PORT ANGELES — There is a thrill that overtakes you, says this teenager, in that moment when the music feels just right.
Sometimes it comes at the climax of the song, and “it sends shivers up your spine,” says Ethan Hoch, one of 115 young singers and musicians who will be part of the Geoffrey Castle Celtic Christmas show at Port Angeles High School this Sunday.
Castle, the six-string electric violin player and bandleader, will bring together scores of performers from Port Angeles High’s Roughrider Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Bella Voce and symphonic choirs for the 6 p.m. concert, along with a bevy of his musical friends and one portly man in a red suit.
The students will offer an Irving Berlin Christmas tribute as well as a jazzy rendition of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and the cantata “Dona Nobis Pacem” (“Grant Us Peace”).
The show is a benefit for its big, old venue: the Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, the 1,150-seat hall at 304 E. Park Ave.
With tickets at $15 to $35 for adults and $10 for those 14 and younger, proceeds will go toward installation of modern LED systems on both sides of the auditorium, to provide for more energy-efficient, motorized, multicolored lighting.
The Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts and the Friends of the Port Angeles Performing Arts Center are presenting Sunday’s show, so information can be found at 360-457-5411 and www.JFFA.org.
Tickets are available via that website, from the Joyful Noise Music Center in Sequim, Port Book and News in Port Angeles and at the door.
“It’s been two years since I last brought my Celtic Christmas celebration to the PAC,” Castle said this week.
“There is so much that is new that I hardly even know where to begin. I have a brand-new Christmas CD called ‘Noel: A Celtic Christmas Celebration’ that will be available for the first time anywhere on the Peninsula at this show.
“The Seattle Irish Dance Company will be joining us with their dazzling footwork, Irish tenor Connor Dunworley will be there singing in Gaelic and we will be joined by the very talented members of the Port Angeles High School orchestra, band and choir.
“Oh, and we’ve got Santa Claus,” Castle added.
For Hoch, an 18-year-old senior, Sunday’s show is a chance to make music with an innovative performer. Hoch hadn’t heard of Castle before he got word of the forthcoming Christmas concert, so he looked him up online. One of the first videos he watched had Castle playing Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile” on his plugged-in violin.
Hoch, who works at the Deer Park Cinema, got the night off in order to perform with Castle — and with his fellow men and women in the Symphonic Choir.
Clarinetist Lexie Peabody, 16, is a Wind Ensemble player who will also be on stage Sunday. For her, this is another chance to extend her musical muscles.
“It wasn’t until my freshman year of high school that music became part of my life,” she said, adding that she adores both classical music and jazz.
Without the Wind Ensemble, “I wouldn’t be where I am today,” a young woman looking forward to a career in music education or music therapy.
“That [Castle] is doing this to showcase our high school students is just a huge compliment all the way around,” said Jeff Bohman, a member of the Friends of the Port Angeles Performing Arts Center.
The fundraising aspect of Sunday’s show, he added, is part of a protracted effort to modernize the 56-year-old hall.
“To date, we have raised $25,000 in collaboration with the school district. We have completed 11 projects,” the most noticeable of which is the new lighting system above the stage.
Bohman welcomes requests for more information at 360-457-7536 and jrbohman@icloud.com, while those who wish to support the Friends of the Performing Arts Center can send contributions payable to the Port Angeles Education Foundation (www.portangeleseducationfoundation.org) with “PAC fund” in the memo line to P.O. Box 787, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
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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.
