Music on the Strait, the Port Angeles-based chamber music festival that brings leading musicians from around the country to the Olympic Peninsula near the end of each summer, launches its 2026 season on Saturday, August 22, at the Field Arts & Events Hall in Port Angeles, located right on the waterfront.
The festival runs August 22–30, with a total of four concerts, two each at Field Arts & Events Hall and Maier Hall. This year’s roster includes mezzo-soprano Abigail Nims, flutist Demarre McGill, pianist Jeremy Denk, the Takács Quartet, and composer-in-residence Gabriela Lena Frank, alongside MOTS co-founder and artistic director and violinist James Garlick and other returning artists.
The opening night concert, “A Night at the Opera,” marks MOTS’s first venture into the operatic world. Nims joins violinists Kristin Lee and Garlick, violist Maiya Papach, cellist Silver Ainomäe, and pianist August Baik for an adventurous program featuring Respighi’s rarely performed Il Tramonto and the world premiere of El Mundo by Gabriela Lena Frank. Baik plays Frederic Rzewski’s Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues, from Four North American Ballads, and the musicians will join together at the conclusion for Ernő Dohnányi’s Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor.
The concert begins at 7:00pm PT on Saturday, August 22. Those attending in person can arrive early for Olympic Strings students at 5:45pm and a pre-concert talk by Lisa Bergman at 6:15pm Music on the Strait is also offering pay-what-makes-you-happy tickets starting at $5.
The concert will also be livestreamed free of charge for those who can’t make it to Port Angeles.
OPENING-NIGHT PROGRAM
Come early for food, drink, and pre-concert programming in the Sunset Lounge
5:45pm – Olympic Strings students
6:15pm – Lisa Bergman pre-concert talk
7:00pm concert:
Ottorino Respighi | Il Tramonto for mezzo soprano and string quartet (1914)
Frederic Rzewski | Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues from Four North American Ballads for Piano (1979)
Gabriela Lena Frank | El Mundo for mezzo soprano and string quartet (World Premiere)
Erno Dohnanyi | Piano Quintet No 1 in C minor, Op 1 (1902)
Abigail Nims, mezzo-soprano
Kristin Lee, violin
James Garlick, violin
Maiya Papach, viola
Silver Ainomäe, cello
August Baik, piano
Sunday afternoon, August 23, at 3:00pm, MOTS continues with a concert at Maier Hall featuring this progam:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Flute Quartet in D Major, K 285 (1777)
Ernest Bloch | Violin Sonata No.2, B.58 “Poeme Mystique” (1924)
Antonin Dvořák | Viola Quintet in F major, Op 97 “American” (1893)
Demarre McGill, flute
Kristin Lee, violin
James Garlick, violin
Maiya Papach, viola
Rebecca Albers, viola
Silver Ainomäe, cello
The Maier Hall performance is now sold out, but there is a wait list here.
The second weekend (August 29-30) features a sold-out special evening with the Takács Quartet at Maier Hall on Saturday August 29 at 7:00pm:
Ludwig Van Beethoven | String Quartet in B-flat, Op 18 No 6 (1801)
Felix Mendelssohn | String Quartet in F minor, Op 80 (1847)
Franz Schubert | String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D.810, “Death and the Maiden” (1824)
The festival finale takes place at Field Arts & Events Hall on Sunday August 30 at 3:00pm and features special guest Jeremy Denk joining the Takács Quartet
Gabriela Lena Frank | Quijotadas (2007)*
Ludwig Van Beethoven | Piano Sonata in D minor, Op 31 No 2 “The Tempest” (1802)
César Franck | Piano Quintet in F minor (1879)
Details, tickets, and the free livestream are available through Music on the Strait.
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