SEQUIM — Residents can kick off the holiday season with a fall concert, “Carols and Carol,” presented by the Peninsula Singers and special guest Carol Swarbrick.
A public dress rehearsal is set for 7 tonight and the concert will be at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave.
Tickets are $5 at the door tonight; $15 for adults and $12 for seniors and students Saturday and Sunday — available at Bauer Interiors in Sequim, Odyssey Books in Port Angeles and Peninsula Singers choir members.
The fall concert, conducted by Jerome Wright and accompanied by Linda Dowdell, features a variety of holiday songs sung by Peninsula Singers in the first half of the program while the second half is hosted by Swarbrick.
Swarbrick is well-known for her acting roles in several television shows, such as “General Hospital,” films, Broadway shows and play writing.
“It’s a thrill to be counted among [Peninsula Singers],” Swarbrick said. “And [the concert] is a great way to celebrate the holidays.”
In the first half of the program, Peninsula Singers will sing John Rutter’s arrangement of the medieval carol “Personet Hodie,” Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria,” Jackson Berkey’s arrangements of “Still, Still Night” and “Il est Ne” (performed by the men) and Benjamin Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols” (performed by the women).
The second half of the concert will be hosted by Swarbrick, who will sing classic holiday songs guests might find themselves singing along to such as “We Need a Little Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “The Christmas Song,” along with the choir.
This year is the 200th anniversary of the carol “Silent Night.” Peninsula Singers will perform an arrangement dedicated to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, with Karla Messerschmidt Morgan singing in German and Carl Honore on guitar — all eluding to the original performance in an Australian church when an organ broke on Christmas Eve and the pastor and choirmaster created the well-known carol.
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Erin Hawkins is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach her at ehawkins@sequimgazette.com.
