PORT TOWNSEND — The Summertime Singers will return for their seventh appearance at the Candlelight Concert Series to perform “Music Ancient, Modern Eternal” at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The performances will be at Port Townsend’s oldest Victorian Church, Trinity United Methodist Church, at 609 Taylor St. Doors will open at 6 p.m. Admission will be by a suggested donation of $10; children will be admitted free.
This year, the Summertime Singers are composed of singers from local church choirs, Community Chorus and RainShadow, and other music groups.
The Ladies’ Chamber Orchestra and Benevolent Society will perform a special prelude performance at 6:45 p.m.
For the “ancient” set, the Summertime Singers will present music of the 15th and 16th centuries, including the 16th-century madrigal “Le Chant des Oyseaux.”
Modern music includes two psalms from the “Songs of Ascent” by Shawn Kirchner and a contemporary arrangement of “This Little Light of Mine.” The sopranos and altos also will sing Daniel Pinkham’s 1963 settings of two Emily Dickinson poems.
“Music Eternal” includes Franz Schubert’s “Der Gondelfahrer,” Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Ruht Wohl,” Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum” and Shawn Kircher’s “I’ll Be on My Way.”
Colleen Johnson and Jonathan Stafford will conduct the Summertime Singers.
‘Team effort’
“It is truly a team effort to prepare for this performance,” Johnson said. “Everyone jumps in willingly to help as needed, to point out ways we can improve our sound or our diction or our presentation.”
To prepare, the singers participated in master classes with voice instructor Sarah Moran and composer Shawn Kirchner.
“This is exactly what we see in the Summertime Singers,” Johnson said.
“People who put in hours of preparation, who stretch themselves technically and emotionally to portray the pictures the composers want to communicate to the listeners, people who are willing to work hard to do the best performance possible.”
For more information, call 360-774-1644 or email rdanpurnell@msn.com.
