The Chinook School Event Center show will also feature The Ilwaco High School jazz band, with proceeds supporting music and art programs in local schools.

Halie Loren is blunt about priorities.

“We all need music,” she said. “A world devoid of music would affect everyone. The fact that you get to carry that torch is a great honor.”

The world-traveled jazz singer will perform with an instrumental quintet at the Chinook School Event Center on U.S. Highway 101 in Chinook on Sunday. The holiday-themed matinee will close out the 2024 season for the Water Music Society, which brings professional musicians to the Long Beach Peninsula.

Loren’s concert will follow two early December performances accompanying a ballet at a 2,448-seat theater in her hometown of Eugene.

She thrives on the contrast. “It is one of my favorite parts, being in diverse settings,” she said. “Each different kind of setting brings out a different side of the musicality.

“The big shows I get nervous — I fixate on the arrangements,” she said, referring to technical and logistical challenges. “But in the small shows, I love how it brings out the sense of intimacy. It feels like we can improvise a bit more and see where the energy takes us.”

Loren was born in Seattle and grew up in Sitka, a rainy town in southeast Alaska. She graduated from the University of Oregon, where she studied visual arts.

She was writing songs at 13, inspired by Etta James and Patsy Cline in her mother’s record collection. As an older teenager, she won a songwriting contest sponsored by Billboard, the music charts organization, and recorded her debut album, “Full Circle,” in 2006. It was the first of 10. Her latest, “Dreams Lost and Found,” recorded in Montreal, Québec, was released in April.

She said her songwriting inspiration is unpredictable. “Usually, it is when I am doing something else,” she said. “So much creativity comes from being in a relaxed state of mind or a passive state of mind. It kind of ‘burbles’ up.”

Her 20-year performing career has taken her around the world, including Europe, Japan and Korea, where she has earned industry awards for songs and albums. She has sung in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Gaelic, Turkish and Hawaiian. The video created for “Noah,” from her album “From The Wild Sky,” earned an Emmy Award in 2019.

Loren conceded the rigors of travel have lost their gloss. “Every job is always ‘a job.’ So much of the work is behind the scenes,” she said. “But performing a show or writing a song and recording an album is a sweetness … there’s these moments that are such high highs and keep me motivated to continue to do it.”

The concert will feature the Ilwaco High School jazz band under director Rachel Lake performing at 2 p.m., with Loren to follow. Refreshments will include appetizers, cookies, coffee, tea, water and sparkling cider, plus a no-host wine and champagne bar.

The society regularly gives donations to local school music programs. Diane Marshall, a board member and chairwoman of the Christmas event, said the show is an ideal way for people to get into the seasonal mood at the event center, which will be brightly decorated.

“With fabulous holiday tunes, tasty appetizers, homemade Christmas cookies, beverages and a no-host wine and ‘bubbly’ bar, folks will definitely get their holiday mojo in high gear,” she said.

Water Music Society holiday concert

Water Music Society holiday concert

Halie Loren and her jazz quintet, plus the Ilwaco High School jazz band, 2 p.m. Sunday, Chinook School Event Center, 810 U.S. Highway 101, Chinook.

Refreshments will be served with a no-host wine and champagne bar.

Tickets $20 at watermusicsociety.com.