Port Angeles youth orchestra to perform in Sequim

The Port Angeles High School Chamber Orchestra will present several selections at the next Music Live with Lunch at noon, Tuesday, Nov. 18, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 525 N. Fifth Ave., Sequim.

November 12, 2014 1:11 pm
The Port Angeles High School Chamber Orchestra performs Nov. 18 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sequim.
The Port Angeles High School Chamber Orchestra performs Nov. 18 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sequim.

The Port Angeles High School Chamber Orchestra will present several selections at the next Music Live with Lunch at noon, Tuesday, Nov. 18, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 525 N. Fifth Ave., Sequim.

The Port Angeles High School Chamber Orchestra is comprised of 17 students who are selected by audition. It is one of three orchestras at Port Angeles High School, a program that has been in existence for 95 years and is one of the oldest orchestra programs in the state.

At the WIAA State Music Championships, they have earned nine first-, second- or third-place trophies since 1998.

Members and their instruments are as follows: Violin I, Leah Marsh, Simon Shindler, Hana Kildall and Jay Liang; Violin II, Marc Henry, Lum Fu, Camille Ortloff and Lauren Rankin; Viola, Connor Leslie, Leah Haworth, Lauren Waldron and Calista Mordecai-Smith; Cello, Kate Haworth, Daniel Williams, Melanie Schimschal and Emma Smith; and Bass, Michael Helwick.

Since 1975, Ronald Jones has been director of orchestras at Port Angeles High School. He also is rehearsal conductor for the Port Angeles Symphony, preparing the orchestra for conductor candidates, of which he is one.

He has received numerous local, state and national awards for his work as an educator, including the state Outstanding Public School Music Teacher by the American String Teachers Association, the state 2002 Music Educator of the Year by WMEA/WIAA, and the Outstanding Music Educator Award by the National Federation Interscholastic Music Association.  In 2006, he was inducted into the Washington Music Educators’Hall of Fame.

The orchestra performs regularly throughout the area, entertaining groups of all ages.  Mark O’Connor, world-renowned fiddler, and Anthony Kearns, of the Irish Tenors, have performed with the orchestra on stage in Port Angeles.

The half hour concert is at noon in the sanctuary followed by lunch in the parish hall. Tickets can be purchased in advance at St. Luke’s or at the door the day of the concert and are $10.

Music Live with Lunch is the third Tuesday of the month except for December.