PORT TOWNSEND — The Seattle Symphony is performing a historic concert in Port Townsend tonight.
Maestro Gerard Schwarz of the Seattle Symphony has chosen Port Townsend for the second-to-last concert of his career as the orchestra’s music director.
After 28 years in Seattle, Schwarz is retiring; his final performance as director will be in Seattle’s Benaroya Hall on June 18.
The concert will begin at 7 p.m. in McCurdy Pavilion at Fort Worden State Park, 200 Battery Way, Port Townsend.
The concert will feature Schubert’s “Overture to Rosamunde,” the new “Reflections: Songs of Fathers and Daughters” from Seattle’s Sam Jones, the world premiere of Philip Glass’ “Harmonium Mountain” and Antonin Dvorak’s “New World Symphony.”
Two young Port Townsend musicians — cellist Sam Gordon, 18, and Rinnah Becker, a 15-year-old violinist — will join the orchestra for “New World.”
Schwartz and the Seattle Symphony have performed a handful of times in Port Townsend since McCurdy Pavilion opened in 1992.
Audiences here have “always been extremely welcoming,” Schwarz said, “and so genuine in their love of the music.”
Having the symphony, which Centrum’s executive director, John MacElwee, termed one of the most versatile large orchestras in the nation, play Port Townsend is itself a treat and has not happened in nearly 10 years, he said.
Schwarz, winner of two Emmys, six ASCAP awards and numerous Stereo Review and Ovation prizes, will become conductor laureate and return to lead the Seattle Symphony for a few weeks each year.
His successor is Ludovic Morlot, a 37-year-old Frenchman who has conducted the New York and Royal Stockholm philharmonics as well as the Cleveland, Boston and Tokyo Philharmonic orchestras.
Tickets, priced at $35, $50 and $75, are available by phoning 800-746-1982 or visiting www.Centrum.org.