PORT ANGELES — What goes around comes around: An array of players who have benefited from Monday Musicale scholarships years ago — and bloomed as musicians — will gather in Port Angeles to give a concert this Sunday.
And they will run the gamut. Pianist and Port Angeles High School alumna Allyson Kramer, who won a scholarship in 1980 and now directs a chamber music camp in Seattle, will play Ravel’s Rhapsodie Espagnole, Claude Bolling’s “Javanaise” Suite for Jazz Trio and John Williams’ “Remembrances” from “Schindler’s List” with two young musicians.
They’re her daughters: cellist-pianist Rachel Kramer, 20, and violinist Carlin Kramer, 17, and this Kramer trio is but one part of the Monday Musicale Scholarship Concert at 2 p.m. Sunday at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 301 E. Lopez St.
Tickets are $10, with proceeds going toward the Monday Musicale scholarship fund, established in 1969.
“This is our big money-maker,” organizer Gary McRoberts said, adding that the scholarships, named for the Monday noontime concerts at Queen of Angels Church in Port Angeles, grew from music teacher Thelma McCoy’s desire to help young students pursue their dreams post-Port Angeles.
Variety of performers
Other recipients to play Sunday include cellist Traci Hoveskeland, who since winning a Monday Musicale scholarship in 1989 has traveled the world as half of the Bottom Line Duo.
She formed the Seattle-based duo 20 years ago with her husband — and Port Angeles High School mate — Spencer Hoveskeland.
During Sunday’s concert, she will offer what she calls simply “a fun piece,” W.H. Squire’s “Bourée,” and then introduce another young cellist: Melanie Schimschal, a student of Hoveskeland’s who plays in the Port Angeles High School Orchestra.
Together, the cellists will perform Charles Dancla’s “A Dramatic Story.”
Then there’s John Lorentzen, who received a $500 scholarship back in 1978. He’s now the choir teacher at Sequim High School, while his wife, Laura, teaches music in the Chimacum schools.
The Lorentzens and their children — Mark, 26; Anne, 23; Lisa, 20; Kathryn, 17 — perform together, and last February, the family won first place in the Perez Hilton Cover Contest, an online competition, with their version of Jason Mraz’s “I Won’t Give Up.”
The family is working on new material for release on the Internet and for live performances, one of which will be this Sunday during the scholarship benefit.
Composer
John Lorentzen’s friend and fellow scholarship recipient John Allman, a composer and musical director for productions in Seattle, Santa Fe, N.M., and New York City, will join the festivities Sunday.
Allman, who won his Monday Musicale scholarship in 1979, will offer Schubert’s “Impromptu” Opus 90, No. 3; Debussy’s “La Puerta del Vino”; and two Scott Joplin tunes, the “Gladiolus Rag” and “The Entertainer.”
Sunday’s menu even includes bagpiping, thanks to Thomas McCurdy.
The Port Angeles piper wasn’t a scholarship recipient, but he’s joining the concert on behalf of his daughter Bergen, a concert bassist.
She won a Monday Musicale scholarship that helped her attend the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma and recently finished her master’s at Eastern Washington University.
McCurdy expressed deep gratitude for the foundation this community provided for his daughter.
“Port Angeles has an extraordinary and rich music heritage,” he said. “It is the teachers and organizations like Monday Musicale that make this possible.”
Monday Musicale has about 80 members from all walks of life who share a common desire: to help young people go on to study music at the college level.
To find out about joining the organization, phone president Marilyn Welch at 360-457-3971.
As memberships and fundraising efforts have grown, so has the support for students.
“Last year, we gave three scholarships to the tune of $10,000,” McRoberts noted.
“We are hoping to do the same this year.”
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
