Warren orchestra plans a lovefest

Soloists will include Dana professor Katherine Thomas Umble and opera singer
Charlene Canty.

By GUY D’ASTOLFO

VINDICATOR ENTERTAINMENT WRITER

WARREN — The Warren Philharmonic will examine the many moods of love in its season-opening concert, entitled “Love Lost and Found.”

Flutist Katherine Thomas Umble and soprano Charlene Canty will join the orchestra as guests.

“The music will move us from swing to the passion of grand opera, and stars two of our area’s most acclaimed soloists,” said Susan Davenny Wyner, music director and conductor of the orchestra. The concert begins at 3 p.m. Oct. 14 at Packard Music Hall.

Soloists

Umble, a professor of flute at the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University, will play the rarely heard Khachaturian Flute Concerto. “With its fiery drama and contrasting moods, this concerto makes me think of a love-torn Russian heroine,” said Davenny Wyner, who noted that Umble “has dazzled New York audiences with her virtuosity.”

Providing a contrast will be Canty, an opera singer.

“I thought it would be exciting to contrast the flute’s ‘voice’ with real Italian opera arias,” said Davenny Wyner.

Canty, a soprano who has performed in Italy and with world-renowned bass Sam Ramey, will portray famous tragic heroines from Verdi’s “La Traviata” and “Aida” and Puccini’s “La Rondine.”

The concert will mark Canty’s debut with her hometown orchestra.

An honors graduate of the Dana School of Music, she grew up in Warren where her family still lives.

Canty was last seen in the Mahoning Valley in November in Opera Western Reserve’s “The Marriage of Figaro” at Stambaugh Auditorium. She performed the role of the Countess.

Premiere

The opening concert will begin with the area premiere of “Remembering Gatsby (Foxtrot for Orchestra),” by Pulitzer-prize winning American composer John Harbison.

“I love creating musical adventures that take us into powerful emotional worlds, and at the same time are fun and catch us by surprise,” said Davenny Wyner. “That’s why opening this concert with Harbison’s overture feels exactly right. The Foxtrot starts with solemn grand sonorities and then suddenly breaks into a 1920’s style tune with its own dance band.”

Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake Suite” will bring the concert to a close. Audience members may stay after the performance for a reception.

The next concert will be Nov. 18, with guest vocalist William Clarence Marshall.