Sequim Gazette staff
The Port Angeles Symphony presents its annual holiday concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, at the Port Angeles High School Auditorium, 304 E. Park Ave, Port Angeles. Tickets are $5 for the 10 a.m. final rehearsal; $20/$30 for reserved seating; $15 general seating; and $12 for seniors and students. For youths 16 and under accompanied by an adult, there is no charge. Tickets are available at Port Book and News and the symphony office in Port Angeles; The Good Book in Sequim and Sequim Village Glass in Carlsborg. Bus service is available for $18.75 from these stops in Sequim: 6:30 p.m. at 135 Fairway Drive in Sunland and 6:40 p.m. on the west side of Walmart near the pharmacy drive-thru. Call 457-5579 for payment information.
Following are some of the highlighted pieces:
• “A Christmas Festival” by Leroy Anderson — A favorite among audiences at holiday time since it was first commissioned by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops in 1950, Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival” is an ingenious and imaginative melding of several Christmas tunes, written brilliantly for large orchestra.
• “Swan Lake Suite” by Piotr I. Tchaikovsky — Tchaikovsky’s three fairy-tale ballets — “Swan Lake” (1876), “The Sleeping Beauty” (1889), and “The Nutcracker” (1892) — remain staples the repertoire for both ballet companies and orchestras and comprise some of the most famous music ever written. “Swan Lake” tells the tragic story of Prince Siegfried and his doomed love for the princess Odette, who was transformed into the form of a white swan by the evil magician von Rothbart.
• “Prelude to Hansel and Gretel” by Englebert Humperdinck — “Hansel and Gretel” is an opera by 19th-century German romantic composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who described it as a fairy-tale opera. It has been associated with Christmas since its earliest performances and today it is still most often performed at Christmastime. It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes.
• “Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah” by George Frederic Handel — Handel’s celebrated three-part oratorio “Messiah” concludes its second part with the most well known and often performed segment of that work, the beloved “Hallelujah Chorus” which frequently is performed around Christmastime. The brilliance of the counterpoint and triumphant character of the music make this a wonderful holiday concert selection, with or without the words being sung.
The symphony also will play nine traditional Christmas carols. Jonathan Pasternack, music director and conductor of the Port Angeles Symphony, has conducted orchestras, opera and ballet in the United States and Europe, and Orchestra Seattle.
