Two women — two formidable artists — step into the spotlight for season-finale concerts in Sequim and Port Angeles this weekend.
Violinist Heather Ray will play “The Lark Ascending,” a beloved piece by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Kristin Quigley Brye will conduct the “St. Paul Suite,” Gustav Holst’s work, in the Port Angeles Symphony’s Chamber Orchestra concerts at two venues:
• Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 301 Lopez Ave., Port Angeles, on Friday, May 25;
• Sequim Worship Center, 640 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim, on Saturday, May 26.
Both performances start at 7 p.m. with all seats at $12. Youngsters 16 and under are invited to come free with a paid adult.
Tickets to Friday and Saturday’s concerts are on sale at Joyful Noise Music Center, 108 W. Washington St., Sequim, and Port Book and News, 104 E. First St., Port Angeles.
“‘The Lark Ascending’ is one of my all-time favorite pieces in the violin repertoire,” said Ray, a longtime member and concertmaster of the Port Angeles Symphony.
As she prepares, Ray thinks of the people who will hear this music for the first time — and those who know it like a dear friend.
It’s a thrill to introduce listeners to “Lark,” while she’s also excited about sharing her own interpretation of the piece with those who’ve heard it many times before.
Vaughan Williams was inspired to compose “The Lark Ascending” after hearing George Meredith’s poem of the same title. The violin solo part takes on the voice of the skylark — “truly sublime,” said Ray.
Quigley Brye, well-known as a pianist, accompanist, music teacher and horn player, is less known as a conductor. She’ll lead the orchestra in a piece that holds a special place in her heart; she conducted it many years ago, and loves the English and Scottish folk tunes woven in. The suite’s last movement is a mashup, she said, combining the “Dargason” circle melody with “Greensleeves.”
A music teacher like Quigley Brye, Holst composed the suite for the St. Paul Girls’ School in Hammersmith, London, where he was music director from 1905 to 1934.
Brye is herself “a pillar of the musical community here, a musician I greatly admire,” said Jonathan Pasternack, the Symphony’s music director and conductor.
To finish these concerts, Pasternack will conduct Mozart’s 33rd Symphony in B-flat major, a piece he said isn’t performed all that often — but deserves to be.
Pasternack noted that Jo Dee Ahmann, a member of the ensemble who has recently returned after a hiatus, will be concertmaster for the two performances.
“I couldn’t be happier that she has rejoined the Symphony,” he said.
All of this makes a fitting end, Pasternack added, to the orchestra’s 85th season.
“This year we had a lot of artistic challenges in the repertoire,” and the 70 members of the symphony, who range from teenagers to retired professional musicians, rose up with gusto.
“It was really incredible,” the conductor said.
For more information about these two performances as well as the Port Angeles Symphony’s new season, to start in September with two pops concerts, call the symphony office at 360-457-5579 and visit www.PortAngelesSymphony.org.
