16th annual holiday event features marriage proposal

December 7, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

NILES

Audiences usually know what to expect from the annual TUBA-CHRISTMAS concert — a 100-member all- tuba ensemble performing unique arrangements of traditional carols. Saturday’s performance at the Eastwood Expo Center before an audience of 300 offered something unexpected: a marriage proposal.

Stephen Orlando of Girard, a tuba player and an assistant band director at Girard High School, had just finished singing the lead on “Santa Wants a Tuba for Christmas” when he nervously addressed the audience and directed his remarks to Elizabeth John, who plays the euphonium.

“Our first date was for a TUBA-CHRISTMAS concert seven years ago,” said Orlando before dropping to his knees, presenting an engagement ring and asking her to marry him. John, a music and art teacher at Saint Joseph the Provider School in Youngstown, immediately said “yes.”

Judging from the roars of approval, the crowd was just as entertained by the proposal as it was by the music.

TUBACHRISTMAS, now in its 16th year in the Mahoning Valley, draws musicians of all ages. The youngest, Vivian Lewis, is an eighth-grader at Howland Middle School.

“I had seen tuba players on the Internet, and decided I wanted to be one of them,” the 12-year-old said. “I want to do this professionally.”

At the other end of the age spectrum is 74-year old Chuck Sheeler of

Niles, a devoted tuba player since childhood.

“I was able to get into a high-school band in 1952 when I was in the sixth grade because they had no tuba players,” he said.

“It’s overwhelming to hear all this brass and no woodwinds,” agreed musician Mark Danko of Champion, who said he quit playing trumpet after learning how to play a baritone tuba.

Wes O’Connor, ensemble director for 16 years, said the musicians rehearse for only one hour in the morning before their performance.

“They’re all good players, and they know the music beforehand,” said O’Connor, band director at Austintown Fitch High School. “We use the same music book that all the other TUBACHRISTMASes in 270 cities use.”

O’Connor described the tuba as a “versatile instrument” capable of doing everything that other brass and woodwind instruments do. The musicians provided an example by playing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” at an extremely fast tempo, which drew loud applause from the audience.

“We don’t just play ‘oom-pah-pah’ in the back of the orchestra,” the director said.

O’Connor said he’s not certain where TUBA-CHRISTMAS will take place next year. Eastwood Expo, site of Saturday’s program, is scheduled for demolition within the next few months. However, Joe Bell, communications director of the Cafaro Co. said the new Eastwood Conference Center should be completed and operational by then.

“If they want to play there, we’ll be happy to have them,” Bell said.