With a 35-year track record of artistic excellence, organizational stability, and strong financial stewardship, Chamber Music Northwest stands as one of the most respected not-for-profits in the country. CMNW has operated with a balanced budget for the past 25 years, and the summer festival now performs to 94% average capacity audiences.

CMNW’s Artistic Director and Executive Director since 1980 have been David Shifrin and Linda Magee. Mr. Shifrin also served as artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York from 1992-2004, and is on the music faculty of Yale University. The 50-60 artists invited to perform in CMNW concerts are among the most sought-after soloists, chamber musicians and recording artists here and abroad. These artists frequently have affiliations with prestigious ensembles, including the Emerson and Orion String Quartets, New York Philharmonic, Beaux Arts Trio, Orpheus, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

While in residence at Chamber Music Northwest, they create a flexible "repertory ensemble" of strings, winds, piano and voice, with which to present a wide variety of chamber music spanning four centuries. CMNW is committed to offering concerts of wide-ranging and varied repertoire, from duos and trios to large ensembles, and from baroque and classical masterpieces to West coast and world premieres. In recent years, CMNW has performed new works commissioned from some of today's most prominent composers, including Joan Tower, Edgar Meyer, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Bright Sheng, Lalo Schifrin, Alvin Singleton, Charles Wuorinen, David Schiff, George Rochberg, Bruce Adolphe, and Peter Schickele.

CMNW hosted a week residency by NPR’s “Performance Today” at the 2005 summer festival, which led to nationwide broadcasts throughout July. Performances of CMNW are also heard in the Portland metro area over KBPS-FM (89.9). CMNW has six compact discs commercially available on the Delos International label, as well as annual CDs of live festival performances.

Over the years Chamber Music Northwest has attracted a steadily growing and loyal audience of local residents and summer visitors, and now reaches more than 19,000 during each five-week summer festival season of 27 concerts and 39 free events. The festival concerts now play to audiences averaging 94% capacity. Annually CMNW now reaches 24,000 from a total of 85 events: the summer festival and fall-winter-spring Encore Series, school programs, family concerts, master classes with CMNW young artist fellows, pre-concert talks, lectures, and outreach activities.

Chamber Music Northwest enjoys an enviable record of fiscal health and stable management. The organization has operated with a balanced budget since 1980, during a time of more than tripled budgetary growth, thanks to conservative planning, strong board involvement, and effective management. CMNW maintains a cash reserve fund, and launched an endowment fund in 1992, currently valued at $3.5 million. The current operating budget is $1.3 million, of which 45% is met by earned revenue; the balance is spread among a broad base of individual and corporate donors, foundation grants, and grants from state and local arts commissions.