PORT ANGELES — The last time Spanish-born pianist Josu De Solaun came to town, in spring 2016, he played Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, the “Rach 3,” lifting the audience to its feet. Then he unleashed two encores for an even lustier standing ovation.
“And to watch him is to see him make it look completely effortless,” said De Solaun’s friend and collaborator, Jonathan Pasternack.
Music lovers here have another opportunity to see de Solaun. With the 65-member Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, the pianist will appear at the Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, 304 E. Park Ave., this Saturday for the public dress rehearsal at 10 a.m. and the evening concert at 7:30 p.m.
For this first full-orchestra concert of the Symphony’s 86th season, tickets are $15 for students and seniors, $18 general admission and $25 to $35 for reserved premium seats; children 16 and younger are admitted free with a paying adult.
General admission tickets are available at Port Book and News, 104 E. First St., Port Angeles, and the Joyful Noise Music Center, 112 W. Washington St., Sequim.
Concertgoers can purchase reserved seats by phoning the Symphony office at 360-457-5579.
All remaining tickets will be sold at the door. Patrons are encouraged to come early for best availability.
All seats for the Saturday morning rehearsal are general admission at the door for $7 per person, or free for those 16 and younger accompanied by an adult.
As is traditional, Pasternack, conductor and music director of the Symphony, holds a short pre-concert chat at 6:40 p.m.
The orchestra brings together musicians from across and beyond the North Olympic Peninsula, from percussionist Angie Tabor of Port Townsend and horn player Kristin Quigley Brye of Port Angeles to violinist Connie Rosenquist of Port Townsend and her daughter-in-law Marina Rosenquist, also in the first violin section. New orchestra players include violinist Amber Mattfield of Port Angeles and horn player Ron Gilbert.
As for the music, “It’s a powerful program,” Pasternack said.
De Solaun will play two piano features: Richard Strauss’ “Burleske” and Franz Liszt’s “Totentanz,” pieces Pasternack calls romantic — in different ways.
“One ends softly,” he said, “and one ends with a bang. The Strauss has some very heart-on-the-sleeve sentimental sections, but in a Viennese way. It’s a confection.”
Then comes the drama.
“The Liszt has a ferocity,” said the conductor, making it a perfect climax to the first half, and to De Solaun’s performance.
The pianist, who has spent much of this year performing in Europe, is full of anticipation for this next date.
“First of all, I love Port Angeles. I love the Olympic Peninsula. I was completely taken with the epic landscape,” he said in a phone interview.
“Jonathan is an amazing musician,” a conductor who finds the essence of each piece, he added.
For De Solaun, the concert’s two piano works present a delicious contrast.
He calls the “Burleske” a “trickster piano concerto,” all youthful exuberance and joie de vivre. Strauss wrote it in his early 20s.
“Totentanz” then dives into the fiery underworld that fascinated Liszt. The composer, inspired by a visit to the Camposanto cemetery in Pisa, Italy, interweaves Gregorian chant, bow-and-strings sound effects — and parts De Solaun describes as “shockingly modernistic.”
So “it packs a wallop,” Pasternack added.
For the second half of the concert, the conductor knew he needed a grand masterpiece.
The Eroica Symphony, Ludwig van Beethoven’s 215-year-old epic: “It’s known as a revolutionary work. It’s just so captivating, so compelling to the listener,” Pasternack said.
The Eroica, the third of Beethoven’s symphonies, also means “an intense physical, mental and emotional workout for all of the musicians.
“It really takes every ounce we can give it,” he said, adding that Beethoven’s music gives back a hundredfold.
For more about this concert and the forthcoming season, call the Symphony office, see the Port Angeles Symphony’s Facebook page or visit www.PortAngeles Symphony.org.
