Port Townsend Chamber Music Series to host benefit concert
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 19, 2026
PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Chamber Music Series will present a benefit concert at 3 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church, 1202 Lawrence St., Port Townsend.
Admission is free, but donations will be accepted to benefit the music program at Port Townsend High School.
There will be a short reception following the concert.
The concert will feature 21 local musicians in a variety of compositions and instruments, including a mallet percussion ensemble and soloists on viola, saxophone, violin and lute.
“We are particularly excited to feature Kim Clarke, director of the PTHS band program, on trumpet, as well as Gina Tran, student at PTHS, on violin,” said Sung-Ling Hsu, one of the series’ artistic directors. “Public school music programs are vitally important to the fabric of our community, and we are happy to support the PTHS music program through this benefit concert.”
The concert will include the premiere of two poetry-inspired ensemble pieces by Phil Hirschi.
The first, “Rain Light,” was inspired by W.S. Merwin’s poem of the same name, while “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” was inspired by “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens.
The program includes:
• Percussionists Thomas Blomster, Hayden Montgomery, George Shaffer, Sonya Shipley and Susan Titus performing “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen, “Oye Como Va” by Tito Puente and the Mexican folk tune “La Llorona.”
• Lutist Guy Smith performing “Ein seer guter Organistischer Preambel for Lute” by Hans Neusidler.
• Saxophonist Stephanie M. Neumann and pianist Michael Carroll performing “Aria for Saxophone and Piano” by Eugène Bozza.
• Violinist Marina Rosenquist, cellist Pamela Roberts and pianist Hsu performing “Ein guter welscher tantz for Lute” by Hans Neusidler and “Invierno Porteño” (Winter in Buenos Aires) for Violin, Cello and Piano by Astor Piazzolla.
• Violinist Bobbi Nikles, bassoonist Kristina Holm, cellist Phil Hirschi, percussionist Thomas Blomster and narrator Roland Nikles performing “Rain Light” and “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird #1-5” by Phil Hirschi.
• Oboist Anne Krabill, flutist Tamara Rotz and pianist Michael Carroll performing “Mille regretz,” NJE 28.25 for Lute by Josquin de Pres, arranged by H. Neusidler and “Miniatures – Suite for Oboe, Flute and Piano” by William Grant Still.
• Violinists Gina Tran and Kristin Smith performing “Ich klag den Tag for Lute” by Ludwig Senfl, arranged by H. Neusidler and “La Parfum des Fleurs” by Taku Matsushiba.
• Violist Tyrone Beatty and pianist Michael Carroll performing “Du Fiensela (Dont vient cela) for Lute” by Claude Sermissy, “Romance oubliée,” S.527 for Viola and Piano by Franz Liszt, “Impromptu” by Dmitri Shostakovich and “Romance for Viola and Piano,” Op. 85 by Max Bruch.
• Trumpet player Clarke, cellist Roberts and pianist Hsu performing the first movement from Eric Ewazen’s “Trio for Trumpet, Cello and Piano.”
For more information, email Roberts at pamela roberts1@gmail.com or visit www.ptsymphony.org.
