SEQUIM — The Peninsula Singers don’t dabble; they dive into music they find sublime, then offer it straight from their hearts.
So promise the singers who, with longtime conductor Dewey Ehling, will give two concerts at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave., Sequim, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets are $15 general admission and $12 for seniors and students.
They are available at Elliott’s Antique Emporium, 135 E. First St., Port Angeles; at Hart’s Fine Books, 161 W. Washington St., Sequim; and at the door.
The performances will begin with Bach’s cantata No. 140, “Wachet auf!” (“Sleepers Awake!”), with the 43-voice ensemble plus two soloists, soprano Cynthia Webster and baritone Ray Chirayath.
“I totally love Bach. There is something about his music that speaks to me,” said Webster, who grew up in Port Angeles, moved away to become a professional musician and has now returned to the North Olympic Peninsula to live in Sequim.
Chirayath, a recent newcomer here, shares that feeling. Bach’s cantata is a challenge and a delight for the singer.
He has performed with chorales around the world, from the Bangalore Academy Chorale in his native India; the Moscow Oratorio in Russia; the Choral Arts Society in Buffalo, N.Y.; and the Central Florida Master Choir in Ocala, Fla.
Chirayath now studies with Sequim voice teacher Kyra Humphrey, a member of the Peninsula Singers.
An alto who spent 23 years with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, she will give a solo performance of the African-American spiritual “Sometimes I Feel.”
This selection is among a set of early American songs to follow Bach’s cantata.
Joel Yelland will sing the spiritual “My God Is a Rock,” and tenor Trent Pomeroy will offer “Amazing Grace”; these two, along with “Sometimes I Feel,” are arranged by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw.
The choir will close the concert with two patriotic pieces: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” with 89-year-old soloist Milton Patrie, and “A Soldier’s Farewell,” a poem by Brian Pettyjohn of Port Angeles, set to music by Jean Sibelius.
Pettyjohn penned the piece, a lament to his wife, as he was being sent into battle with the Army.
Humphrey, for her part, said this program of songs is well-suited to the Peninsula Singers.
“Dewey [Ehling] has such a sense of the music,” she said.
The maestro added that he’s always loved the Bach cantata.
When Ehling was in college some 60 years ago, he owned two LP recordings: one of Enrico Caruso singing opera and the other Cantata No. 140, with the London Symphony Orchestra and oboist Leon Goossens.
This weekend, Anne Krabill will perform the cantata’s oboe part.
A member of the Port Townsend Community Orchestra and the Port Angeles Symphony, she studied with Goossens in London.
“This is sort of a full circle for me,” said Ehling, adding that Krabill is a stellar oboist.
Seeing and hearing this conductor and choir make music together is a rare treat, Webster added.
“Music speaks a universal truth to all of us,” she said. “It touches our heart strings . . . to reach a little deeper.”
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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.
