Sean Jones to accompany orchestra in season finale

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra will be joined by trumpet great Sean Jones and members of the Youngstown Symphony Youth Orchestra and Boardman High School combined choirs at its concert Saturday, the season finale.

Randall Craig Fleischer, music director and conductor, will lead the performance, which begins at 8 p.m. at Powers Auditorium, 260 W. Federal St.

Jones, a native of Warren and graduate of Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music, is a classical and jazz trumpeter. He will be joined by more than 370 musicians and singers at Saturday’s concert.

Tickets for the event, which will require the removal of seats to accommodate the expanded stage, are available at the box office, by calling 330-744-0264 or online at youngstownsymphony.com.

Jones is currently chairman of the brass department at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. After graduating from YSU and earning a master’s degree from Rutgers University, he was named lead trumpeter for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, a position he held for six years while continuing to perform, tour and record with many esteemed artists of his and prior generations.

Jones also served on the faculties of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He also serves as artistic director of both the Pittsburgh and Cleveland Jazz Orchestras.

At Saturday’s concert, Jones will perform the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto with the orchestra. Also on the program will be Copland’s Rodeo: Four dance episodes.

The Boardman combined choirs, under the direction of Linda Smrek, will perform Verdi’s Anvil Chorus from Il Travatore, “How Lovely Is the Dwelling Place” from Brahm’s Requiem and “The Heavens are Telling” from Haydn’s Creation with the orchestra.

The Youngstown Symphony Youth Orchestra, directed by Stephen Gage and assisted by Smrek, will perform the first and fourth movements of the Sibelius Symphony No. 2 with the orchestra.

The program will close with the entire ensemble in “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”