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This spring’s classical music calendar includes concerts featuring the instruments that led the way to the future: string quartets (in the 19th century), percussion (in the 20th), and electronic (21st). It also offers remembrances of injustices past and present, and, right in season, music inspired by nature.Here’s a look at the season’s highlights:‘Requiem For The Forgotten’ – Cappella Romana & 45th ParallelInspired by encounters with homeless people in his neighborhood, famous requiems of the past, religious faith (some text comes from the biblical Book of Lamentations), a contemporary poem about Ukraine, and more, California composer Frank La Rocca’s “Requiem For The Forgotten” offers not just mourning but also comfort and hope. The superb singers from Cappella Romana will also perform an earlier Mass by 19th century composer Josef Rheinberger, who dedicated it to Pope Leo XIII, known for his social justice advocacy.2 p.m. Saturday, March 29, St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1739 N.W. Couch St., Portland, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 30, Our Lady of the Lake Parish, Lake Oswego; $5-$58, cappellaromana.org. Members of PUBLIQuartet will perform “What is American: Rhythm Nation” on April 6 at Beaverton’s Patricia Reser Center for the Arts.Lelanie Foster‘What Is American: Rhythm Nation’ – PUBLIQuartetThis New York-based foursome specializes in contemporary music that leaves room for improvisation. That means delightfully unconventional programs like this fascinating Friends of Chamber Music show of mostly African diasporic music, which includes jazz, of course, (Duke Ellington, Alice Coltrane, Pulitzer winner Henry Threadgill) but also global sounds (Guinean composer Lassana Diabaté, Venezuelan composer/violinist Eddie Venegas), pop (Betty Davis) and even contemporary classical (Julia Perry, Imani Winds composer/hornist Jeff Scott) influences. 3 p.m. Sunday, April 6, Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 12625 S.W. Crescent St., Beaverton; $32-$59, focm.org.‘Pergolesi: Stabat Mater’ – Portland Baroque OrchestraPoor Giovanni Pergolesi didn’t even live as long as Mozart, dying of tuberculosis at age 26 in that earlier non-vaccination year 1736. But the Italian prodigy still managed to produce enough masterworks to be considered one of the finest Baroque composers, and his famous “Stabat Mater” (performed here by PBO and guest singers) one of the great monuments of sacred music. The concert also includes vocal music by JS Bach, earlier Italian Baroque master Alessandro Scarlatti, and a seasonal Vivaldi concerto.7 p.m. Saturday, April 12, First Congregational Church, 1126 S.W. Park Ave., and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 13, Kaul Auditorium, 3017 S.E. Woodstock Blvd.; $28-$77, pbo.org.‘People Into Trees’ – Third Angle New Music, Portland Percussion GroupPlanetariums typically show us the stars, but this time, OMSI’s dome immerses us in, well, our planet — specifically its forests. Those images will accompany contemporary percussion compositions by Portland’s own master composer/percussionist, Andy Akiho, Stanford University wild card composer Mark Applebaum, the great Scottish solo percussionist Evelyn Glennie, and more, including rising next-gen stars Molly Joyce and Meg Day (a world premiere for percussion quartet and American Sign Language poetry), Quinn Mason, Juri Seo, and Inti Figgis-Vizueta. This collaboration with local accessibility advocates CymaSpace provides wearable haptic vests to give Deaf/Hard of Hearing audience members access to the pulsating music.7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, April 16-17, Kendall Planetarium, OMSI, 1945 S.E. Water Ave.; $35-$40, thirdangle.org.The string quartet Brooklyn Rider will perform co-founder/composer Colin Jacobsen’s original song cycle “Chalk & Soot” on April 18 at Beaverton’s Patricia Reser Center for the Arts.Erin Baiano‘Chalk & Soot’ – Brooklyn RiderFor 15 years, string quartet Brooklyn Rider has carried on the avant-garde tradition that stretches back to art movements like its renowned near namesake, the early 20th century collective Blue Rider. BR co-founder/composer Colin Jacobsen’s original song cycle “Chalk & Soot” sets to music a Dada-inspired text by Blue Rider member and immortal painter Wassily Kandinsky, and the program includes a quartet from the era by another famed Blue Rider, Arnold Schoenberg. The show also looks forward with four new works, co-commissioned by Beaverton’s own Reser Center, by leading contemporary composers including Clarice Assad, Tyshawn Sorey, Giovanni Solima, and Portland’s own Gabriel Kahane.7:30 p.m. Friday, April 18, Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 12625 S.W. Crescent St., Beaverton; $35-$55, thereser.org.‘Grounded’ – FearNoMusicEvery year, the groundbreaking Portland new music ensemble produces a Locally Sourced Sounds concert — and each one has been so different from the others that they collectively form a testimonial to the diversity of Portland contemporary classical music. This year’s program focuses on electronic music, blended with violins and piano, and features established composers Kirsten Volness and William Campbell, with emerging voices Ravi Kittappa, Caroline Louise Miller, and Anwyn Willette.7:30 p.m. Friday, April 25, Eliot Chapel, Reed College, 3203 S.E. Woodstock Blvd.; $25 suggested donation, fearnomusic.org.