‘Sequim’s the Season’

What: Sequim City Band’s annual Holiday Concert, with special guest Sequim Community Orchestra

When: 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16

Where: Sequim High School auditorium, 533 N. Sequim Ave.

Cost: Free

More info: www.sequimcityband.org

Two long-standing community groups come together for one big holiday show when the Sequim City Band hosts Sequim Community Orchestra to open the band’s “Sequim’s the Season,” the group’s annual holiday concert, set for 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16, at the Sequim High School auditorium, 533 N. Sequim Ave.

“The audience will be treated to seasonal music performed by both the community orchestra and the peninsula’s premier community concert band,” Debbi Soderstrom, president of the Sequim City Band board, said.

“The band looks forward to presenting a concert with both music ensembles playing well-known Christmas and holiday music. The Christmas carol sing-a-long is always a hit with the audience that provides everyone with the opportunity to lend their voices to the joyous music of the season.”

Under the direction of Phil Morgan-Ellis, the Sequim Community Orchestra’s performance will include a compilation of “Christmas Classics” that features Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite” with sections of two other Christmas favorites “March of Three Kings” (Bizet) and “Hallelujah Chorus” (Handel). The familiar Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”, is arranged for orchestra by Michael Story in his “Tidings of Comfort and Joy!”

Beth Pratt, president of the Sequim Community Orchestra (SCO) board, says a bake sale to benefit the SCO Kids String Program will take place during intermission. The orchestra was formed about seven years ago to provide an ensemble in which the youth of Sequim who were learning to play a stringed instrument could gain experience. Five years ago the orchestra founded the SCO Kids String Program. The program is offered at no cost to Sequim students with classes held at Swisher Hall, at The James Center for the Performing Arts.

With the stage reset, the Sequim City Band will present “Russian Christmas Music.” Modern composer Alfred Reed used an ancient Russian Christmas carol and motifs from liturgical themes of the Eastern Orthodox Church to create a piece that has become a classic for concert band. Staying with the music of Eastern Europe, the percussion section will be featured in “Carol of the Bells” by Mikola Leontovich, a composer born and raised in the Podolia province of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). “Carol of Bells” was composed just two years before the formation of independent Ukraine in 1918.

Under the direction of Tyler Benedict, the band will move to the eastern shores of the United States with a lighter, secular compilation of Irving Berlin’s “Happy Holiday” and “White Christmas.”

Paul Martin is the guest announcer providing program notes.

The Sequim City Band’s final concert of its 2018-19 indoor series is 3 p.m. Sunday, March 10, also in the Sequim High School auditorium.

For more information about the Sequim City Band to learn how to support the band by becoming a “Band Aide,” visit www.sequimcityband.org.