Sunset illuminates Jim Quitslund’s music studio.

The serene end of day suits the mood, as pianist Quitslund and

cellist Sarah Dorian-Lawrence

play Beethoven variations from Mozart’s “Magic Flute.”

Dorian-Lawrence leans into a difficult passage, her long, blond braid coiling onto the cello’s glossy surface.

“Beautiful trill,” Quitslund interjects, his own fingers flying as the instruments play tag through the piece.

Quitslund, Bainbridge Perform-ing Arts board president and coordinator of BPA’s music programs and Dorian-Lawrence, a Port Gamble cellist who teaches at West Sound Academy, will make a debut collaboration Oct. 5.

They’ll join other well-known local teachers and performers who donate their time for a benefit performance for Bainbridge Music and Arts.

Like many of the other musicians, Quitslund has a long history with the organization.

“I have always said ‘yes’ to Bainbridge Music and Arts,” Quitslund said, “since I made my performing debut with them in the third grade, playing ‘Scotch Poem’ by Edward MacDowell. I think it went well, but what I really remember is the smile on my grandmother’s face.

“And could those women bake. That’s where I was introduced to petit fours.”

Since the group formed in the late 1940s, BMA has raised nearly $160,000, for arts scholarships.

In the 1950s, Quitslund remembers, BMA supported the few music teachers who lived here.

Catherine Hahn and Corinne Berg taught advanced students, but there were no Bainbridge-based events for which to prepare them until BMA provided a much-needed performance venue.

Since then, islanders of all ages have received drama, visual art, dance or music education with BMA’s help.

While piano students may compete for scholarships elsewhere, instrumentalists such as trombone and tuba players depend on BMA for financial assistance.

BMA serves not only young people but musicians of all ages, often giving a boost to winners who are getting into music in their 30s or 40s. For many musicians, young and older, the chance to receive lessons initiated a life-long pursuit.

Today, Quitslund says, BMA still plays an important role in giving students a chance to perform in a supportive atmosphere.

“I performed as part of the competition for the last time in 1963,” Quitslund said, “but I will always play for their scholarship benefit, because I probably never would have been able to play for competitions if I hadn’t had this opportunity to play for a loving audience first.”

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Bainbridge Music and Arts present “Musical Moments,” 4 p.m. Oct. 5 at Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church. The program of music by Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Liszt, Faure and Poulenc is performed by Adele Berg-Layton, soprano; Carol Willis Buechler, soprano, violin; James Quitslund, piano; Claire Marshall, piano; Justine Jeanotte, violin; Dorothy Foster, viola; Barbara Deppe, cello; and Sarah Dorian-Lawrence, cello. The $15 donation benefits the BMA scholarship fund. Tickets available at Vern’s Drugs, Hallmark and at the door. Call 842-4362 or 842-3958.