PORT ANGELES — When Morgan Bartholick-LeMaire was a young musician, his parents expressed their belief in him with a priceless Christmas gift.
When their son was a junior at Port Angeles High School, Patrick and Lynne Bartholick purchased for him the violin that had belonged to Nico Snel, the beloved late conductor of the Port Angeles Symphony.
“I am realizing that I have been playing this fantastic instrument for over 20 years now,” the violinist said. “I considered myself very fortunate, lucky and appreciative to have parents who would invest their money into an instrument like this, not knowing that I would end up pursuing music as a profession.”
Now Bartholick-LeMaire, who has built a career in music and theater in various cities across the United States, is taking on a new role with his hometown symphony.
In addition to performing in concerts with the orchestra, Bartholick-LeMaire is the organization’s first operations and development manager, working alongside conductor and artistic director Jonathan Pasternack.
Current projects include curating two more units of the Port Angeles Symphony’s Adventures in Music program. AIM sends musicians to schools across Clallam and Jefferson counties to play and discuss all kinds of music; this fall’s first production was “The History of Rock’n’Roll,” with vocalist Jessie Lee Spicher, guitarist Chuck Easton, drummer Jason Harold and keyboardist Al Harris.
“We got rave reviews,” Bartholick-LeMaire said, adding that the performers traveled from Neah Bay to Brinnon during the first full week of October.
The symphony’s annual Nico Snel Young Artist Competition, coming up in January, also is on Bartholick-LeMaire’s agenda.
In addition to overseeing these education programs, he works on grant writing and fundraising and manages the orchestra’s music library. Then there’s an over-arching goal: understanding how best to invite in the next generation of symphony concert-goers.
Music and theater have taken Bartholick-LeMaire to the Deep South, to New York City and to the highways in between.
From Port Angeles, Bartholick-LeMaire went to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge to study viola performance with Port Townsend native Matthew Daline. That’s where he met Kyle LeMaire, who would become his husband. The couple lived in Manhattan for seven years, where they both worked in theater, and where Bartholick-LeMaire played in orchestras and then joined the national touring company of “Titanic: The Musical.”
Bartholick-LeMaire stayed connected all along to Port Angeles, and in 2017 he brought Kyle home to meet his family here.
Kyle noticed the arts scene — livelier than he may have expected in a rural county.
“There’s something about this place,” he said.
“I know,” Bartholick-LeMaire said.
When the pandemic hit New York City, the couple decided to move to Port Angeles and start a new chapter. The five years since the move have been filled with live music and theater: Bartholick-LeMaire is principal second violin with the Port Angeles Symphony; he and LeMaire appeared together in “Broadway at Sunset” at Field Arts & Events Hall in August, and he directed “Nunsense” at Olympic Theatre Arts in Sequim this spring.
“Morgan’s hiring is a real coup for the symphony,” said Pasternack, now in his 11th year of leading the orchestra.
“He is not only multi-talented, he is devoted to the orchestra and to music education. It is wonderful to be working together and envisioning the symphony’s future.”
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Diane Urbani de la Paz is a freelance writer and photographer who lives in Port Townsend.
