| Portland Chamber Orchestra | |
| Location: | Portland, Oregon |
| Concert Hall: | Kaul Auditorium, Reed College |
| Founded: | 1946 |
| Principal Conductor: | Yaacov Bergman |
The Portland Chamber Orchestra is an orchestra based in Portland, Oregon. It is considered the oldest chamber orchestra in the United States, founded in 1946 by Boris Sirpo,[1] and hosted its first performance on May 27, 1947 at the Neighbors of Woodcraft Auditorium. Its home venue is Lewis & Clark College.
At the time of the orchestra's founding, Boris Sirpo, the founder, was a faculty member at Lewis & Clark College. Its early performers were female stringed instrument students at the College; this later changed to include those not actively studying there. The first concert performed in 1947 was a tour de force of performance which included Gluck's Overture to Orfeo ed Euridice, Corelli's Concerto Grosso, John Humphries's Concerto for Strings, Carl Stamitz's Orchestra Quartet, Paul Hindemith's Three Pieces for Strings, Jean Sibelius's Romance in C, A. Arensky's Variations on a Theme by Tschaikowsky, and Bach's Concerto in A Minor based on a Theme by Vivaldi.