Port Angeles’ own homegrown chamber music festival announced last week a new initiative to help introduce families and students to affordable classical music.
For the opening and finale shows at the Field Arts & Events Hall, children’s tickets — with purchase of an adult ticket (ranging from $25 to $50) — are $5 dollars. Tickets for students younger than 25 are $10.
In a July 9 press release, Music on the Strait artistic directors James Garlick and Richard O’Neill said they hope this move, aimed at making classical music accessible to the community, will “encourage families to come and experience world-class chamber music in their own backyard.”
“Richard and I were introduced to classical music right here in Port Angeles,” Garlick said.
Photo courtesy of Joyce Yang World-renowned pianist Joyce Yang will perform solo “Preludes” by Rachmaninov and Dvorak’s “Dumky” Piano Trio on Aug. 10, part of the 2024 Music on the Strait festival.
“We played together as kids and benefited from the supportive art community of our hometown. It’s a rich community, and one we’d like to see made available to all.”
Now in its sixth season, Music on the Strait brings musicians from across the world to perform and celebrate classical music. Shows this year are featured at two Port Angeles settings: Maier Hall on the Peninsula College campus, and the new Field Arts & Events Hall on the Port Angeles waterfront.
Maier Hall tickets are nearly sold out, but there are still tickets for the Aug. 1 and Aug. 10 shows at Field Arts & Events Hall, 201 W. Front St.; tickets are available at musiconthestrait.com.
Upcoming concerts
The Thursday, Aug. 1 concert features pianist Jeremy Denk, who the New York Times calls “a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs.”
Denk is returning for a fifth time, this year performing Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio, the rare chamber version of his Fourth Piano Concerto, and American Charles Ives’ “Concord” Sonata, a unique and difficult piece that Denk wrote about performing in his The New Yorker piece, “Flight of the Concord.”
On Saturday, Aug. 10, the Festival Finale features another world-famous pianist, Joyce Yang, who won the silver medal at the 2005 Van Cliburn Piano Competition at only 19.
Yang will perform solo “Preludes” by Rachmaninov and Dvorak’s rollicking “Dumky” Piano Trio. Cellist Efe Baltacıgil returns for 2024 composer-in-residence Paul Wiancko’s inventive new work, “Closed Universe” for solo cello, piano quartet, and glockenspiel.
Artwork courtesy of Music on the Strait At left: The late Jeffrey Veregge created poster art for this year’s Music on the Strait festival.
The festival will also be a place for families to experience visual art, too. This year’s festival art poster features “Restoration” by Jeffrey Veregge, the world-renowned Port Gamble S’Klallam artist known for his unique ability to blend pop art and Native art traditions. Veregge died in April, and his legacy celebrates the enduring connections between art and the environment in the Pacific Northwest.
As for the festival’s future, Garlick says he hopes to keep growing our educational and community outreach while remaining rooted in the community. In 2022, Music on the Strait established the Dick and Alice Rapasky Memorial Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships for string students in Clallam County.
“Accessibility is at the heart of our dream for the festival. We’re all about sharing the power and beauty of chamber music,” Garlick said, “and that starts with supporting its emerging voices. So we’re excited to keep bringing music to our hometown.
“But we’re also excited to keep growing the music from here, too.”
Photo by Josh Goleman Above: Pianist and best-selling author Jeremy Denk will appear at this summer’s Music on the Strait festival on Thursday, Aug. 1, performing Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio.
