Dana orchestra to present concert

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Dana Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Stephen L. Gage, will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Stambaugh Auditorium, 1000 Fifth Ave., that will feature the winners of the Young Artist Competition.

Seventeen graduate and upper-division students in the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University competed last year for a solo performance spot in this concert, and three were selected. They are Joshua Wertz, Benjamin Dague and Wilson Poffenberger.

Wertz, a first-year graduate student, will perform Pierre Max Dubois’ “Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra.” Wertz grew up in Altoona, Pa., and earned his bachelor of music in saxophone performance at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He studies with Dana professors James Umble and Kent Engelhardt.

Dague recently completed the master of music in guitar performance at Dana and also holds a bachelor’s degree from the school. He will play movement two, Adagio, from Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez.” Dague lives in Pittsburgh. As a Dana student, he studied classical guitar with professor Francois Fowler.

Poffenberger, of Hagerstown, Md., is in his final semester as a graduate assistant in jazz and saxophone, and is a candidate for the master of music in saxophone performance degree at Dana. He will perform “Legende for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra.” During his time at Dana, he has earned a number of honors and awards, and has been a finalist in several regional and national solo and chamber music competitions. He earned a bachelor of music education degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He studied with professors Umble and Engelhardt at the Dana.

The concert will open with Johann Strauss II’s vibrant “Overture, Die Fledermaus.” This composition is most often heard on and associated with the New Year’s Day concert of the Vienna Philharmonic.

Following the three soloists, the Dana Symphony Orchestra will close the program with Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite, No. 1, Op. 46.” This symphony hall favorite includes the beautiful “Morning” as its first movement and the powerful “In the Hall of the Mountain King” as its final movement.

Tickets are $5 at the door ($4 for senior citizens and students, and free for students and faculty with a YSU ID. Call the Performing Arts Series at 330-941-2307 for information.