QUILCENE — Through this summer of music, the sun has shone more brightly than Leigh Hearon ever dreamed.
“This has been an absolutely fantastic summer, fantastic in every way,” said Hearon, the volunteer executive director of the Concerts in the Barn, a series of free performances at Trillium Woods Farm, 7360 Center Road.
So far, about 4,000 people have come to sit inside the barn or outside on the grass while musicians from around the country played Brahms, Beethoven, Ravel and other masters from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
This weekend will wrap up the season.
Tickets are still available — at no charge — via concertsinthebarn.org and the “free tickets required” link.
The finale performers will be the Fulton Street Chamber Players, a quartet featuring longtime Seattle Symphony members Rachel Swerdlow on viola and Walter Gray on cello, plus pianist George Lopez, an artist in residence at Bowdoin College in Maine, and Cordula Merks, concertmaster of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra.
Show time is 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with the farm gates opening at 11 a.m. and the barn doors at 1 p.m. As with the rest of the summer’s concerts, patrons who sit inside the barn must show proof of vaccination and wear face masks while indoors.
Leigh Hearon.
Hearon said two crowd-pleasing pieces of music are on the program: Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major and Dohnányi’s Serenade in C major. At the top of the concerts is a relatively new work, 2017’s “Tangents and Detours” for cello and piano by Seattle-area composer Ken Benshoof.
“He’s going to be in the audience,” Hearon said, adding the Concerts in the Barn draw attendees from surrounding counties including Clallam, Kitsap and King.
Pandemic-related restrictions have ebbed and flowed since the season started in early July, she noted.
“The audience has been so terrific about masking up,” while many patrons thanked her for the all-vaccinated policy.
At the same time, other longtime concert-goers told her they were sorry, but they didn’t feel they could come this year.
“I totally get that,” Hearon said. “Everybody has to do what their comfort level allows.
“I’m just so thankful we were able to do this.”
On concert days, there is ample space among the picnic tables outside the barn and on the lawn for people who are unvaccinated or who feel more comfortable outdoors. The live music inside is piped out to the patrons in camp chairs and on picnic blankets.
Hearon encourages concert-goers to come early and bring picnic foods, while free bottled water is available along with wine and cider for purchase.
The Concerts in the Barn are free thanks to donors large and small, Hearon said, and in 2021, “people have been exceptionally generous.
“We’re on a great footing for 2022,” she said. “I invite everyone to come this weekend, to close the season and herald the next.”
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladaily news.com.
