PORT ANGELES — A pay-what-you-can Community Concert is the finale this Saturday for Music on the Strait, the newly expanded festival featuring musicians who grew up here and performers just now discovering this place.
Orion Weiss, the New York City-based pianist who arrived last week to play in three concerts, doesn’t hold back when expressing his feelings about Port Angeles.
“This is my first time here, but it is already one of my favorite festivals in the whole world. And I’ve been to tons of them,” he said Monday.
“The people are so incredibly nice,” he added, and “the music making is thrilling.”
Weiss went hiking in Olympic National Park and did some grocery shopping; on both outings he told people about this coming Saturday’s event.
The concert starts at 7 p.m. at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 301 Lopez Ave., following the 6:15 p.m. talk by Lisa Bergman, the Seattle music scholar and KING-FM announcer.
On the program are masterworks by Brahms and Schubert, and Weiss will add a solo piano piece.
James Garlick, the fest’s cofounder, encourages concertgoers to reserve tickets via www.musiconthestrait.com. Enter the amount you wish to pay on the ticket page, he noted, and you will be assured of a seat.
Remaining tickets will be made available at the door starting at 6 p.m. Saturday. Garlick also urged patrons to come early for Bergman’s talk; at last year’s Music on the Strait events, he said, her discussions of the musical offerings were a big hit.
Commemorative festival posters, created by Port Angeles’ Tom Eykemans, will be on sale for $20.
Music on the Strait’s co-artistic directors are Garlick, who was born and raised in Port Angeles, and violist Richard O’Neill, who spent much of his youth in Sequim.
They too will play in the Community Concert, alongside performers from all over the country: Icelandic cellist and University of Washington music professor Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, New York City clarinetist Yoonah Kim, violinist Stefan Jackiw and pianist Weiss.
Completing the group is Stephen Schermer, the Port Angeles-born double-bassist who now plays in Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra.
Jackiw, who gave a recital with Weiss last Sunday, is as enthused about the whole experience. Saturday, he’ll play the Brahms Clarinet Quintet, “a desert island piece for me,” and full of longing. He gets to perform it with his fiancée, clarinetist Kim.
Then comes the completely different closer: Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet, which Jackiw calls “one of the sunniest, most joyful pieces in the repertoire.” It also features Weiss, another of Jackiw’s favorite musicians anywhere.
“We will explore a tremendous range of emotions,” the violinist added. Moments of beauty beyond words, tenderness, intimacy — they’re “what chamber music is all about.”
Bergman, for her part, calls the whole festival’s programming adventurous, with its combinations of clarinet and strings including the double bass. This past weekend, she said, the music reached into her heart.
Garlick and O’Neill founded Music on the Strait in 2018 in hopes of adding to the local community’s already rich arts scene.
They wanted to bring Clallam County-bred musicians together with artists from across the country.
The pair booked Maier Hall, the small and acoustically pristine space at Peninsula College, for all but the pay-what-you-can Community Concert at Holy Trinity Lutheran.
Operating under the umbrella of the nonprofit Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, the inaugural event turned out successful beyond Garlick and O’Neill’s expectations; 2018’s concerts all sold out weeks in advance. This year, as the festival grew to two weekends, it happened again.
Last weekend’s performances and sellout attendance showed Garlick anew: Port Angeles is a place where people love live music and embrace the people who play it.
“It’s been beyond remarkable,” he said.
Music scholar Lisa Bergman will give a pre-concert chat at Music on the Strait’s finale Saturday. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/for Peninsula Daily News)
