Live Music/Performances

We bring the community together by hosting a wide variety of live music events that celebrate our heritage and expose us to new perspectives. You can view a list of past performers below. From Celtic and bluegrass to jazz, blues, world music, and rock & roll, the Pendleton Center for the Arts is a great spot to experience the power of live music. You can keep up with all our Facebook events HERE.

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Next Up:

Eleni Mandell

Photo Credit: Max Gerber

Monday, June 15, 2026
7:00 p.m., Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets $20

Eleni Mandell is a Los Angeles-born singer-songwriter whose music lives at the intersection of noir romance, West Coast cool, and poetic wit. With a smoky voice that recalls vintage jazz singers and lyrics that rival short fiction, Mandell has quietly built a cult following among listeners who crave sophistication with their heartbreak.

A protégé of Chuck E. Weiss and mentored by Tom Waits’ music and artistry, Mandell burst onto the scene in the late ’90s with Wishbone, earning comparisons to PJ Harvey, Lucinda Williams, and Billie Holiday — yet her sound is unmistakably her own. Over more than a dozen albums, including Miracle of Five, I Can See the Future, and Let’s Fly a Kite, she’s traversed genres from sultry lounge to alt-country, chamber pop to indie rock, always anchored by razor-sharp lyricism and a wry emotional honesty.

Whether chronicling the lives of single mothers, disillusioned lovers, or dreamers in the vastness of Los Angeles, Mandell writes with intimacy and insight — the kind that makes you feel like she’s been reading your diary, or writing hers in the booth next to you.

When she’s not performing solo, she’s one-fourth of the harmony-rich folk quartet The Living Sisters, alongside Inara George, Alex Lilly and Becky Stark. Mandell is also a devoted mother of twins, balancing tours with her day job as a High School English teacher (an additional career acquired right before the pandemic) and proving that artistry and motherhood need not live in separate worlds.

Eleni Mandell is not just a musician — she’s a mood, a moment, and a masterful chronicler of modern life’s quiet, gorgeous ache.

Made possible through the generous support of Hess Injury Law. 

Save the Dates

Friday, July 17, 2026 – Brass Fire Tribute to Chicago
Made possible through the generous support of Harriet Isom

Thursday, September 17, 2026 – The EOCenes
Presented in memory of Nyla Macomber

Photo Credit Brude deBoer

Wednesday, October 21, 2026 – Joe Newberry and April Verch
Made possible through the generous support of Thompson RV.

Select Past Events

Filippo Gorini

Saturday, March 14, 2026

Thanks to a partnership with Portland Piano International, world-class pianist Filippo Gorini performed a recital at the Pendleton Center for the Arts on Saturday, March 14^th for a sold out audience.

Filippo Gorini graduated with honors from the Donizetti Conservatory in Bergamo and the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. He received the “Premio Abbiati”, the most prestigious musical recognition in Italy, in 2022, as well as the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award 2020 and First Prize at the Telekom-Beethoven Competition 2015. His three albums featuring Beethoven and Bach late works, released on Alpha Classics, have garnered critical acclaim, including a Diapason d’Or Award and 5-star reviews on The Guardian, BBC Music Magazine, Le Monde.

Gorini’s “Sonata for 7 Cities”, set to end in 2027, aims to show a new, responsible and ethical approach to concert life with monthly residencies in Vienna, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Portland, Medellín, Milan and more, centered around performances, outreach, teaching, and philanthropy. The Pendleton performance is an outreach project of the Portland residency. During this project he will also perform seven newly commissioned piano pieces by composers Stefano Gervasoni, Federico Gardella, Beat Furrer, Michelle Agnes Magalhaes, Yukiko Watanabe, Oscar Jockel, Ondrej Adamek.

Filippo Gorini’s musicianship has drawn acclaim in recitals in the major venues in Europe and abroad, ranging from Milan’s Teatro alla Scala to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, and Louis Vuitton Foundation Paris, as well as with orchestras such as the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchester, the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, the Gyeonggi Philharmonic in Seoul, the Opera Nacional de Chile.

True Blues with Corey Harris & Cedric Watson
Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024
SOLD OUT! 

Hosted by Corey Harris, a powerful singer, accomplished guitarist and MacArthur Grant recipient, True Blues chronicles the extraordinary living culture of the blues in an evening of music and conversation. Harris will be joined on stage by four-time Grammy-nominated fiddler, singer, accordionist & songwriter Cedric Watson, considered to be one of the brightest young talents to emerge in Cajun, Creole and Zydeco (Louisiana French) music over the last decade.

Seffarine

The musicians of Seffarine, soulful Moroccan singer Lamiae Naki and flamenco guitarist Nat Hulskamp, supported by master musicians of diverse cultures, embrace and extend this rich legacy. Their exciting performances masterfully combine explosive flamenco footwork, exotic instrumentation and grooving basslines. These diverse backgrounds meld, creating what SoundRoots describes as “an ear-caressing blend of sounds from Spain and North Africa, spiced with a bit of fiery instrumentation and percussion.”

“Seffarine’s music can melt the coldest hearts”
-Chicago Reader

Past Performers