WEEKEND: Guest conductor to bring her skills to Port Angeles Symphony orchestra concert in Sequim tonight

NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, Oct. 10.

PORT ANGELES — Teenager Kristin Quigley couldn’t wait to get out of Geraldine, Mont.

So at 14, she left that town of 250 to attend the prestigious Interlochen Academy boarding school in northern Michigan.

There, she dived into a life that would range from playing French horn and piano to coaching opera singers and conducting “The Rocky Horror Show.”

She’s crisscrossed the country, earning a master’s degree at the University of Nebraska, studying for a doctorate in conducting at Pacific Lutheran University and working with orchestras and opera companies from Nevada to Alaska.

Since moving to the North Olympic Peninsula in 2006, she’s played the classics with local orchestras, taught students at Peninsula College and brought “Rocky Horror,” “Oliver!” and “Return to the Forbidden Planet” to the stage.

Now, Kristin Quigley Brye, 54, is embarking on something else again. A candidate for conductor of the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, she’ll lead the chamber orchestra in their first concerts of the season, tonight in Port Angeles and Saturday night in Sequim.

Together, they will play Mozart, Holst, Scarlatti and Michael Haydn, plus Beethoven’s first piano concerto with guest soloist Christopher Son Richardson.

Talk with Quigley Brye, and it’s obvious how much this music delights her.

First, there’s Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte” overture, a piece that is “close to my heart; I’m an opera person,” she says.

The Scarlatti sonatas “I’m finding very interesting, as I delve into them. And the Beethoven: It is a gem of a piece. You can see sparks of the later Beethoven coming through.”

The joy of conducting an orchestra, for this woman, is in serving as a conduit between musicians and audience. The people in the concert hall feed off of one another’s energy, adds Quigley Brye, who conducts with hands that fairly float on the air.

The chamber orchestra musicians “are ready to work . . . and the rehearsal period is short and intense,” she said.

“They bring their ‘A’ game.”

Quigley Brye brings a diverse set of experiences.

She moved to the Peninsula in 2006 to lead the former North Olympic Youth Orchestra, then came to Peninsula College to teach piano and work with the Drama Department to stage musicals in the spring and fall.

At the same time, she is the NorthWest Women’s Chorale’s collaborative pianist and teaches no fewer than 29 piano and French horn students in her private studio.

Next spring at Peninsula College, Quigley Brye will direct “A Chorus Line,” the classic musical.

“It will be a challenge for our community,” she said, adding, “I think we can pull it off.”

That’s classic Kristin Quigley Brye, if you consult a man she’s worked with on many a show.

Richard Stephens, actor, director and costume designer, calls her the Princess of Darkness — “a term of endearment,” he says — for her tendency to dress in black and her wicked sense of humor. Which helps when you’re staging a musical, of course, as does Quigley Brye’s background.

“She’s a small-town girl . . . very relatable,” Stephens said.

And “she has worked in some pretty sophisticated venues. She brings a high caliber. But she’s not snobby.

“I’ve seen her work very closely with musicians. She can talk to the ones who are really skilled. And she’s a great vocal director. I’ve seen her climb down and do notation work . . . she takes a lot of people who are OK and brings them up,” said Stephens.

Quigley Brye is one of nine hopefuls who have applied for the Port Angeles Symphony conductor post after Adam Stern, the orchestra’s director since 2005, was let go last May.

She has connections to some of her fellow candidates. Richard Sparks, who will serve as guest conductor — essentially auditioning for the job — with the orchestra Feb. 7, was one of her conducting professors at Pacific Lutheran University.

As for the local candidates: “I can’t say enough about Ron Jones,” the Port Angeles High School orchestra conductor who led last month’s Pops and Picnic concerts.

“He is Ron Jones,” the man who taught so many Port Angeles Symphony musicians when they were young teenagers.

James Ray, the middle and elementary school music teacher who is also a candidate, is also “a wonderful educator,” she added.

Ray is slated to conduct the next set of Port Angeles Chamber Orchestra concerts Jan. 16 and 17.

At each performance from now through May, concert-goers will be invited to submit written comments on the guest conductor to the Port Angeles Symphony’s conductor search committee.

The panel, led by Marie Meyers, plans to select the permanent conductor next spring.

The orchestra “is filled with many, many fine musicians. It would be just wonderful to see them once or twice a week,” Quigley Brye said, “and make music with them.”

Yet “the most important thing is that the symphony continues to be a vital part of the cultural scene and grows its audience base.

“The community has been very passionate about the changes,” which was reflected in part by last summer’s series of letters to the Peninsula Daily News regarding Stern’s departure and the future of the orchestra.

“It’s a good sign,” said Quigley Brye, “that people care that much about their symphony.”