PA High’s chamber orchestra plays Music Live with Lunch

This month, the Port Angeles High School Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Ron Jones, takes the stage at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church’s Music Live with Lunch.

The orchestra opens its season at noon, Tuesday, Nov. 15, in the church at 525 N. Fifth Ave., as players ready for a trip to Carnegie Hall in New York City later this school year.

In Sequim, they’ll cover the gamut from George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” to Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 5” to “Feliz Navidad” by Jose Feliciano and Steven Rosenhaus.

A turkey luncheon follows the concert at 12:30 p.m.

The orchestra is comprised of 16 students selected by audition and has been in existence for 97 years at Port Angeles High School and remains one of the oldest programs in Washington.

Since 1998, the orchestra has earned nine first-place, second- or third-place trophies in the WIAA State Music Championships.

Jones has led the orchestra for 40-plus years and received several local, state and national awards for his work as an educator, including Washington’s Outstanding Public School Music Teacher by the American String Teachers Association; the state Music Educator of the Year by WMEA/WIAA; and the Outstanding Music Educator Award by the National Federation Interscholastic Music Association. In 2006, he also was inducted into the Washington Music Educators Association Hall of Fame.

Music Live with Lunch was founded more than 25 years ago by Lou and Bill Yandell at St. Luke’s church as a musical outreach program to the community.

Proceeds go to local, regional and global concerns.

Concerts run the third Tuesday of each month from September-May except for December. Lunch always follows shows in the parish hall.

Tickets are $12 and can be purchased in the church office from 9 a.m.-noon or at the door. With questions, call the church at 683-4862.