SEQUIM — By the end of the audition, accompanist Mark Johnson could sense this applicant might be the one.
“His energy — he worked with a number of singers [at the audition and] he just worked well,” Johnson said of Jon Stafford, the newly selected conductor and director of the Peninsula Singers.
“He got nice sounds out of the group,” Johnson said. “I think he was very engaging — pretty much everybody felt good about him.”
Stafford, selected by the group on Sept. 5, will look to lead the group composed of singers from across the Olympic Peninsula that, since 1988, has performed choral music “to enrich and promote artistic excellence.”
Some have been professional singers and some have music degrees, group members note on their website (peninsulasingers.org), but “we all sing for the pleasure of making great music.”
The group started rehearsals for the season last week at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave.
An associate conductor of the Community Chorus of Port Townsend and East Jefferson County, Stafford earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Michigan in Flint in 2005. He also was the church choir director at Flushing United Methodist Church during his college days.
Stafford and his mother, Colleen Johnson, co-conduct the The Summertime Singers, a mixed choral group in Port Townsend.
“He has a lot of experience,” Johnson said of Stafford. “I think it’ll be a nice fit.”
Johnson said Stafford likely will see some bumps in the proverbial road as he and returning singers and newcomers adjust to each other.
“There is always a testing period for any new director; there always will be a little bit of a pushback from people who don’t want to see change,” Johnson said.
“It will also take him some time to get used to us, to see what the voices of Peninsula Singers can do,” Johnson said, noting the group has participants with various amounts of experience, from those who barely read music to people who have sung opera.
“Jon has a tremendous amount of talent, a good amount of experience and he’s got a lot of enthusiasm,” group member Karla Morgan said.
“I think it’s going to be a fabulous fit.”
For more information about Peninsula Singers, email info@peninsula singers.org or visit peninsula singers.org.
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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him at michael.dashiell@sequimgazette.com.
