Jacqueline Wilson is a woman of many passions. She lives to perform classical and new music, she teaches her beloved instrument, the bassoon, at Washington State University, and she considers the Olympic Peninsula the most beautiful part of her home state.
This week, Wilson, a member of the Yakama Nation, will join the Port Angeles Symphony Chamber Orchestra for two concerts — Friday in Port Angeles and Saturday in Sequim — to play the Concerto for Bassoon and Strings by Connor Chee, a composer who blends the Western classical sound with his Navajo heritage.
Wilson won a 2022 Artist Trust fellowship to commission the Chee concerto, and later contacted Port Angeles Symphony conductor and artistic director Jonathan Pasternack to see if his orchestra might be interested in performing it with her.
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“I jumped at the project, especially intrigued by this collaboration between two Indigenous classical musicians,” Pasternack recalled.
Both the conductor and the bassoonist like to offer their audiences something they’ve not heard before — juxtaposed with a classical work. Since Chee’s piece is relatively short at 11 minutes, Pasternack asked Wilson if she would also perform a Vivaldi concerto.
“She chose the perfect one to complement the Chee,” Vivaldi’s Concerto for Bassoon in F major.
“The rest of the program contains some of my favorite music, tuneful and romantic,” Pasternack added.
The concerts will begin with Elgar’s Serenade for Strings and finish with Eller’s Five Pieces for String Orchestra.
This is a work he first encountered almost 25 years ago during his studies in Estonia.
“It is very close to my heart for its nostalgic sentiment and glorious melodies,” the conductor said.
The 24-member Port Angeles Symphony Chamber Orchestra’s two public concerts will begin at 7 p.m. On Friday, the venue will be Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 301 Lopez Ave. in Port Angeles. On Saturday, the concert will be at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave. in Sequim. All seats are $20 and available at the door and at portangelessymphony.org.
Wilson began playing the bassoon as a teenager in Kennewick and has gone on to become not only a university professor but also principal bassoonist with the Washington Idaho Symphony. She performs with WSU’s Solstice Faculty Wind Quintet, among other ensembles.
A composer in her own right, Wilson is an advocate for other Indigenousmusicians; she premiered Chee’s concerto last June with the Ravenna String Orchestra in Seattle. Her own “Dance Suite for Solo Bassoon” won a top prize in the International Alliance for Women in Music’s Search for New Music Competition.
The bassoon is her chosen instrument, Wilson said, because of its flexibility.
“Sometimes it plays bass lines, other times it is a singing tenor soloist,” she said. “It can be humorous or deeply expressive.”
“I love being able to do so many things musically — oftentimes in the course of a single piece.”
The Chee concerto Wilson will play with the chamber orchestra doesn’t follow a specific narrative, she noted. Instead, it is rooted in themes of spirituality.
“The opening of the work features the bassoon in a solo invocation — a call to enter a realm of spiritual reflection,” she said.
The bassoon acts as an individual voice while the string orchestra is a kind of higher consciousness. Emotionally, the concerto moves through a range of moods, from uncertainty to hopefulness.
“I hope this piece encourages audiences to approach with open hearts and minds,” Wilson said, “allowing for a unique and personal journey.”
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Diane Urbani de la Paz is a freelance writer and photographer who lives in Port Townsend.