PORT ANGELES — It all feels a bit unreal at this point.
But the dates are set and the musicians are getting ready. Three concerts in a new performing arts center facing the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Twelve artists, coming from across the continent. The world premiere of music inspired by the now free Elwha River: These are parts of the fifth Music on the Strait festival coming to Port Angeles this summer.
“This season is a dream come true,” said Port Angeles native and festival co-founder James Garlick.
The festival celebrates masters such as Brahms and J.S. Bach, while also introducing new music.
“We’re thrilled to present works from two leading contemporary composers: Estonian American artist Lembit Beecher and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma,” Garlick added.
Tate’s piece, “Pisashi” for String Quartet, is sparked by Hopi and Pueblo rhythms; the opening viola solo paraphrases the Pueblo buffalo dance.
Music on the Strait (MOTS) tickets will go on sale to donors on Saturday and to the general public June 1 for the festival, which spans two weekends, Aug. 19-20 and Aug. 26-28. Discounted tickets will be provided to donors who contribute $250 or more in 2023. Those interested in making a contribution are asked to visit music onthestrait.com for more information.
Student tickets to all concerts are $10, except for the family-friendly finale Aug. 27, for which student tickets are $5.
Opening night on Saturday, Aug. 19, brings together Garrick Ohlsson, the only American ever to win the International Chopin Competition, and the Takács Quartet, one of the world’s leading string quartets. The quartet’s violist is Richard O’Neill, the Grammy Award winner who grew up in Sequim. Ohlsson has performed around the globe since winning the Chopin prize, when he was just 22, in 1970.
“He is one of the greatest pianists of our time,” Garlick said.
The following weekend, pianist and MacArthur “genius” grant winner Jeremy Denk returns to perform in the festival finale: an afternoon of both Schumanns, Clara and Robert, and of Johannes Brahms.
“All right here in my beloved hometown of Port Angeles? Somebody wake me up,” Garlick joked.
He and O’Neill founded Music on the Strait in summer 2018, bringing chamber musicians from across the country to the North Olympic Peninsula. Then they had to cancel the festival in 2020.
In September of that year, O’Neill and Garlick put on their concert-black outfits and their face masks to perform on what was then the Field Arts & Events Hall construction site. They played the first notes at the venue, the idea for which was sparked by the late Donna Morris’ $9 million bequest six years earlier.
It’s been a long journey. But Field Arts & Events Hall, on the waterfront at 201 W. Front St., is set to open in July with a set of concerts ranging from dance to jazz to classical.
Music on the Strait will have three concerts there. Two more performances will take place at its original venue, Maier Performance Hall at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
The festival will arrive in the 500-seat Donna Morris Auditorium at Field Arts & Events Hall in Port Angeles on Aug. 19, Aug. 26 and Aug. 27. The latter two performances feature Denk, the celebrated musician and author from New York City. After three seasons performing at Music on the Strait, Denk is “our resident genius,” Garlick said.
Themes of home — the physical kind and the kind in one’s heart — run through the festival. Beecher, a New York City-based composer known for his inventiveness, is creating a new piece inspired by the Elwha River, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and the salmon’s return to the ancient waterway. Yet untitled, it is a piece that also interweaves Beecher’s own heart-connection to Estonia, his ancestral homeland.
In creating Music on the Strait, the founders have taken a community-grown while far-reaching approach, Garlick said. Local music lovers have responded, sponsoring festival performances including the free community concerts.
“We are seeking sponsors to support our 2023 festival artists,” Garlick noted. Those interested in a named sponsorship are encouraged to email musiconthestrait@gmail.com. Donors of $250 or more receive early access and 20 percent off tickets starting this Saturday, May 20.
The festival lineup includes:
• An evening with pianist Garrick Ohlsson at 7 p.m. Aug.19, Field Arts & Events Hall, and the Takács Quartet with the world premiere of a new work by 2023 composer-in-residence Lembit Beecher.
• The Takács Quartet, winner of the Gramophone Classical Music Award, in concert at 3 p.m. Aug. 20, at Maier Hall at Peninsula College.
• Seattle Symphony Concertmaster Noah Geller and percussionist Mari Yoshinaga make their MOTS debut with Grieg’s String Quartet and music by indigenous composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, 7 p.m. Aug. 25, at Maier Hall at Peninsula College.
• Pianist Jeremy Denk plays all six Bach Partitas, 7 p.m. Aug. 26 at Field Arts & Events Hall.
• The festival finale presents Denk performing three masterpieces for piano and strings by Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, 3 p.m. Aug. 27 at Field Arts & Events Hall.
The festival experience ranges from classics by Bach and Brahms, Garlick said, to the premiere of Beecher’s duo for violin and viola inspired by the Elwha River. And while Garlick added he and the festival artists relish the crystalline sound inside the college’s Maier Hall, they are eager also to be part of the first season of concerts at Field Arts & Events Hall.
“We’ve been excited about the enormous potential of this project from the very beginning,” Garlick said.
“It’s an honor for us to be among the musicians playing some of the first notes there.”
