Saratoga Orchestra Announces August Concert Series on Whidbey Island

Whidbey’s Saratoga Orchestra will present two concerts in August. The first, the Pacific Northwest Conducting Institute Summer Festival Concert, takes place on Aug. 7 at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts in Langley. Conducting fellows will lead the orchestra in works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Ethel Smyth, Gabriela Lena Frank (Pulitzer 2026) and Felix Mendelssohn.

The second concert, the Festival of Global Traditions, is scheduled for Aug. 15 at Oak Harbor Methodist Church. It will feature traditional African percussion, including the Ghanaian gyil and the Ugandan 21‑key embaire, performed by Professor Mark Allen Stone, who studied the instrument with the Nakibembe Xylophone Group. The orchestra, founded in 2007 and directed by Anna Edwards, is noted for programming works by women and BIPOC composers. Tickets cost $35‑$40 and are sold through the WICA box office.