Philharmonic to welcome spring with concert

IF YOU GO

What: Warren Philharmonic Orchestra

When: 3 p.m. Sunday

Where: First Presbyterian Church, 256 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren

Tickets: $25 ($15 for students; free for children under age 13); go to warrenphilharmonic.org

Staff report

WARREN

The Warren Philharmonic Orchestra’s spring concert will put music lovers in the mood for spring, with exotic tales, guest vocalist Karen Clark-Green and the lure of dance.

Titled “A Bouquet of Spring,” the concert will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday at the WPO’s new location at First Presbyterian Church, 256 Mahoning Ave. NW, downtown.

The orchestra will perform “cheherazade, Tales of Arabian Nights” by Rimsky-Korsakov, with soloist Joseph Kromholz on violin.

Green, a soprano, dancer and stage and television actress, will sing Broadway tunes. The orchestra will perform “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller and “West Side Story” selections for orchestra by Leonard Bernstein, in celebration of the centenary of Bernstein’s birth.

Prize-winning art in the WPO’s scholastic contest will be recognized, and the students’ works will be displayed in Fellowship Hall.

In its 11th year, the contest is open to Trumbull County students in grades 3 through 8. Each student is asked to create a work on paper about the orchestra’s instruments and the music to be performed at this year’s spring concert. Artwork should express the entrant’s feelings and his or her visual interpretation of the music and the concert experience.

Green, a Warren, native, has been performing professionally since the age of 9. She is an original member of the Kenley Players starting in 1959, and has performed the opera “Porgy and Bess” dozens of times as Bess, Serena and Clara.

Presently she can be seen as Grandma Lucille in the Amazon Prime TV series “Mafia Ties.”

Joseph Kromholz is head of strings at Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music, where he teaches violin, viola and chamber music. He is concertmaster for the Warren Philharmonic, as well as for Opera Western Reserve, and associate concertmaster of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra.

Susan Davenny Wyner, WPO music Director and conductor, said the spring concert will be thrilling.

“It takes us from the rich exoticism of ‘Scheherazade’ to down-home American styles, all woven together by the magic of musical story tellers,” she said. “I am particularly excited about the range and contrast of the music, our eloquent soloists, and our new venue. Warren’s historic First Presbyterian Church with its warm sound brings the audience right up close to the orchestra’s musicians.”