PORT ANGELES — A love song by Mozart. A samba from Luis Bonfa. And “Baby, Ain’t I Good to You.” Such are the pieces in the Colors of Fall, a concert at the intimate Maier Performance Hall this Saturday night.
The event is the handiwork of Robbin Eaves, a soprano as well as a jazz vocalist and Peninsula College student. Eaves will travel across the musical territories, starting the concert singing classical pieces beside pianist Kristin Quigley Brye, and then bringing a jazz ensemble to the stage for the rest of the evening.
The Colors of Fall, to begin at 7 p.m. Saturday, is a benefit for the Peninsula College’s Music Department, to help purchase sheet music and equipment and host guest artists in community concerts. Eaves dreamed up the event to support her fellow musicians, who she says helped her redefine herself.
A resident of Joyce, Eaves began her higher education at the age of 40. On the Peninsula College campus, she found not only encouraging voices among the music professors but also financial help via scholarships from the Peninsula College Foundation.
“I wanted to give back,” she said, “to Peninsula College and in particular the Music Department. I hope it will draw attention to the musical opportunities the department has to offer, no matter what age you are.”
Saturday evening’s performance will start with Eaves and Quigley Brye offering “Deh vieni, non tardar” (“Come, Don’t Delay”) from Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.” That 228-year-old song is part of Saturday’s classical set along with Martin and Gabriel’s “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and Handel’s “V’adoro puille” (“I Adore You, O Eyes”). Quigley Brye, besides being a busy pianist in concerts and musical theater locally, is a professor in Peninsula College’s music department.
Then Eaves and a band of students and teachers will cross over to the jazz side: Bonfa’s “Manha de Carnaval” and “Samba de Orfeu,” Benny Golson’s “Whisper Not,” and Dave Brubeck’s “In Your Own Sweet Way,” among other numbers. The jazz combo includes Peninsula College music professors David Jones on piano and Elaine Gardner-Morales on bass, while students Kevin MacCartney and Andy Geiger will play tenor saxophone and flute and soprano and tenor sax, respectively. Jack Smith, a recent Seattle-to-Sequim transplant, is the drummer.
To finish off the music, Eaves and her jazz players will offer “Autumn Leaves,” “Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You” and the Henry Mancini-Johnny Mercer theme “Moon River.”
After the concert, light refreshments and conversation about future Music Department events will be on tap during a reception in the Maier Hall foyer. The performance hall is on the southeastern side of the campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
