PORT ANGELES — Music from “West Side Story,” Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, Brahms’ Requiem: The Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra’s 91st season of concerts is being unveiled now with featured soloists who started in Clallam County and went on to be world-traveling musicians.
Twelve performances are set, starting with Family Pops in September. That’s when Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story” make their appearance. This concert also features “Tubby the Tuba,” the comic musical story featuring narrator Pat Owens and tuba soloist Tyler Benedict.
Benedict is one of four locally grown professional musicians stepping into the spotlight this season, Port Angeles Symphony conductor and artistic director Jonathan Pasternack noted.
Another is violist Cheryl Landry Swoboda, originally from Port Angeles, who now lives in Germany and performs across Europe.
“Coming home to play with the Port Angeles Symphony players is always a great experience,” said Swoboda, who graduated from Port Angeles High School in 1987.
“It is where I learned to play; was encouraged to play,” she said.
“It all started in P.A.”
Cellist Traci Winters Tyson, who also began her musical career here, will be the featured soloist with the Symphony in February. That concert, in addition, will include the world premiere of a musical work by local composer-cellist Jesse Ahmann.
This season, subscriptions offer music lovers significant savings on tickets, Pasternack added. Concert packages provide discounts of up to 35 percent off single-ticket prices.
Information on concert programming, the featured soloists and ticket packages is included in the season brochure. To receive one, patrons can email their physical mailing address to pasymphony@olypen.com or phone the Symphony office at 360-457-5579. Information can also be found at portangelessymphony.org.
The new season includes:
• Sept. 30: Family Pops, with music from the movies and Broadway, marches and “Tubby the Tuba”;
• Oct. 13-14: Pianist Paige Roberts Molloy and violinist Elisa Barston return for an all-Brahms duo recital in both Port Angeles and Sequim;
• Nov. 4: Pianist Marika Bournaki plays Robert Schumann’s piano concerto, followed by Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony;
• Dec. 9: Guitarist Colin Davin plays Rodrigo’s “Fantasia para un Gentilhombre,” while this holiday concert also features festive selections, a new medley by Sequim’s Al Harris, and the return of the audience sing-along;
• Jan. 19-20: Cheryl Landry Swoboda returns for Schubert’s Arpeggione, and Jesse Ahmann’s composition premieres with the Port Angeles Symphony Chamber Orchestra in Port Angeles and Sequim;
• Feb. 17: Traci Winters Tyson plays Bruch and Popper, followed by the orchestra’s Mendelssohn Scottish Symphony;
• March 23: Violinist Charlotte Marckx rejoins the Symphony for an evening of Prokofiev, Hindemith and Respighi;
• May 4: Brahms’ German Requiem stars the Port Angeles Symphony Chorus and soloists Kristin Vogel and David Meyer;
• May 17-18: The Port Angeles Symphony Chamber Orchestra, with soloist Paige Roberts Molloy, plays Shostakovich plus Barber’s Adagio for Strings and other works.
All six full Symphony Orchestra concerts, including Family Pops, will have same-day dress rehearsals at 10 a.m., and all will be open to the public. The morning rehearsals and evening concerts take place at the Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, 304 E. Park Ave. in Port Angeles.
The Chamber Orchestra performances are held at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Port Angeles on Friday evenings and at Trinity United Methodist Church in Sequim on Saturday nights.
Youngsters age 18 and under are admitted free with a ticketed patron to the morning dress rehearsals and to the Chamber Orchestra and Family Pops concerts.
“I am absolutely delighted and grateful to be preparing for the 2023-2024 season,” said Pasternack. In this, his ninth season leading the Port Angeles Symphony, a long-held hope is coming to fruition with the performance of Brahms’ Requiem.
The May 4 concert, featuring choristers from around the region, “is a dream project,” he said.
