SEQUIM — Sequim Community Orchestra will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Admission is free to the concert at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave. in Sequim. It is the first by the adult orchestra for the 2023-24 season.
The orchestra will perform pieces on the theme of “Dances” by composers that are less well-known, including Jean-Philippe Rameau, Mikhail Ippolotiv-Ivanov, Camille Saint-Saens, and Amilcare Ponchielli. Violet Knobel, a Port Angeles High School student, will perform the Johann Christian Bach Viola Concerto in C Minor.
“This is my first concerto performance. I feel so fortunate to have an opportunity to play with an orchestra,” Knobel said.
“The North Olympic Peninsula has given me many musical gifts this year, including Olympic Strings Workshop, the Juan De Fuca Festival, the Olympic Music Festival and more. I feel grateful for the time, talents and funding from this community and accomplished musicians who have been so generous.
“This piece is interesting and special to me. It wasn’t composed by JC Bach. It was written by Henri Casadesus, who passed it off as an older composition. It has a lot of emotion, sometimes showy and then melodic and beautiful.”
The orchestra is a group of people from various musical abilities and life stages. This year, several local students joined the orchestra; some of them are products of the Sequim Community Youth Orchestra, some are new to the area, and some students attend Port Angeles High School. The rest of the orchestra includes adults who are lifetime musicians and others who haven’t touched their instruments in decades.
“The unifying factor is the love of playing music with other people,” organizers said.
The Sequim Community Orchestra is a nonprofit organization that includes a youth strings program in Sequim, providing professional strings education to all interested youth. The orchestra maintains an inventory of quality string instruments that youth can use at no cost and graduate to larger instruments as they grow.
The organization depends on private donations.
The adult orchestra performs three concerts a year. More dates are coming up in February and June.
For more information, visit www.sequimcommunityorchestra.org or contact the Sequim Community Orchestra at info@sequimcommunity orchestra.org.
