Portland Revels : Join Portland Revels for our Seasonal Events!

Join Portland Revels for our Seasonal Events!

Revels 2010 Full Chorus Credit Owen Carey
Portland Revels

Portland Revels celebrates the seasons through song, dance, story and ritual of the past and present, creating community across generations and cultures.

What is the Christmas Revels?

Each December, Portland Revels presents a multifaceted stage production to welcome the winter season. Combining instrumental and choral music, children's songs and games, ritual and folk dance traditions, drama, poetry, and audience participation, this event springs from an age-old tradition of winter solstice celebration. Eleven matinee and evening Christmas Revels performances are presented in downtown Portland, Oregon in the handsome historic theater of the Scottish Rite Center at 1512 SW Morrison, Portland 97205. (SW 15th and Morrison)

A cast of 75 or so includes the Portland Brass Quintet, the Bridgetown Morris Men, instrumentalists, Portland actors, and volunteer adult/teen/children choruses drawn from throughout the city. It is professionally staged, costumed, and lighted. Portland's first Christmas Revels—set in the Middle Ages—was presented in 1995 at Portland State University's Lincoln Hall. In 1997, the Revels audience outgrew Lincoln Hall and the show moved to the Scottish Rite Theater, where it has since presented annual holiday shows with Medieval, Middle Eastern, Celtic, Victorian, and Scottish themes.

Our 2012 Christmas Revels show took us to an Appalachian Town during a fierce snowstorm, where audiences enjoyed early Appalachian music, clogging and a heartwarming story of acceptance. In 2007 the show visited Haddon Hall and a number of periods in English history, in 2008 we enjoyed Scandinavian music, folklore, and traditions. In 2009 we enjoyed a rollicking show honoring Irish cultural holiday traditions featuring fiddler Kevin Burke, Irish dancer Maldon Meehan and friends. 2010 took us to the historic Al-Andalus period in Spain. The cultural focus changes from year to year, but the Christmas Revels is always about celebrating the season.

We hope you will join with us as we gather, to add joy and celebration in community to your life!

Our December 2012 Appalachian themed show was a great success. Guest artists Suzannah Park and Ithica Tell brought their distinctive and equally gorgeous voices to join with the polished song of the 60-person Revels chorus. Audience comments included raves about the set, the music, and the pure joy of the experience.

For more audience comments go to our Christmas Revels 2012 page.

Portland Revels supports Arts for All; click HERE for details

Seasonal Events

In addition to our Christmas Revels Show, we sponsor fun seasonal events year-round. We've already had a Pub Sing in honor of Robert Burns' Birthday and a wonderful concert performed by the Revels' Women's Ensemble, ViVoce. Join us for much more to come, Spring Fling in Bohemia, Summerfaire, And Abbots Bromliad are just some of our upcoming events. Go to our calendar page for more.

Check out our latest reviews!

Thanks to wonderful journalist Dmae Roberts for the great "Stage and Studio" program chat on KBOO radio. Suzannah Park and Betsy Branch brought a great taste of Appalachian music to the airwaves. Here's the link to the 20 minute interview session:

http://stagenstudio.com/2012/11/portland-revels/

ut omnia bene

http://utomniabene.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-revels.html

For information about our show, please click on that link in selections on left of page. Our tickets go on sale to the general public in late October.
To contact the Revels office year round, please email info-at-portlandrevels.org or call 503-274-4654.

Revels is a federally registered service mark of Revels Inc, Watertown MA.

Volunteer with the Portland Revels!

ViVoce Women`s Ensemble - More Information

We are very grateful to all of our key sponsors, without whom we could not succeed in bringing our holiday show and other seasonal events to Portland audiences:
Thank you!