Edited by Randi Bjornstad

Maybe the easiest way to describe the 2025 offerings of the Oregon Festival of American Music at The Shedd Institute is just to dive in and give a day-by-day account of what will be performed during its 11-day run, which begins on Wednesday, Aug. 6, and closes on Saturday, Aug. 16.

It’s worth noting that there are two chances to see several of the shows during the run, generally one as a matinee and the other as an evening show. There also are talks, film showings, and even a couple of singalongs to help people get the most out of the OFAM experience.

First, though, here’s a description from The Shedd that describes this year’s OFAM, starting with a statement by Jim Ralph, the organization’s executive director:

“Music is a living and responsive thing: It gets transformed—sometimes a little sometimes a lot, sometimes for the better sometimes for the worse—as it is interpreted by performers for various purposes, in diverse contexts and through time. It’s inevitable, healthy, always interesting, and at times flat-out glorious.”

The Line-Up — OFAM 2025

All the Things You Are (Jerome Kern) 

Performances: 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 6 and 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14

The Shedd Synopsis: In 1924, Jerome Kern famously objected to other musicians reinterpreting his songs. Nobody listened. How could one? They’re so good. From All The Things You Are, Till The Clouds Roll By and The Song Is You to The Way You Look Tonight, Yesterdays, and I Won’t Dance.

Note: The Aug. 6 opening night performance will be broadcast live on KLCC public radio, 89.7 FM

My Baby Just Cares For Me (Nina Simone)

Performances: 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 7 and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 16

The Shedd Synopsis: Most fans, friends, music critics, and fellow artists remember Nina Simone’s unique power to transform an audience. She was dubbed the “High Priestess of Soul” by a record label, which might have been clever branding at the time, but in her case, not hyperbole. In the world, she could be imperious, unstable and difficult, but in music, she was uncompromising. The show includes songs among her best: I Loves You Porgy, Sinnerman, My Baby Just Cares for Me, Little Girl Blue, and Feeling Good. plus some of her lesser-known pop, folk and classical interpretations.

The Sweetest Melody (Duke Ellington)

Performances: 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 8, and 1:30 p0.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 13

The Shedd Synopsis: Musicians Chuck Redd and company pay tribute to the incomparable Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington and his brilliant, enduring, always rewarding compositions: Perdido, I Got It Bad, Sophisticated Lady, It Don’t Mean A Thing, Mood Indigo, Prelude To A Kiss, I let A Song Go Out Of My Heart, and more.

It’s Not The Pale Moon (Hoagy Carmichael)

Performances: 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 9, and 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15

The Shedd Synopsis: With roots in the 1920s Midwest hot jazz scene, Hoagie Carmichael established himself early as a composer of songs that were at once instant hits and enduring popular and jazz standards, such as Star Dust, Georgia On My Mind, The Nearness Of You, Up A Lazy River, Heart And Soul, Lazybones, Skylark, and Two Sleepy People, performed by Lynnea Barry and company.

Summertime (The 2025 Summer Jazz Party)

Performance: 4 p.m. to 7:30 pm. on Sunday, Aug. 10

The Shedd Synopsis: Hosted by Check Redd, with guest vocalists Shirley Andress and Siri Vik, OFAM’s traditional Sunday jazz part includes six sets of music performed during 3.5 hours, each featuring a different leader and ensemble. Cabaret seating on the main floor and concert seating in the balcony; full bar in thenTykeson Lobby.

But Beautiful (Jimmy Van Heusen)

Performance: 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday Aug.12

The Shedd Synopsis: Hosted by Will and Peter Anderson, the concert pays tribute to one of the giants of the Classic Songbook, Jimmy Van Heusen. He wrote more than 1,000 songs, of which dozens became standards, such as Darn That Dream, Polka Dots and Moonbeams, It Could Happen to You, I Thought About You, Aren’t You Glad You’re You, My Kind of Town, The Tender Trap, and four — All the Way, High Hopes, Call Me Irresponsible, and Swinging on a Star — that won Academy Awards.

Let Me Off Uptown (Anita O’Day)

Performance: 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 13

The Shedd Synopsis: Unique vocals and swinging rhythms put jazz vocalist Anita O’Day among the upper echelon of jazz singers, equally as skilled with ballads as with Songbook and jazz standards during her 70-plus-year career. She began in the Big Band era singing with Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton before moving into solo recording, where she filled more than 60 long-play records and hundreds of sides for 45s, many with Verve Records. Critic John Voorhees said of her in 1964, “If improvisation is at the heart of jazz, then Anita O’Day is at the heart of vocal improvisation … n0 matter the tune or the tempo … placing her in a category all by herself.” Vanessa Greenway and friends offer their tribute to Anita O’Day.

Something Cool (June Christy and Peggy Lee)

Performance: 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 8 and 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14

The Shedd Synopsis: Shirley Andress brings to the stage the jazz standards of June Christy and Peggy Lee, both skilled at taking classic songs and reshaping them musically and emotionally into popular covers of their own.

Oregon Festival of American Music (OFAM)

When: Aug. 6-16, 2025

Where: The Shedd Institute of the Arts, 868 High St., Eugene

Tickets and information: Telephone 541-434-7000, email tickets@theshedd.net, or online at theshedd.org