Port Angeles Symphony breaks out blockbusters for Saturday concert

Soloist Marjorie Kransberg-Talvi of Seattle joins the Port Angeles Symphony for performances Saturday, March 11. Submitted photo

Soloist Marjorie Kransberg-Talvi of Seattle joins the Port Angeles Symphony for performances Saturday, March 11. Submitted photo

PORT ANGELES — The maestro can hardly wait.

“I am really happy to present this music that I love so much,” said Jonathan Pasternack, conductor of the Port Angeles Symphony’s concert at Port Angeles High, 304 E. Park Ave., on Saturday.

Now in its 84th season, the community orchestra invites the public to its final rehearsal at 10 a.m. and then the evening concert at 7:30 p.m.

Pasternack will host a pre-performance conversation about the music at 6:40 p.m.

Tickets to the nighttime event are $12 for students and seniors, $15 for general admission and $20 to $30 for reserved seats.

For those who want to see the conductor and orchestra rehearse the complete program Saturday morning, admission is $5 per person or $10 per family.

At all performances, those 16 and younger are admitted free when accompanied by an adult.

This time out, the orchestra will offer Carl August Nielsen’s “Aladdin” suite — “an energetic start to the concert,” Pasternack promised.

Then Marjorie Kransberg-Talvi, the guest soloist from Seattle, will join the symphony to play the Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor by Henryk Wieniawski, a Polish composer known for writing virtuoso concert pieces.

The concerto is romantic, poetic — “a real show-off piece,” Kransberg-Talvi said in a phone interview from her studio.

Completing the program: the Symphony No. 1 in E minor from Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer seated atop Pasternack’s list of all-time favorites.

“Sibelius is very close to my heart,” the conductor said, adding this was a man who forged his own path to make music that pulses with color and invention.

With Finlander Sibelius, Pole Wieniawski and Nielsen, who was Danish, this concert celebrates composers from northern nations and cold climes. Their melodies express drama, warmth and emotion, said Pasternack.

“They’re all blockbuster pieces,” he added.

Pasternack also is full of anticipation for the guest soloist. Kransberg-Talvi “is part of the grand tradition of violin-playing. She is a protege of Jascha Heifetz, a very expressive player without any histrionics,” said the conductor, who first performed with her — and the Port Angeles Symphony ­— when he came here to audition for the job of conductor and music director.

That was in October 2014 and now Pasternack is in his second season leading the symphony.

“Working with him is a delight,” Kransberg-Talvi said of Port Angeles’ maestro.

“He makes it feel like chamber music between the soloist and orchestra. He’s not in the way … he’s letting it unfold.”

As for her formation as a musician, Kransberg-Talvi can’t remember a time without the violin.

As a girl in Beverly on the northern shore of Massachusetts, she wanted to play the recorder like her schoolmates, but her mother, violinist Fran Kransberg, encouraged her to try something harder.

“She got me a tiny little violin. And that became my instrument. It was like my voice.”

By the time she was 12, Marjorie Kransberg was playing in concerts around Boston, joining orchestras and meeting musicians from many walks of life.

“I was fortunate to be in that environment,” she recalled, where “outside of Boston, there were so many community orchestras. People were really dedicated to coming together and making music regardless of what they did [during the workweek].”

Kransberg-Talvi added that she’s eager to play with the Port Angeles Symphony, another community orchestra presenting great music. This program, she said, is a rich, romantic one — a break from the workaday world.

“Life can become so mechanical,” she said. “This music really speaks to the soul.”

Tickets and information about this and future Port Angeles Symphony concerts are available at the symphony office at 360-457-5579 or by email at PASymphony@olypen.com.

Ticket outlets also include The Joyful Noise Music Center at 112 W. Washington St. in downtown Sequim and Port Book and News at 104 E. First St. in downtown Port Angeles.

________

The Olympic Peninsula News Group is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum.

More in Life

Matthew Nash / Olympic Peninsula News Group
Jennifer Scott of the Hudson Valley region in New York with her niece Calliope Scott of Denver walk the lavender fields of Jardin du Soleil. Scott said she loves lavender. Last week was their first time visiting a lavender farm.
Lavender weekend to bring concerts, food and music

Festivities set across Peninsula from Friday through Sunday

John Goar speaks to a group of visitors before leading them on a moonlit hike up Hurricane Hill for a tour of the constellations. Goar is a volunteer who leads the full moon hikes and dark sky telescope tours that are part of the astronomy program at Hurricane Ridge. (Paula Hunt/Peninsula Daily News)
Hurricane Ridge astronomy program reveals treasures

Volunteer-run tour guides visitors at Hurricane Ridge

Karen Griffiths
Rainshadow Equine Sanctuary Team’s Debi Pavlich-Boaz leads Paliday calmly over a blue tarp as part of his daily training routine. She worked with the Yakima Sheriff’s Department to capture the mini stallion when he was running alongside a freeway, deftly evading capture. Without her help, and an offer to take him home, the sheriff’s department planned on taking the then-untrained pony to a local holding pen to await transport to a slaughter house in Canada. Instead, Paliday is now happily living the rest of days out as a gelding at the sanctuary.
HORSEPLAY: Peninsula animal rescue, shelters need our help

DID YOU KNOW that most of our local horse, dog and cat… Continue reading

A GROWING CONCERN: Get your garden schooled on Nutrients 101

AS WE MOVE through July and our yard and gardens are flourishing,… Continue reading

ISSUES OF FAITH: Truth and honesty important in leadership

THROUGHOUT THE TORAH, we are taught the importance of honesty and justice.… Continue reading

Doug Benecke will be joined by Sallie Harrison for special music at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
Program set for weekend service

Doug Benecke will present “Play Ball!” at 10:30 a.m.… Continue reading

The Rev Craig Vocelka will present “Listening for the Whisper” at 10:00 am this Sunday at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1020 Jefferson Street.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church plans service

The Rev. Craig Vocelka will present “A Thankful, Generous… Continue reading

The Rev. Pam Douglas-Smith.
Speaker set at Unity in Port Townsend for weekend service

The Rev. Pam Douglas-Smith will present “Divine Feeding of… Continue reading

Suzan Mannisto, co-manager of Pioneer Memorial Park, introduces the “Pathway Accessible to All Project” as Sequim Irrigation Festival Prince Malachi Byrne looks on. (Sequim Prairie Garden Club)
Garden Club launches path at Pioneer Memorial Park

Organization seeking additional grants, fundraising

Map of lots available in Port Angeles from 1890.
BACK WHEN: Port Angeles celebrating 135 years on July 4

HERE IT IS. July 5, and we celebrated the 249th anniversary of… Continue reading

KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Zane Rensen, 6, of Port Angeles receives patriotic face paint from Port Angeles High School cheerleader Madison Bishop in the children's activity tent at Port Angeles City Pier during Friday's Independence Day celebration.
Independence celebration

Port Angeles celebrated Independence Day with sights and sounds of America on… Continue reading