Exotic animals, Jack Hanna steal the show at Youngstown Symphony performance

By SEAN BARRON

news@vindy.com YOUNGSTOWN

YOUNGSTOWN

Even though 7-year-old Amelia Kovach lives on a farm near Sharpsville, Pa., and is accustomed to being surrounded by animals, she had no objections to adding a lynx and cheetah to her day.

“I have about 1,000 chickens, three goats …” Amelia said before breaking down in laughter.

The Sharpsville Elementary School second-grader’s laughter was largely the result of having seen Jack Hanna and his animals that were, in more ways than one, a colorful part of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra’s performance Sunday at Edward W. Powers Auditorium.

Hanna, one of the nation’s most notable zookeepers and wildlife experts, brought animals that included a Siberian lynx, a wallaby, a small armadillo, a cheetah and a sloth, then explained some of their characteristics during the two-hour concert and educational gathering.

Preceding the animals’ stage presence was a rendition of “Carnival of the Animals,” a 14-movement piece written in 1886 by French composer Camille Saint-Saens that uses music to describe and depict animal images. Hanna also read excerpts of the Ogden Nash poem of the same name.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.