“Saudade” is a feeling humans share, but the Portuguese word is not easy to translate — unless you have music.

This week, classical guitarist Colin Davin will offer “Choro da Saudade,” an Agustin Barrios Mangoré piece, in a pair of intimate recitals. The performances are the first chamber concerts of the season presented by the Port Angeles Symphony, and they’re in two cities: in Port Angeles Friday and Sequim Saturday evening.

Davin, who has traveled to the Olympic Peninsula twice before, will also play Clarice Assad’s “Macunaíma,” Leo Brouwer’s “El Decameron Negro” and José Luis Merlin’s “Suite del Recuerdo.”

“Saudade” has been interpreted as a kind of bittersweet longing for a place, a person or a time in one’s life. Davin, with his guitar, hopes to transport listeners Friday at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 301 Lopez in Port Angeles; and Saturday at Trinity United Methodist Church, 101 S. Blake Ave., Sequim.

Both concerts start at 7 p.m. with all seats $20, at portangelessymphony.org, via the Tickets heading and the Chamber Concerts tab. Tickets will also be available at the door of each venue.

A Juilliard-educated performer and teacher, Davin has played guitar masterworks around the world, from Carnegie Hall to the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. In December 2021, he flew to Port Angeles for the first time, to play an unexpected concert with the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra.

The scheduled guitar soloist could not make it, conductor Jonathan Pasternack had just learned. A mutual friend connected him with Davin, who was in Cleveland, Ohio at the time. He boarded a plane, arrived in time for the orchestra’s final rehearsal, and received a standing ovation for his performance that night.

Davin returned to be the featured soloist at the Symphony’s Holiday Concert in 2023. This time, Pasternack is looking forward to presenting the guitarist in recitals all his own.

Most of all, Davin said, he loves the connection he feels with his audience. Sometimes being a soloist comes with a little bit of mythos, with the musician on a pedestal, but “I like to be a real person,” he quipped.

Davin added that there’s a space between notes, between pieces of music, where the connection lives.

“I can tell in that first silence,” he said. “I can feel if they’re with me.”

Photo courtesy PA Symphony/ Classical guitarist Colin Davin will give solo recitals this week in Port Angeles and Sequim for the Port Angeles Symphony.