Warren Philharmonic to Present Vibrant Spring Concert
WARREN, Ohio – The Warren Philharmonic Orchestra’s spring concert – featuring a jubilant symphony by Beethoven, elegant music by Fauré and vibrant pieces by two dynamic American women – will take place Sunday, April 23, at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 256 Mahoning Ave. NW, downtown.
Under the baton of music director and conductor Susan Davenny Wyner, the orchestra will perform “Fanfare of Hope” and “Solidarity” (2020) by Augusta Read Thomas; “A Short Piece for Orchestra” (1952) by Julia Perry; “Pelléas et Mélisande Suite” by Gabriel Fauré; and Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony.
Tickets can be purchased at the door for $30 ($15 for students; children under age 13 admitted free with parent or guardian).
“Our Spring concert is full of excitement and contrasts,” Davenny Wyner said. Augusta Read Thomas wrote her short “Fanfare” during the pandemic to draw musicians together. “It is meant to be performed both virtually and live, and its instrumental ‘colors’ are bright and celebratory, a perfect way to call us together and open a concert,” Davenny Wyner said.
Next on the program will be a piece by Julia Perry (1924-1979), an Akron native who wrote music that celebrated her African American roots and embraced the current musical thought of her day. “The piece we are playing made history in 1965 as the first work by a woman of color to be performed and recorded by the New York Philharmonic,” Davenny Wyner said.
The concert will then enter the sensual and emotional world of Fauré’s incidental music for Maeterlinck’s famous play “Pélleas and Mélisande” before concluding with Beethoven’s Eighth.
“What so excites me is that here we find an exuberant, uninhibitedly joyous Beethoven,” Davenny Wyner said. “The piece is filled with surprises, contrasts and humor. It is powerful, and ideas are developed with intense and unrelenting vigor. Even when he does occasionally take us into dark or mysterious worlds, he releases us into joy.”
Pictured at top: The Warren Philharmonic Orchestra in performance.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
