Tressel will lend voice to concert by Philharmonic

Staff report

WARREN

The Warren Philharmonic Orchestra will get into the swing of things at its concert Sunday afternoon.

Titled “Swing Into Spring!,” the concert will include Youngstown State University president Jim Tressel narrating the famous poem “Casey at the Bat” as the WPO sets the mood at the stadium with music.

Also on the program are Ravel’s “Bolero”; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F major, his most-exuberant symphony; and “Candide Overture” by Leonard Bernstein.

The concert begins at 3 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church, 2627 Atlantic St. NE. Tickets $25 ($10 for students 13 and up; children admitted free) and can be purchased at the door. For information, call 330-399-3606.

Tressel, who has led both the YSU and Ohio State University football teams to championships, will narrate a special setting of the poem by Ernest Lawrence Thayer about the Mighty Casey, who brings no joy to Mudville when he strikes out in a crucial situation.

As Tressel reads, the WPO will play a score by composer Bill Holcombe that uses some familiar baseball tunes, according to Susan Davenny Wyner, music director and conductor of the orchestra. The music will reflect the drama felt by the crowd at the stadium.

Wyner said Sunday’s concert will not just appeal to baseball fans.

“What excites me about our spring program are its brightness and playfulness as well as rich contrasts of styles, rhythms and sonorities,” she said. “For example, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, his shortest of them all, is exuberant and filled with surprises, contrasts and humor – so much so that his first audiences were startled.

“It is powerful, yes, and ideas are developed with intense and unrelenting vigor, but even when he does take us into dark or mysterious worlds, he releases us into joy. It is hard not to hear propulsive drive of those final chords as a barrage of exultant shouts.”

Bernstein’s “Candide Overture” includes jazz syncopations, while Ravel’s “Bolero” employs Spanish rhythms as it builds into a swirling dance.

The WPO is marking its 50th season, and has scheduled the following free events:

Screening of the film “August Rush” at the Warren Community Amphitheater on June 17.

A Music and Art Hop on June 18 in Warren, in partnership with Trumbull Art Gallery.

A Father’s Day Pops Concert at First Presbyterian Church on June 19.