Warren Philharmonic Orchestra to launch season Sunday

Staff report

WARREN

The Warren Philharmonic Orchestra will launch its season with “Magic Treats!,” a concert with lively and familiar pieces and a touch of Halloween spookiness.

The concert will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday at Christ Episcopal Church, 2627 Atlantic St. NE. Tickets are $25 (two for $45; $15 for students, and free for children 12 and under when accompanied by an adult) at the door and in advance by calling 330-399-3606.

Susan Davenny Wyner is the musical director and conductor. The second and final concert of the 2016-17 season, “Sweets of Spring,” will take place April 30.

Sunday’s concert will feature two soloists: Brian Keith Johnson, a baritone opera singer; and Joseph Kromholz, violinist. Johnson is a Warren native who has performed on stages across the country and in Europe. Kromholz is a native of Israel whose performance schedule has taken him across the globe.

The winners of the WPO’s annual Art in Music contest will be recognized at the concert. The contest asks Trumbull County students in grades three through eight to visually interpret the music they hear to the WPO’s student concerts.

“Magic Treats” is a family concert that will open with Camille Saint-Saens’ spooky “The Dance of Death.” The piece paints a musical picture of skeletons rising from the grave on Halloween night and dancing in the moonlight. The program also will include Aaron Copland’s lively fiddle-fest “Hoedown”; Edvard Grieg’s mysterious “In the Hall of the Mountain King”; Georges Bizet’s “Toreador Song” from the opera “Carmen”; and Max Bruch’s “Finale: Allegro Energecio.”

Kromholz, who is the concertmaster of the WPO, takes center stage in “Finale” as the soloist who challenges the rest of the orchestra to keep up with him.

Johnson will sing “The Toreador Song,” as he will in Opera Western Reserve’s Nov. 11 production of the show at Stambaugh Auditorium. Davenny Wyner is also the music director of OWR. For season subscriptions to the WPO ($50), call 330-399-3606 or email warren.philharmonic@gmail.com.