Whidbey chorus and orchestra prepare free spring concert in Oak Harbor

A rehearsal room with nearly 100 singers and musicians has been building toward two free concerts in Oak Harbor, where Whidbey Community Chorus & Chamber Orchestra will turn First Reformed Church into a shared spring gathering place on May 15 and May 17.

The program, The Time Between, is built around the sweep of a day, moving from morning into evening and night. Familiar selections such as Summertime, Sunrise, Sunset and Nella Fantasia sit alongside classical choral works, contemporary pieces and poetry adapted into song, giving the concert an arc that is meant to feel as much like reflection as performance.

The chorus says it is a 100-member ensemble with two seasons each year, a fall season with two concerts in December and a spring season with two concerts in May. Its free concerts typically draw about 350 to 400 people, a turnout that reflects how deeply live music still travels on Whidbey Island when it is offered without a ticket price. The performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, May 15, and 4 p.m. Sunday, May 17, at First Reformed Church, 250 SW 3rd Avenue in Oak Harbor.

Darren McCoy has spent eight years directing the Whidbey Community Chorus, and he also has served as choral director at Oak Harbor High School for 15 years. This spring, he and orchestral director Christopher Dyel spent months preparing the ensemble separately before bringing the full group together in the final weeks, when the choral and instrumental parts had to lock into the same breath and pacing.

McCoy said the set is among the most demanding the group has attempted, especially because of Latin lyrics that require singers and musicians to listen closely to one another. That level of difficulty is part of what keeps longtime singers returning. The chorus has paired ambitious repertoire with orchestral accompaniment before, including Faure’s Requiem and Christopher Tin’s Baba Yetu, and this season continues that blend of challenge and community.

The concert also keeps one foot in Oak Harbor’s school music pipeline. Oak Harbor High School’s Harbor Singers will join the Friday performance, widening the stage from a community chorus into a full-town collaboration. Sharon Burge is listed as piano accompanist, and Eva Nelson is featured as soprano.

Singer Karina Andrews sees the group as a rare place where community remains tangible, while Nelson points to the emotional bond between performers and music as what makes live performance unforgettable. That is the value of this concert series on Whidbey Island: it is free, open to the public and built to bring neighbors into the same room for a few shared hours, with donations gratefully accepted to keep the music going.