CHIMACUM — If you want to hear the sound of joy, listen to us.
So invites violinist Vicki Mansfield, one of 45 musicians who will step up Sunday for the Port Townsend Community Orchestra’s season-opening concert.
Admission, as is traditional, is free, and listeners of all ages are welcome.
“We play for the love of music, the love of playing together,” said Mansfield, who hails concertmistress Kristin Smith, violist Pat Yearian and conductor Dewey Ehling among her inspirations.
“I’m only in my second year, but I refuse to be daunted,” Mansfield said, adding that Ehling, with his kindness and musicianship, makes the orchestra experience a sweet one.
The orchestra is dedicating Sunday’s concert of music by Gioacchino Rossini, Edouard Nanny and Franz Schubert to Maestro Ehling, who has just begun his 20th year conducting these players.
Program discussion
The performance will start at 2 p.m. after Ehling’s short discussion on the program at 1:15 p.m. at the Chimacum Schools auditorium, 91 West Valley Road.
Ehling describes the program with his characteristic fervor — not only for the music itself but also for those who bring it to life.
It starts with “La Gazza Ladra” (“The Thieving Magpie”), conducted by orchestra member Hollie Kaufman.
This is “a charming Rossini overture, which features all the instruments of the orchestra, especially the woodwinds and brass,” said Ehling.
It’s a delight, he added, for players and listeners, as they get to hear solos from the flute, clarinet, oboe, horn and bassoon.
“There are not too many conductors nowadays who get to stay with one orchestra for 20 years,” Ehling said.
“I feel fortunate for the opportunity. We’ve come a long way in 20 years,” and Sunday’s event will be an example of just how far.
‘Dragonetti Concerto’
The “Dragonetti Concerto” in A Major, the work by Nanny, will show off the range of the string bass and the skills of Port Angeles player Michael Helwick, 17. A senior at Port Angeles High School, Michael plans to major in music at a college yet to be chosen.
“He will just thrill everybody,” said Mansfield. “He’s so confident; he tears all over that bass fingerboard with this piece.”
The second half of the concert is devoted to Schubert, starting with the “Rosamunde” overture, “very thematic and dramatic, yet lyrical and lovely,” Ehling said.
To perform these works, “we’re privileged to have a marvelous string section led by Kristin Smith,” he added.
“Kristin is so nourishing to the whole orchestra, but especially to the fellow violinists.”
Sunday’s climax will come in Schubert’s Symphony No. 8, the “Unfinished,” which has two movements instead of the traditional four in most symphonies.
Musicologists speculate as to why it remained unfinished. But Ehling calls it a masterpiece.
“How can you keep adding beauty?” he asked. “To me, it is so complete the way it is.”
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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.
