Northwest Vocal Arts presents an Autumn Celebration of Choral Delights – 3 p.m. on Sunday, October 19

Come enjoy a wonderful, relaxing afternoon of the best in choral music.

Portland, Ore. – Northwest Vocal Arts (NWVA) – celebrates its second season with a fall concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, October 19, at Rose City Park United Methodist Church, located at 5830 NE Alameda St. in Portland.

Titled Autumn Celebration, this concert will feature the NWVA professional chamber choir and the NWVA youth choir performing works by Antonio Vivaldi, Jack Runestad, Aaron Copland, and more. Thanks to generous donations from the public and a substantial grant from San Francisco-based non-profit Chance to Excel, all members of the youth choir receive a full tuition scholarship.

The centerpiece of the concert will be Gloria, RV 589 by Antonio Vivaldi. Gloria was composed in 1715, during his residency at a convent and orphanage for girls in Venice. Vivaldi’s orchestras and choirs were famous throughout Europe. Although his secular music, such as The Four Seasons, is better known today, he composed truly stunning and profound sacred works. Gloria is a shining example of Baroque sacred music at its finest.

Other highlights include the Grammy-nominated The Hope of Loving by  contemporary composer Jack Runestad. The piece explores themes of love, spirituality and the natural world in mesmerizing settings of verses by poets ranging from medieval mystics to more contemporary masters. On composing, Runestad said “I write because it’s not about music for the sake of music — it’s music for the sake of helping someone grieve, inspiring positive change in the world, telling someone else’s story that maybe we don’t know about in order to foster compassion. It’s really music with purpose.”

General admission is $35 ($15 for students). Season tickets ($80) can be purchased at nwvocalarts.org/tickets.

More Concerts this Season

Voices of Winter – New Light, featuring Three Nativity Carols by Stephen Paulus, A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten and more, Saturday, December 20, 2:00 pm and Sunday, December 21, 7:00 p.m.

Cordillera: Range of the Americas-Music of Brazil, Featuring Bendita Sabedoria by Villa-Lobos, a pre-concert reception and more, Sunday, March 15, 3:00 p.m.

About Northwest Vocal Arts

Northwest Vocal Arts is a non-profit organization based in Portland, Ore., that strives to foster human connection, inspire the next generation of professional and amateur musicians, and positively impact individuals and audiences in the Pacific Northwest and beyond through the universal language of vocal music and innovative community-focused initiatives.

NWVA currently has two ensembles – a professional chamber choir featuring some of the region’s finest vocal musicians, and a youth choir that is open to high school students of all ages.

Thanks to generous donors, every member of our youth choir is provided with a 100% tuition scholarship, regardless of prior experience and without an audition.

With this groundbreaking approach, NWVA removes a significant barrier of entry for young singers and their families.

Learn more at www.nwvocalarts.org.

Artistic Team and Leadership

Portland native Samuel Barbara is Northwest Vocal Arts’ founder and executive artistic director. He has a doctorate in choral music from the University of Southern California and is currently Director of Choral and Vocal Studies at Portland Community College, Rock Creek Campus. He previously served as Director of Choral Activities at Westminster College and as Director of Choirs at Cleveland High School in Portland, where his choirs won the 5A Oregon State choir championships three times.

Karen Bohart directs the NWVA Youth Choir. She is Director of Choirs at Wilsonville High School and is past-President of the Oregon American Choral Director Association (ACDA). She has served on the Oregon Music Educators Association (OMEA) Board and previously served on the Oregon ACDA Board as the Treble Choir Repertoire and Standards Chair.

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Ready to declutter and do some good: Rose City Park Neighborhood-wide Clean Up, September 13, 9am-2pm.

Neighborhood-wide Clean Up

September 13, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM
St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, 2727 NE 54th Ave.

Ready to declutter and do some good? Join us for the Neighborhood-wide Clean Up! Drop off approved items—whether they need a new home or just need to go—and we’ll handle the reuse, recycling, or disposal for free.

Find details on accepted items, prohibited materials, and participating companies on our Clean Up site page and printable flyer.

Want to help make it happen? We’re still looking for volunteers! Reach out to Erik Mitchell at erikmmitch@gmail.com to sign up.

