Orchestra to end season on an uplifting note

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra’s 90th season concludes Saturday with an 8 p.m. concert that will pay homage to the Underground Railroad and to immigrants from the British Isles.

The orchestra is also performing for grade-school students in Southington, Poland and South Range this week, as well as for Youngstown City Schools, private schools and local home school groups.

George D. Beelen, a Youngstown State University professor emeritus and president of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, will introduce Saturday’s concert, which is the final in a series celebrating the diversity of the Mahoning Valley. Beelen will give a brief historical sketch of the local connections to the Underground Railroad.

The concert will begin with selections from Copland and Handel, followed by “The Songs of Harriet Tubman” from Nkeiru Okoye’s opera “When I Crossed that Line to Freedom,” in its Youngstown premiere.

The opera’s varied, eclectic musical style mixes blues, gospel spiritual, ragtime, jazz and riffs reflecting the musical style of composers such as Benjamin Britten and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The song cycle will highlight performances by soprano Kishna Davis Fowler along with soloists Misook Yun and Jennifer Jones Mosher.

Fowler made her New York City Opera debut singing the role of Bess in “Porgy and Bess,” a role she has repeated many times. She has performed concert versions of “Porgy and Bess” with the National Symphony, the symphonies of San Francisco, Oregon and Santa Fe, Cleveland Orchestra and Aspen Music Festival, as well as performances in Rome, St. Petersburg, Istanbul, Berlin and Siena.

Her most recent appearance with the YSO was in 2014. A graduate of Morgan State University and the Juilliard Opera Center, Fowler is currently on the faculty of Kent State University.

Yun is a professor of voice at the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University. An accomplished operatic performer and concert soloist, Yun’s major performances include Chantes d’ Auvergne, Elijah, the Requiems of Faure and Mozart, Bach Magnificat, Schubert Mass in G, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 and Handel’s “Messiah.”

Mosher grew up in Austintown and graduated from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and later received a master’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music. Her concert repertoire includes Handel’s “Messiah,” Bach Cantata No. 51 and Mozart’s “Requiem.” She currently teaches at Dana School of Music and Thiel College.

A combined high school choir will accompany the soloists in the second half of the concert, presenting Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and led by Boardman High School’s Linda Smrek and Canfield High School’s Kelly Scurich.

The evening also marks patrons’ final chance to purchase a ticket for the Musical Treasures Raffle, a fundraiser to benefit the YSO. The drawing will take place near the end of the evening, with a first prize of a string quartet and flutist to play at a special event of the winner’s choosing, and a second prize of a violin hand painted by local artist and photo realist Allen Charles Orr. For information on the raffle, call the administrative office at 330-744-4269.

Tickets for Saturday’s concert start at $20 and are available through the box office at 330-744-0264, with discounts in select sections available for veterans, senior citizens and students.

The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra will perform its final free concert of the 2016-17 Stained Glass series Sunday at 2 p.m. at Temple El-Emeth on Logan Way.