The NorthWest Women’s Chorale will celebrate 10 years of uniting voices in song at two spring concerts, “Place of the Blest,” tonight in Sequim and Monday in Port Angeles.
Tonight’s performance will be at 7 p.m. at Dungeness Valley Lutheran Church, 925 N. Sequim Ave.
Monday’s performance will be at 7 p.m. at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 301 E. Lopez Ave., Port Angeles. Instruments in the Port Angeles venue will include strings, woodwinds and organ.
Admission to both concerts is a suggested donation of $15.
To celebrate the group’s decade of performing, the repertoire features American composers.
Some pieces have been performed by the chorale group in the past. Three pieces will make their Olympic Peninsula debut: “Northern Lights” by Ola Gjeilo, “United in Song” by Paul Halley and “The Song of Wandering Aengus,” also by Halley.
A travel theme is predominant in the three debut pieces as well as in “Untraveled Worlds” by Halley and the four-movement piece “The Place of the Blest” by Randall Thompson.
Three additional songs explore faith in God: “Voices of Light” by Halley, “God Be in My Head” by Jackson Berkey and “Sing Me to Heaven” by Daniel Gawthrop.
“The Place of the Blest” is lush, beautiful and sometimes humorous, organizers said.
The first movement, “The Carol of the Rose,” depicts a child bringing a gift to the Child Saviour. The second movement, “The Pelican,” is a bestiary tale from the Middle Ages, depicting the behaviors of a pelican to explain the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The third movement, “The Place of the Best,” describes the journey from earthly sorrow to heavenly bliss. The fourth movement, “Alleluia, Amen,” “carries the listener on a flight of angelic proportions,” organizers said.
The chorale group is led by Joy A. Lingerfelt, founding director. Lingerfelt is also deacon and minister of music and worship arts at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Port Angeles.
She directed the Port Angeles Symphony Chorus that debuted with the Port Angeles Symphony at their holiday concert Dec. 10.
Accompanying the group will be pianist Kristin Quigley Brye. She is an adjunct professor of music at Peninsula College, a collaborative pianist with the NorthWest Women’s Chorale and maintains a private studio.
The chorale group has performed in Alaska, Lynnwood, Silverdale, Chehalis and Forks. The 25 members come from areas west of Joyce to east of Sequim.
They plan to make a recording of the spring concerts as a fundraiser to perform in the American Choral Directors Association Regional convention in Portland, Ore., from March 7-10, 2018.
