SEQUIM — A new season of noon concerts — complete with hot meals and a warm welcome — begins this week as “Music Live with Lunch” comes to town Tuesday.
This is a chance “to listen to excellent music performed by superb players and to meet new people,” said coordinator Carolyn Braun.
For the opening concert, cellist Janette Chrysler, flutist Sharon Snel and oboist Anne Krabill will offer classical trios starting at noon at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 525 N. Fifth Ave.
At about 12:30 p.m., lunch will be served in the parish hall — and “the luncheon has become a huge part of the success of this,” said Braun, who with her husband, Ray, has organized the concert series for the past 10 years.
The monthly concerts are on the third Tuesday of each month, now through May — though there’s no concert in December — and feature classical and popular music by singers and players from across the North Olympic Peninsula.
“This is an outreach to the Sequim community,” Braun said, adding she knows local people who love classical music but don’t love to drive to nighttime concerts by the Port Angeles Symphony.
Tickets, which include the 30-minute performance and the lunch afterward, are $10 at the door.
Patrons may also choose season tickets, which are $56 for all eight Music Live with Lunch concerts. Tickets are available at St. Luke’s, which can be reached at 360-683-4862.
Braun emphasized that the musicians are top-notch — and receive no payment for playing.
Proceeds from the series go to a local charity such as the Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic or the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula.
“They give of their time and talent,” Braun said, adding that the singers and instrumentalists come from as far away as Port Townsend and Bainbridge Island to play in Sequim.
This Tuesday’s performers are all members of the Port Angeles Symphony.
Snel is the orchestra’s principal flautist as well as a teacher at the Olympic Music School in Sequim.
Krabill plays oboe with both Port Angeles’ and Seattle’s Northwest Symphony orchestras, while Chrysler is a founding member and principal cellist with the Sooke Philharmonic of British Columbia.
Other musicians to appear in this year’s Music Live with Lunch series include organist Woody Bernas on Oct. 18, the Port Angeles High School Chamber Orchestra on Nov. 15.
Carl Kaiser, a lyric tenor who sang lead roles in German opera houses before he came to live in Sequim, is another artist planning to perform later in the season.
Carolyn Braun can be phoned at 360-452-0495 for further information.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at [email protected]