Chorale, orchestra announce spring performance
Bonner County Daily Bee | UPDATED 10 hours, 11 minutes AGO
Pictured are members of the Pend Oreille Chorale and Orchestra at a past concert.
(Courtesy photo)
The Pend Oreille Chorale and Orchestra will present its free spring 2026 concert next week, with performances planned for 7 p.m. Friday, June 12, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 14. The venue for both will be First Lutheran Church, located at South Olive and Ontario.
Opening the program will be instrumental selections featuring flute and piano, four hands on one piano, saxophone quartet, a piano quintet by Mark Reiner in a premiere performance and a brass quintet. Members of each group have worked hard to present music of varied styles for the audience’s enjoyment.
The last half of the program will open with the chorale singing two short a cappella numbers. The second of these will be an audience sing-along to “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” The chorale will sing the first time, and the director Caren Reiner will invite the audience to sing along in the second.
“The words, that will be in the program, are so appropriate at this time of extreme divisiveness, so I hope the audience will take the meaning to heart,” Caren Reiner said.
After the chorale performance, the orchestra will present a premiere performance of “Prayer No. 6 for String Orchestra” by Mark Reiner. His “Meditation Mass” then follows.
“I realize much of the music for this concert was composed by me, but when the spirit of creativity moves me, it needs to be expressed in uplifting music,” Reiner said.
The Mass is sung partially in English, partly in Latin and includes Deanna Benton, Michelle Rohrer and Laura Peterson as soprano soloists, and Jeff Eakle as baritone soloist.
Organization officials said chorale and orchestra members are grateful to all of the churches which have been supportive throughout the years, including Christ the Redeemer Lutheran Church, First Lutheran Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the Church of Latter-day Saints.
“Come and support your volunteer community musicians, who for over 33 years have provided free uplifting classical music for all of North Idaho,” Caren Reiner said.