Homegrown performers who travel the world, music of Brahms and Tchaikovsky, soloists from Japan, Bulgaria and Spain: They’re coming during the Port Angeles Symphony’s 87th season.
New subscriptions are now available for the 2019-2020 series of 14 concerts in Sequim and Port Angeles, conductor-music director Jonathan Pasternack announced this week.
Levels vary, so patrons can choose from Pops & Picnic shows, full Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra concerts and the first-ever Ballet Gala.
“Subscriptions give our patrons a chance to save on tickets, choose their seats and look forward to a season of great music,” said Pasternack.
To receive a brochure listing the concerts, locations and guest artists, call 360-457-5579, email to PASymphony@olypen.com or write to: Port Angeles Symphony, P.O. Box 2148, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
As ever, the season starts with Pops & Picnic, but this year brings a change. This show has as its guest vocalist Sgt. First Class Martha Krabill, originally from Port Townsend and now with the U.S. Army Band. A celebration of music from the classical world, Broadway and the movies, it has in past years happened on two consecutive evenings.
As an experiment, this year’s Pops & Picnic concerts will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 27 and at 1 p.m. Sept. 28, both at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
“Martha is a multitalented and charismatic entertainer,” Pasternack said of Krabill, who has traveled to Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq with the Army band called Pershing’s Own.
For the Pops & Picnic program, Krabill is preparing to sing one of her all-time favorites, Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” And beyond that, she said, Pasternack has chosen a piece that will challenge her.
“It is out of my regular comfort zone, and for that I am grateful,” Krabill said. She’s keeping the song’s title a surprise.
Another thing she looks forward to: sharing the stage with her musician parents. They are Port Angeles Symphony principal oboist Anne Krabill and bassoonist Dave Krabill.
When she was growing up, her folks were busy raising four children and running their business, so Martha rarely saw them play their instruments.
These days, “they have reignited their passion for music,” she said of her mom and dad.
“It mean so much to me that I have been invited to perform with them in their orchestra.”
Two weeks after Pops & Picnic comes a visit from harpist Elizabeth Huston, the daughter of musicians and teachers Phil and Deborah Morgan-Ellis of Port Angeles. She will join the Symphony’s Chamber Orchestra for concerts in Port Angeles on Oct. 11 and Sequim on Oct. 12.
For the first full Symphony Orchestra concert of the new year, Jesús Reina will travel here from Spain.
This guest soloist is “a phenomenal artist and player,” said Pasternack, and the Edward Elgar piece Reina will play Feb. 22 is “incredibly emotional and romantic. He’s been wanting to play this concerto. It’s very special to him.”
On the first day of spring 2020, the Ballet Workshop of Port Angeles and the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra will perform together in a celebration of the ballet company’s 50th anniversary. The March 21 program will bring together 40 local dancers, guest artists from Oregon Ballet Theatre, original choreography by Ballet Workshop director Kate Robbins and music by Tchaikovsky, Fauré, Bach and Debussy.
Other highlights of the new season:
• Guest soloist Monique Mead and Mendelssohn’s violin concerto with the Symphony Orchestra on Nov. 9;
• The Port Angeles Symphony Chorus plus featured soloists James Garlick and Steve Schermer in the Holiday Concert on Dec. 14;
• Cellist Michael Center, featured soloist with the Chamber Orchestra on Jan. 17 in Port Angeles and Jan. 18 in Sequim;
• Seattle Symphony principal trombonist Ko-ichiro Yamamoto, a native of Japan, with the Symphony on March 28;
• Bulgarian-born pianist Anna Petrova, soprano Kristin K. Vogel, baritone David Meyer, the Symphony Chorus and Fauré’s Requiem on May 2;
• An evening of American music with soprano Courtney Ruckman, Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and Barber’s Adagio for Strings on May 22 in Port Angeles and May 23 in Sequim.
At Symphony and Chamber Orchestra series concerts, youngsters age 16 and under are admitted free with a paying adult. Venues are the Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Port Angeles and Trinity United Methodist Church in Sequim.
