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Symphonic sounds on stage at Cedars
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
Symphonic music live at Cedars? It’s true.
The rock ’n’ roll bar will be the scene of a monthly classical-music program by a 12-piece string ensemble, beginning Sunday.
It’s an effort put together by Vince Scacchetti, a Boardman native and professional musician who wants to reinvigorate and expand the symphony audience and have fun while doing it.
Falling attendance has symphony orchestras across the country in a financial struggle, and most have taken steps to reawaken and expand their fan base.
The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra began a free series of string concerts in area churches last season and will continue it in the fall. The goal is to bring classical music to places in the community where people are comfortable, instead of requiring them to take in a show at Powers Auditorium, downtown.
Taking that idea one step further is Scacchetti’s newly formed West End Ensemble. On Sunday, it will perform classical music in even more nontraditional places.
The chamber orchestra will perform at Cedars West End, the rock ’n’ roll bar on Steel Street, at 8 p.m. Scacchetti said the series might look at other nontraditional venues in the future.
A viola player, Scacchetti regularly performs with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, but he is not a contracted member of the orchestra, and his ensemble is not a project of the YSO.
It’s just an effort to bring classical music to a new audience in a more organic way.
The West End Ensemble is comprised of members of the YSO and out-of-town guest players. It will perform the second Sunday of every month.
“It’s an experiment in a lot of ways,” said Scacchetti. “Our goal is to take a formal art form and present it in an informal fashion.”
Scachetti, a 1995 Boardman High graduate, is an Ohio State University and University of Miami graduate. He recently returned to the Mahoning Valley after living in Cincinnati, where he was involved in a similar nontraditional classical-music ensemble.
While the Cedars shows will be fun, that’s not his main reason for the project.
“My top priority is to create an access point to this art form and a scenario to give audience members some type of take-away, whether it’s information about a composer or something broader across the enjoyment of listening,” he said. “I want to take this music off its pedestal and put it in a place where we can open the buttons a little bit. Stereotypes and stigmas to classical music exist, and there are roadblocks to creating a new audience to classical music. It’s not cheap [to attend a symphony concert], and the incentive to buy a ticket would be low if you aren’t familiar with the music. Plus you have to get dressed up, go to dinner and all that.”
The experience at Cedars will be much different — basically like going to see a rock band.
“You can drink, wander around, engage and disengage in the music at your leisure,” said Scacchetti, adding that Cedars is the ideal venue. “My goal is to create a scene,” he said.
Audience members also might learn something. “In a light-hearted fashion, I will talk about the music and the artists,” said Scacchetti. “It will not be a lecture. I will keep it light.”