Phil Aarhus' fingers drummed lightly on the trumpet keys, his eyes glued to the sheet music.

His cheeks puffing, turning a shade of violet, the tinny melody crescendoed and held long on a sweet note.

Sucking in a quick breath, the Coeur d'Alene man launched back into a train of busy eighth notes, the orchestra beside him thrumming an answer.

The devoted brass player should know Haydn's "Trumpet Concerto" well enough by now, he said after rehearsing the finale with the Panhandle Symphony Orchestra last Tuesday.

"I've been playing it since college," Aarhus said with a grin. "I hate to date that, but it was probably 1964."

There are so many reasons he loves the concerto. The charming bustle of the piece, the back-and-forth melodies flirting between his trumpet and the orchestra.

It's interesting, he said. Lively. Musical.

And there's that little boost of joy, Aarhus said, playing with a group he enjoys.

"I've been playing 58 years. I never quit," the retired medical technologist said. "I think it's the camaraderie with my fellow musicians. It's good to have friends."

That's the whole idea behind the PSO's free concert on Tuesday. A group of friends performing for fun, for memories.

And for others, said Manager Larry Strobel.

"We play for the community as well as for ourselves," Strobel said of the community orchestra. "A lot of people can't afford to go to the symphony ever. This is a way they can, and not have to pay anything."

The upcoming performance also offers a chance to take in beautiful and thrilling music, he added.

Tuesday's concert, scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Kroc Center, features a smorgasbord of classical hits, the kind that will definitely hold an audience's attention.

The repertoire includes selections from famed musical "Les Miserables," well-known pieces from the opera "Carmen," and the finale of Haydn's "Trumpet Concerto."

Although a little late for Halloween, the concert also includes "Night On Bald Mountain," the frenzy-paced piece remembered as the soundtrack to a ghoulish story in Disney's original "Fantasia."

"We decided we needed one big piece," Strobel said, referring to himself and PSO conductor Tim Sanford. "This is it. And it is a big piece."

Strobel acknowledged that some might consider the election-night performance ill-timed.

But he prefers not to take that perspective.

"It's providing a relief from the election," he said with a smile. "It's kind of our way of celebrating the campaigning being over."

Coming up

- The Panhandle Symphony Orchestra's free concert is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Kroc Center