Youngstown suited this musician just fine. He saw no reason to move.

Youngstown suited this musician just fine. He saw no reason to move.
By DEBORA SHAULIS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- Donald W. Byo's only title with Youngstown Symphony Orchestra is bassoonist. His only role is "to play my role as well as I can," he says between sips of coffee inside the MVR Club on Walnut Street.
He could also be the symphony's historian by virtue of his tenure. Byo, 68, of Hubbard, is the only active musician to have played for Michael Ficcocelli, a co-founder of Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, and every conductor since.
The symphony concludes its 75th anniversary season Saturday night at Edward W. Powers Auditorium.
Asked why he's spent his life performing and teaching in his hometown, Byo said he thought of leaving a few times, but for opportunities that he concluded were "different, not better."
He and his wife, June -- a symphony member and librarian -- reared three children here. He's had excellent students and challenging colleagues.
"I just felt it was a wonderful milieu, so why move?" he said.
In high school: Music programs in Youngstown city schools were solid during the 1940s, when Byo's band director at South High School recommended him to Ficocelli for the All-City Orchestra. "There must have been 100 young musicians," Byo recalled.
They rehearsed once a week at Strouss Music Center (now the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store at Wick and Rayen avenues) and gave one or two concerts a year.
"When I think back, it was darn good talent, wonderful players," Byo said.
High school was also when Byo was introduced to bassoon. He had been a clarinetist at South. The students were rehearsing a piece with a bassoon movement that other players hadn't grasped.
The director asked Byo to take home the school's extra bassoon and try to play the part. "I did and I loved it," he said. He played both instruments for many years after that.
Career choice: Byo might have moved on to the symphony after graduating in 1950, but the symphony had folded. Meanwhile, Byo enrolled at YSU, unsure of his future.
"I thought music was something you did for fun and you made your living doing something else," he said. Problem was, "I didn't like the something elses. I kept gravitating back to music."
Dana didn't have a full-time bassoon teacher then, so Byo studied here with a clarinet teacher and once every other week with a bassoon instructor in Pittsburgh, he said.
He was ready when John Krueger, new conductor of the reorganized Youngstown Philharmonic Orchestra, held auditions in 1952. Byo joined the orchestra with many musicians who had also played for Ficocelli.
Byo graduated from YSU in 1954 and was drafted during the Korean War. He played in an Army band in Washington, D.C.
When the Army wanted to reduce its ranks after the war, Byo began to study for a master's degree in music education at Kent State University and taught music in Lordstown and Niles schools. He returned to Dana as a faculty member and became its director in 1975.
Byo has witnessed many changes in Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. Ficocelli founded it with young, local players. Over the years, the number of out-of-town musicians grew. Better music schools and better students result in a deeper pool of talent, Byo said.
Residency: The conductors' world changed, too. For years, conductors have made their living by holding down two or three jobs, and they have made their homes in convenient locations. Byo doubts that another Youngstown Symphony Orchestra director will live here, and he regrets it.
"A community never gets to fully touch" a nonresident conductor, he said. "They don't get to go to Giant Eagle and see him buy his groceries," or read his column in the newspaper or hear his weekly radio talk show. "A certain earthiness is lost."
Byo has stayed busy since he retired as Dana director in 1992. He still teaches a few days a week at YSU. He's also a private instructor and spends half a day a week at Grove City College in Pennsylvania.
Besides the symphony, he performs in Dana Faculty Wind Quintet and Warren Philharmonic Orchestra. He and Robert Fleming are co-conductors of W.D. Packard Concert Band in Warren.
Byo won't drop any of his affiliations as long as his health is good. He likes the "unique worlds" of performing in a symphony orchestra, playing in a quintet, conducting and teaching.
"I want them all," he said.