‘Treasured Resources: Water and Music’ – 45th Parallel UniverseEqually enamored of the natural and musical worlds, Deena Grossman has found an ideal position to meld them as composer-in-residence with the environmental organization Columbia Riverkeeper. “Waterways,” the latest in her series of increasingly evocative nature-inspired composition premieres in this concert featuring Oregon Symphony musicians and esteemed local pianist Maria Garcia. The program also includes acclaimed Japanese composer Yuko Uebayashi’s playful, lyrical “Au-Dela du Temps.”7 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, The Old Madeleine Church, 3123 N.E. 24th Ave.; $26-$36.50, 45thparallelpdx.org.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81wskrTSOT4‘Heavens Full of Stars: Music of Ēriks Ešenvalds’ – Oregon Repertory Singers Since Portland’s Oregon Repertory Singers became the first American choir to bring Ēriks Ešenvalds to the U.S. in 2012, the then-rising Latvian composer has become one of the brightest stars in the choral music firmament. His ethereal setting of Sara Teasdale’s “Stars” (enhanced by tuned wine glasses) has become a popular choice for choirs worldwide. ORS (which recorded it) will sing it here, as the choir also does at every Christmas concert, along with Northwest premieres of standout compositions and a trio of new works setting words by Oregon poet laureate emerita, Paulann Petersen.4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, May 3-4, First United Methodist Church, 1838 S.W. Jefferson St.; $30-$50, orsingers.org. ‘Found Sounds’ – Cascadia ComposersPercussion isn’t really an instrument but rather a whole passel of sound makers. This program of duets performed by Florian Conzetti and Wanyue Ye includes conventional percussors like marimba and vibraphone, as well as flowerpots, brake drums, wind chimes, and more. The lineup features new music by Eugene composers Paul Safar and John Hidalgo, Portlanders Brian Magill, Nicholas Yandell, Lisa Neher, and more.7:30 p.m. Friday, May 9, The Old Madeleine Church, 3123 N.E. 24th Ave.; $10-$30, cascadiacomposers.org.Members of Resonance Ensemble will perform “We Are Still Here” as part of the 10th Vanport Mosaic Festival in early June. The work combines song, art and memories from survivors of Japanese American incarceration during World War II, and is a world premiere commission from Portland’s own Japanese American composer Kenji Bunch.Photo by Rachel Hadiashar‘We Are Still Here’ – Resonance EnsembleAs part of the 10th Vanport Mosaic Festival, the socially conscious Portland choir will use song, art (by Chisao Hata), and memory (from survivors of Japanese American incarceration and their descendants) to “reclaim and heal” the site where almost 4,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly detained during World War II. The performance includes historical photographs and video projections, a communal altarpiece, and musical and theatrical offerings — including a world premiere commission from Portland’s own Japanese American composer Kenji Bunch. 3 p.m. Sunday, June 1, Portland Expo Center, 2060 N. Marine Drive; $5-$40, resonancechoral.org.Oregon Symphony principal cellist Nancy Ives collaborated with Native storyteller Ed Edmo (Shoshone-Bannock), photographer Joe Cantrell (Cherokee) and Portland Chamber Orchestra in a commemorative multimedia composition, “Celilo Falls: We Were There.” The work will be performed by the Oregon Symphony in early June.Photo courtesy of The Oregon Symphony‘Scheherazade’ and ‘Celilo Falls’ – Oregon SymphonyFor 15,000 years, Celilo Falls, one of the world’s largest waterfalls, was a vital trading center for Indigenous communities from throughout the Pacific Northwest. It took only months for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to inundate it by building the Dalles Dam in 1957, depriving the original inhabitants of their traditional salmon fishing grounds, livelihoods and ancient cultural home. In 2022, Oregon Symphony principal cellist Nancy Ives collaborated with Native storyteller Ed Edmo (Shoshone-Bannock), photographer Joe Cantrell (Cherokee) and Portland Chamber Orchestra in a commemorative multimedia composition, “Celilo Falls: We Were There.” The OSO will play this new version for full orchestra along with one of the most colorful works in all of classical music, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s magnificent “Scheherazade.”7:30 p.m. Friday, June 6, Smith Auditorium, 270 Winter St. SE, Salem, 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Monday, June 7 and 9, and 2 pm Sunday, June 8, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 S.W. Broadway, Portland; $25-$59; orsymphony.org.

Highlights include several concerts inspired by precious natural resources, and an Oregon symphony performance based on Celilo Falls.