Let’s clean up, give back, and make our neighborhood shine!

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Rose City Park’s Summer Concert with Iron Prophecy presented by Summer Free For All and RCPNA. July 26th

Summer Concert – Rose City Park – July 26, 2025

6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Rose City Park, NE 62nd Ave & NE Thompson St.

Get out your picnic baskets and dancing shoes! Get ready for an evening of fun in the park and a live performance from local reggae band, Iron Prophecy. Presented in partnership with Summer Free for All Cultural Events.

Let the good vibes roll with Iron Prophecy! Rooted in the soulful tradition of reggae, Iron Prophecy spreads a powerful message of love, unity, and hope through their music. Their smooth rhythms and uplifting lyrics create the perfect soundtrack for a summer evening of connection and community. Come ready to relax, move, and be inspired by the sounds of reggae under the open sky.

Iron Prophecy photo

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Sponsor a Rose City Park sign topper on your block! Plus, you can buy one for your home!

The Rose City Park Neighborhood Association is pleased to offer sign toppers again to neighbors for the first time since 2007! Our goal is to blanket the streets to help identify our neighborhood, build some civic pride, and help beautify our community. The neighborhood association has already dedicated some funds to get this work started. Now, we need your help to sponsor a sign for the many blocks in Rose City Park.
Sponsor a Sign On Your Block
You can have a sign installed on your neighborhood street!
  • To have a sign installed on your street, make a donation of $100 to the RCPNA. This will cover the cost of sign production and installation, which must be done by the city.
  • The installation will be coordinated by the neighborhood with PBOT.
Buy One For Home
You can also purchase a sign and have it delivered to your door. Put a sign up in your basement, garage, bedroom — your front lawn, anywhere! A donation of $100 will help with production costs and help offset the cost of installation of the remaining signs throughout the neighborhood.
Business Sponsorships
We are always looking for ways to mutually support our Rose City Park neighborhood businesses. A business donation can help offset our production and installation costs so we can stretch our dollars as far as possible. Consider sharing this opportunity with your Rose City business network. Those who donate will get a sign topper to proudly display!
How to Sponsor
Sponsor a sign using the RCPNA Venmo account below. Or, you can purchase by mailing a check to the RCPNA Treasurer at RCPNA ℅ Crockett, 2214 NE 51st Avenue, Portland, OR 97213. Make checks payable to RCPNA.
  • If you are sponsoring a sign for your block, please enter the cross streets where you want the sign (“NE 55th and Tillamook”) in the purchase notes.
  • If you want a sign for home, please note your home address where we can deliver the sign.
We are expecting sign production to take 2-3 months as we accrue enough funds for a bulk purchase. Installation by PBOT is also expected to take an additional 2-3 months, depending on workload. We are working to try and combine these installations with other work PBOT has planned in the neighborhood to reduce costs.
Questions
If you have questions, please contact Victor Sanders at victor.cmyk@gmail.com.

How to Purchase
Submit payment via Venmo (@RCPNA or scan the QR code), or make checks payable to RCPNA and mail to:
RCPNA ℅ Crockett, 2214 NE 51st Avenue, Portland, OR 97213

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Community Event! Fire Station 28 Tour and Open House. April 6th, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Fire Station 28

Explore the history of Portland’s oldest working firehouse!

April 6. 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Fire Station 28
5540 NE Sandy Blvd.

Visiting a fire station is a great way to learn more about our local, everyday heroes and to get an inside look at what being a firefighter is really like.  Join neighbors and families for an open house and tour of the historic firehouse at Sandy Blvd. at NE 56th St. Meet local firefighters, take pictures with the fire engine and look behind the scenes at what happens at the Station House!

Built in 1913, the firehouse once housed a team of horses to respond to fires and underwent extensive renovations in 2005. Be prepared: firefighters will end the event early if they receive a call for service during the scheduled tour. The event is a partnership between the Rose City Park Neighborhood Association and the Portland Fire Bureau.

For more information and to reserve your spot, visit our Eventbrite page:

Fire Station 28 Tour and Open House Tickets, Sun, Apr 6, 2025 at 10:00 AM | Eventbrite

Email questions to Lara Serecin, RCPNA Board Member at laraserecin@gmail.com

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