WARREN, Ohio – A concert coming to Packard Music Hall will feature pop music classics, symphonic flair and some of the region’s best artists.
Mariano Longo and the SoundScape Symphony will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 7. It will be the final concert of the season presented by the Warren Civic Music Association.
The show, created and conducted by Longo, will include a 32-piece orchestra and four powerful singers.
It’s an expanded and localized evolution of the “Symphonic 70s” concert that Longo presented at the Robins Theatre in 2024. A few WCMA leaders were at that concert and were so impressed that they asked Longo to create a similar show for their annual series. He developed the SoundsScape Symphony in response.
Longo, a Howland native, spent most of his career in Las Vegas as a bandleader, pianist and arranger for major acts.
The Packard show will feature music he arranged for an orchestra during those days.
“The music we are playing is curated from arrangements that I have done for recording and performing artists over the last 25 years or so,” he said. “These are classic songs from the contemporary American songbook that have become part of the soundtrack of our lives.”
The program leans into R&B and rock classics, with powerful singers and the full power of an orchestra.
The songs were selected for their ability to stir memories.
“Every song will make you think of where you were, and who you were with, when you first heard it,” he said.
The concert will be split into two 50-minute sets separated by an intermission.
The members of the SoundScape Symphony were handpicked by Longo with the help of Valley-based conductor-arranger Todd Maki.
“We needed musicians with pop sensibilities,” Longo said.
The string players are primarily from the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and also perform with the Warren Philharmonic and other regional orchestras.
The winds were contracted from the W.D. Packard Concert Band, and the percussionists and rhythm section were handpicked by Longo.
The concertmaster-first violinist is Erika Syroid of Las Vegas, who is the only member that is not from northeastern Ohio.
The vocalists are Janis Jones, Doug Thomas, Janet Opritza Dafis and Aairo. Background vocalists are Jenny Brady and Rebekah Mancino.
The approach of the concert will mirror that of the pop music recording industry at least a half-century ago. In those days, orchestra players were brought to the studio to provide music for the singers. “It was pop and rock, with classical musicians,” Longo said.
Tickets to the show are $45. Click HERE.
During his many years in Las Vegas, Longo worked with top artists like The Buckinghams, Gary Puckett, Leslie Gore, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Bobby Rydell and Air Supply.
He continues to work as an arranger for orchestras that are performing with rock bands and serves as the touring pianist with Las Vegas legend Wayne Newton.
After partially retiring a few years ago, he and his wife returned to the Mahoning Valley.
He opened Downbeat professional rehearsal space last year at 117 Market St., where he mentors aspiring artists. Rehearsals for the SoundScape Orchestra concert are taking place at Downbeat, he said.
Pictured at top: Mariano Longo will lead the SoundScape Symphony on May 7 at Packard Music Hall.