30 am Sunday, Jan. 5. $20 adults, $10 students under 30, $5 kids under 13.