The Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Tigran Arakelyan, will present this month’s concert on at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, at the Chimacum High School auditorium. It will be preceded by an open dress rehearsal on at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6.

This free concert, for which donations are welcome, features Seattle-based timpanist Emmy Ulmer, who has played with the Seattle Philharmonic, as well as the Orchester der Technischen Universität Wien in Vienna, and is a coach with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Ulmer’s ties to Port Townsend began when she was a student participant at the Marrowstone Music Festival at Fort Worden, and continued as she became an organizational leader of the festival, and a coach of its younger participants.

Ulmer continues teaching and coaching timpani and percussion to this day.

Ulmer will be playing the Timpani Concerto by Werner Thärichen, who was the timpanist for the Hamburg State Orchestra and the Berlin State Orchestra in the middle of the 20th century.

Ulmer was introduced to the concerto just prior to attending the University of Washington, and won a competition by performing it.

According to Ulmer, this piece brings out many capabilities of the timpani, including its ability to play melodies, and even introduce chord structures.

“The interplay and musical conversations with other instruments in the orchestra are unique and intriguing, full of color and really more melodic than may be anticipated,” Ulmer said.

This concert is also set to include the two L’Arlésienne Suites by Georges Bizet.

This music began life as incidental music for the drama, “The Girl from Arles,” by Alphonse Daudet in 1872.

Its 27 different pieces were both background music and “entr’actes” performed by a small theater ensemble, plus singers.

While the play was unsuccessful, the music quickly became popular, so Bizet arranged the music into two suites, arranged for a full symphony.

The popularity of the music led to a revival performance of the drama, which seems to have been successful mostly for Bizet’s music.

The final movement of Suite No. 2 is a Farandole, based on the 13th century Christmas carol, “The March of the Kings,” and s widely played at this time of the year.