Music Director Search
The Portland Chamber Orchestra welcomes nominations and applications for the position of Music Director, available beginning in the 2025–2026 season. Applications are due October 31, 2024.
“I am honored to succeed Yaacov Bergman as Interim Artistic Director of the Portland Chamber Orchestra, and seek to extend his tremendous work with a season full of immersive and collaborative concerts. This series of performances celebrates the unique values of our beautiful city through the physicality of music and a full somatic experience. With these concerts PCO will generate greater understanding of and appreciation for the special energy that is Portland.”
— Deanna Tham, Interim Artistic Director, Portland Chamber Orchestra
Yaacov Bergman, Posthumous Emeritus Artistic Director
Photo by Bob Graves
The Board and Musicians of the Portland Chamber Orchestra are mourning the passing of our beloved Music Director/Conductor, Yaacov (Yaki) Bergman, who died on September 20, 2023. Mae West was believed to have said "You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” Certainly Yaki did it right. He left us too soon, but with memories of a rich, dramatic, sweeping symphony of a life, righteous to the final movement.
Under the leadership of Maestro Bergman, PCO has become one of Portland's most progressive and daring ensembles with its mission devoted to artistic fusion and multi-arts concepts, and programs that promote cultural and social diversity.
With his innovative programming and fusion of the arts, Yaki turned the PCO into "the intimate symphony with infinite imagination.” For 21 years, Yaki has led the orchestra with passion, enthusiasm, and creative energy that mirrored his love of the music he created. He opened the portal into the history of human emotion and expression, and provided an essential framework for contemporary entertainment which will continue to fill our lives.
- Mary Bailey, PCO Board Member on behalf of the PCO Board of Directors
Read tributes to Yaki…
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Oregon ArtsWatch
“He led with his heart, and what a huge, open heart it was!… The music community and its extended family lost a faithful friend, a visionary leader, an innovative programmer, and a beloved conductor when Yaacov “Yaki” Bergman died Sept. 20 in Portland. ”
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All Classical Portland
“He was renowned in Oregon, across the country, and around the world for his dedication to classical music, chamber music, and the arts. Those who knew him will always remember him as an amazing conductor and human, always full of music and optimism.”
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Opera Wire
“Born in Israel on May 31, 1945, Bergman began taking violin and singing lessons at an early age. He then took an interest in conducting and composing and went on to study at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance for conducting and composition.”