PORT ANGELES — Music on the Strait’s sixth season opens tonight at Field Arts & Events Hall.
The festival, which runs through Aug. 10 and features four concerts across two weekends, will open with world-renowned pianist Jeremy Denk at 7 p.m. A pre-concert discussion will take place at 6:15 p.m. with Lisa Bergman from Classic KING FM 98.1.
Tickets are still for sale at musiconthestrait.com, and $10 student tickets are available. Music on the Strait also offers $5 children’s tickets with purchase of an adult ticket.
“Accessibility is so important to the festival,” co-director James Garlick said. “Our vibrant arts community keeps these artists inspired and coming back. We hope to keep it going.”
Denk will return to play in his fifth Music on the Strait event.
“I have to pinch myself that Jeremy has become a familiar face at this hometown festival,” Garlick said. “It’s a dream to share the magic of our home with world-class musicians. We’re so lucky.”
For Denk, returning to Music on the Strait brings back “cherished memories” of his earliest days as a touring musician. He played in Port Angeles on his first tour.
“I was 24 and very excited to have a paying set of concerts,” he said. “I remember the day vividly, a rare sunny winter day, ferrying over from Seattle, driving along the highway and taking in all the water and sense of space. That night we played our best — perhaps inspired by the area — and the audience responded with incredible warmth.”
That warmth between the audience and visiting musicians is the kind of environment that Garlick and co-director Richard O’Neill have fostered since the festival’s founding in 2018. The festival takes inspiration from the beauty of the natural environment of the Olympic Peninsula, which inspires artists like Denk to return year after year.
The artists also get a chance to connect with Port Angeles creatives, like writer, baker and musician Kate McDermott, who makes pies each year for the visiting musicians.
“Every year I come back,” Denk said. “I look forward to the lakes and towering forests and coastlines — the beauty and the community. Not to mention some world-class pie.”
The concert series will open with Denk’s performance and will be followed with two sold-out shows at Maier Hall at Peninsula College on Aug. 3 and Aug. 9. The festival finale will return to Field Arts & Events Hall and feature Joyce Yang, another world-renowned pianist, as well as a performance of a new work by composer-in-residence Paul Wiancko.
All shows, including those sold out, will be live-streamed at musiconthestrait.com and on Facebook.
“Even if you think classical music isn’t for you, I encourage you to come check it out,” Garlick said. “You might be surprised and delighted by the chemistry of what happens when great artists play together.”
