PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, which features musicians from across the North Olympic Peninsula, will present two Pops & Picnic concerts — including a new matinee — this weekend.
The concert is at 7 tonight and the matinee at 1 p.m. Saturday; both take place at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St.
Music lovers are encouraged to bring picnics, while the $20 tickets cover the concert, beverages and desserts.
Tickets are on sale at Port Book and News in Port Angeles and at the Symphony office, reachable at 360-457-5579 and PA Symphony@olypen.com.
As is traditional, conductor Jonathan Pasternack will lead the orchestra in a program of light classics and popular songs plus music from the movies and stage.
This year’s soloists are Sgt. 1st Class Martha Krabill, a vocalist with the U.S. Army Band, and concertmaster violinist Heather Ray.
Ray will play her swan song with the orchestra before moving to Bellingham, where her husband James Ray is starting a new job as music professor at Western Washington University.
Krabill, the daughter of longtime Symphony musicians Anne and David Krabill, is coming from her base in Virginia to sing with the orchestra for the first time.
“She’s a uniquely gifted and energetic performer,” said Pasternack, who has picked out several songs for Krabill to do — including a surprise comedy number.
“She’s a singer and a dancer, and she has fabulous stage presence,” he said.
“Los Toreadors” from Bizet’s “Carmen,” Debussy’s “Petite Suite,” John Williams’ Theme from “Schindler’s List” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” are the more serious pieces, while the lighthearted music includes Menken’s Overture to “Beauty and the Beast,” Leroy Anderson’s “The Typewriter,” and P.D.Q. Bach’s “1712 Overture.”
Sousa’s “Liberty Bell March” as well as “America the Beautiful,” led by Krabill, round out the show.
For information about Pops & Picnic and the rest of the 2019-20 season of concerts, visit PortAngeles Symphony.org.
