PORT ANGELES — The fifth Music on the Strait festival starts this weekend, with cofounders James Garlick and Richard O’Neill rejoicing in a return to one venue, along with their debut in a brand-new place.
Two performances will be in the intimate Maier Hall at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles; three more will be in the newly opened Field Arts & Events Hall, 201 W. Front St., Port Angeles.
Tickets and information are at https://www.music onthestrait.com.
“In partnership, we are announcing ‘pay what makes you happy’ seating for our balcony seats at Field Hall, starting at $5 per ticket for all of our Field Hall programs,” which are concerts to be presented this Saturday and on Aug. 26 and 27, Garlick said.
“The arts belong to everyone. We don’t want any barriers to access,” he said.
This Saturday, for opening night, pianist Garrick Ohlsson, the only American to have won first prize at the International Chopin Piano Competition, will perform at Field Hall.
This 7 p.m. concert also features the internationally known Takacs Quartet — with Grammy-winning, Sequim-born violist O’Neill — and a world premiere: “The Happiness of Two Salmon Returning Home,” by Music on the Strait composer-in-residence Lembit Beecher.
“The music is inspired by the resilience and transformation of the Elwha River. Lembit is creating a beautiful and whimsical stop-motion animation to accompany this new work,” Garlick noted.
“I wanted to write a piece from the perspective of the first salmon to swim up the full length of the river to its historical spawning habitat after the removal of both dams on the Elwha,” Beecher added.
“In some ways the music will represent a journey up the river,” but the composer also wants to capture the feeling of coming to a place where one hasn’t actually lived, but that feels exactly like home.
Beecher, who grew up in the coastal California town of Bonny Doon, said writing this piece thrilled him for several reasons. It gave him a chance to compose music that’s filled with the sounds of sea birds, seals and rushing water — and with emotion.
Also, Beecher’s mother had to flee her native Estonia during World War II. She returned to her home town of Tartu 50 years later.
“The way my mother talks about that trip is always so full of magic and wonder,” Beecher recalled.
Saturday’s performance also features Brahms’ Rhapsody in G minor and Sonata in F minor for viola and piano, and Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor.
This Sunday at 3 p.m., the Takacs Quartet will fill Maier Hall with the music of Beethoven, Dvorak and Bartok. This concert, which marks the quartet’s second trip to Music on the Strait, is nearly sold out.
Tickets are also available for the festival’s second weekend of concerts. They are:
Aug. 25, 7 p.m.: The Pisashi for String Quartet by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, a Chickasaw composer, is on the program along with Grieg’s String Quartet and Anton Prischepa’s “Based on Actual Events for Violin and Marimba.” This matinee will be at Maier Hall on Peninsula College’s Port Angeles campus.
Aug. 26, 7 p.m.: Multiple award-winning pianist Jeremy Denk performs Bach’s complete partitas at Field Hall.
Aug. 27, 3 p.m.: Jeremy Denk plays a concert of music by Brahms and by Clara and Robert Schumann at Field Hall, with the Port Angeles Symphony Brass Quintet giving an opening performance at 2:15 p.m.
Garlick and O’Neill, who grew up together in Clallam County, have moved around the country: Garlick lives in St. Paul, Minn., where he teaches and performs, and O’Neill is in Boulder, Colo., where the Takacs Quartet is based.
Both count themselves fortunate to return home for Music on the Strait.
“Coming out of this pandemic, we need the arts and communal spaces more than ever,” Garlick said, “to heal, come together, and inspire each other.”
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Diane Urbani de la Paz is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend.
