Clarinet Capers (SOLD OUT)
Sunday, October 26, 2025
3:00 pm
Hosted by Lyn Morris
20 guests • $100
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT! There are no tickets available. If you’d like to be added to the wait list, please contact the box office at (503) 224-9842 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Oregon Symphony principal clarinetist James Shields joins pianist Monica Ohuchi and violist Kenji Bunch for an afternoon bursting with musical adventure, brilliance, and charm. Set in a whimsical SW Portland home where art peeks from every corner, this escapade promises sonic sleuthing, virtuosic plot twists, and just the right amount of mischief. Creative bites and cunning refreshments complete this delightful afternoon romp.
- More About James Shields
-
James Shields joined the Oregon Symphony as principal clarinet in the autumn of 2016. Before relocating to Portland, Shields served as principal clarinet of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto as well as the New Mexico Philharmonic in Albuquerque.A graduate of The Juilliard School, Shields studied with Ricardo Morales, principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Shields has appeared as a soloist with the Oregon Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, Interlochen’s World Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra, and as guest principal clarinet with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, and Santa Fe Pro Musica.
In addition to his orchestral and solo activities, Shields is increasingly becoming known to North American audiences as a dynamic and passionate performer of chamber music, making over 30 appearances annually in intimate settings throughout the United States and Canada. Shields is co-artistic director of Chatter, an Albuquerque-based chamber music organization that presents more than 60 concerts per year, and a core member of the Portland-based chamber music collective 45th Parallel Universe. In addition to his performing activities, Shields holds a Master of Music in Composition from the University of New Mexico, and continues to compose regularly.
- More About Monica Ohuchi
-
Monica Ohuchi’s “commanding pianism” (The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini), performing “with beauty, clarity and drive…[offering a] warmth…expressiveness [that’s] irresistible and deeply moving” (The Times Argus, Vermont) allows her an active career as a piano soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. “Dutifully and gracefully” (San Francisco Classical Voice) attentive to musical depth and detail, Ohuchi is the pianist and Executive Director of Fear No Music, and also performs locally with Chamber Music Northwest, Classical Up Close, 45th Parallel, the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival, among many others. Ohuchi’s recent engagements include collaborations with the Oregon Ballet Theater, soloing with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Marin Symphony Orchestra, Newport Symphony Orchestra. She is a frequent guest clinician and adjudicator for the Oregon State and Washington State Music Teacher Associations, as well as the Oregon state chapter of the National Federation of Music, and a regular performer on All-Classical Portland radio. Her solo album released on Helicon records label, “Monica’s Notebook”, is a series of piano Études written expressly for her by her husband, Kenji Bunch. Ohuchi is currently a Program Director at Reed College in the Performing Arts Music Division, where she also teachers piano and chamber music. Ohuchi holds advanced degrees from the Juilliard School in Piano Performance. www.monicaohuchi.com - More About Kenji Bunch
-
Kenji Bunch uses his work as a composer and performer to look for commonalities between musical traditions, for understandings that transcend cultural or generational barriers, and for empathic connections with his listeners. Mr. Bunch draws on vernacular musical traditions, his interest in history, the natural world, and his classical training to create new concert music with a unique personal vocabulary that appeals to performers, audiences, and critics alike. After nearly three decades as a professional musician, whose work has been performed by over sixty American orchestras, by chamber musicians on six continents, and has been recorded numerous times, he considers his mission to be the continuing search for and celebration of shared emotional truths about the human experience.Mr. Bunch maintains an active performing career, and is widely recognized for performing his own groundbreaking works for viola. In the ongoing search for fluency in other musical styles, he developed a deep interest in vernacular American music and improvisation. Mr. Bunch was the fiddle player and vocalist with the band Citigrass for over 15 years, and is a frequent collaborator with jazz, pop, folk, country, rock, and experimental musicians. He has also collaborated extensively with choreographers and filmmakers.
A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. Bunch left New York City after 22 memorable years to return to his native Portland, Oregon, where he currently serves as Artistic Director of new music group Fear No Music, and teaches at Portland State University, Reed College, and for the Portland Youth Philharmonic.
