BY RUTH RICE

RRICE@TRIBDEM.COM

For the 81st year, members of Johnstown Symphony Orchestra will provide a place for music lovers.

“Your Destination for Live Music” is the title of the 2009-10 season for the orchestra.

Maestro Istvan Jaray, the symphony’s music director, said the idea came about to encourage the audience to listen to live music above recordings.

“To a certain degree, we’re flooded with various recordings, but I wanted to put the emphasis on live music,” Jaray said.

“My idea was to tell the audience it’s nice to listen to CDs, but nothing on earth takes the place of live music. Nothing is as exciting to the audience as having something happening there and then.”

“No CD can give you that pleasure. The human touch makes it entirely different. I want to encourage the audience to listen.”

All seven concerts in the subscription season will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center on the Pitt-Johnstown campus in Richland Township.

While not a part of the regular season, the 17th annual Opera Festival, featuring world renowned international opera stars singing with the symphony, will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 19 at the arts center.

The festival includes a lavish reception and gourmet buffet with live and silent auctions held at the Pasquerilla Conference Center in downtown Johnstown following the concert.

The symphony’s 81st season will begin with “Gala Opening” on Oct. 17, featuring young and rising violinist Bella Hristova performing Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto.”

“She is 16,” Jaray said. “When I judge competitions, the talent and maturity from ages 10 to 12 is mind-boggling.”

The concert also will include Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture,” which Brahms called a jolly potpourri of student songs, and will end with the pathos and passion of Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4.”

On Nov. 14, “Heroes, Villians and Witches” will bring a bit of the fantastic to the concert stage.

Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” Berlioz’s “The March to the Scaffold” and “Witches’ Sabbath” from Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique” will set the mood for Halloween characters, while melodies from Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” and John Williams’ “Star Wars” will provide the contrasting heroic figures.

“There are so many pieces that have good guys and bad guys, fairy tales and witches,” Jaray said.

“This will be past Halloween, but it’s a spooky idea with musical descriptions. Some are genuine and some are imaginary.”

On Dec. 12, “Christmas Around the World” will be brought close to home with holiday music in all musical genres performed by the orchestra, symphony chorus and special guest artists.

Jaray said this family Christmas concert is so popular, he advises buying tickets now.

“You might not get them at the door,” he said.

“There have been those who were unhappy in the past because we had to turn them away. The hall only holds so many.”

Jaray isn’t sure at this point who the guest artists will be, but they will be local.

“I try not to get outside performers,” Jaray said.

“We have some wonderfully talented local people.”

After a break in January, the concert on Feb. 13 will bring “Passion and Romance on the Silver Screen” with well-known tunes from the world of cinema.

Music from “Gone With the Wind” and “Casablanca” will be among those featured.

“We’re going to have romance from the silver screen for the past 100 years,” Jaray said.

“If the young don’t know them, they will get acquainted with them.”

“We don’t think how important the music itself is. In the past, orchestras played the music for the movies. I want the audience to close their eyes and imagine the film action.”

On March 13, “The Titans and Shining Brass” will showcase members of the symphony’s brass section.

The Three Rivers Horn Quartet, which includes Amber Ramsey Fantini, Denise Gamble, Bryan Adkin and Dennis Emert on French horn, will perform Schumann’s “Concertstuck for Four Horns,” and the orchestra’s principal tuba, Zach Collins, will offer “Tuba Concerto” by Erie Ewazen.

The symphony will end the concert with Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7.”

“Throughout the season, we have some of our own players do a solo spot,” Jaray said.

“The player gets to set out their talent, and the audience can listen and find out what talent we have within. It’s a win-win situation.”

On April 10, “Youth and Sunshine” will bring the talents of the Johnstown Symphony Youth Orchestra center stage as they perform with their older counterparts in the symphony.

These young instrumentalists come from more than a dozen school districts in the four-county region.

Music will include Copland’s “Billy the Kid Suite,” “Capriccio Espagnol” by Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky’s “Capriccio Italien” and Ravel’s “Bolero.”

“This is an exciting concert because members of the youth orchestra get to perform side by side with professionals,” Jaray said.

“It’s a lifetime experience. The audience gets to see the upcoming future of the musical scene and the orchestra. I find it thrilling to see them play with professionals.”

The final concert of the season will bring some “American Fireworks” to the stage with compositions by American composers, which were written about American events and scenes.

Music will feature “Strike Up the Band Overture” by Gershwin; “West Side Story Suite” by Leonard Bernstein; “Old American Songs” by Aaron Copland; and “Suite From the American Scene” by William Grant Still.

Johnstown Symphony Chorus will sing selections from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.”

“I’m always proud to do a program like this,” Jaray said.

“Our general repertoire has a European background. I’m also proud of how fast our country and our music has developed.”

When putting together a symphony season, Jaray said he has numerous points to consider.

“The first is that it be a challenge to the orchestra, and second, an enjoyment to the audience,” he explained.

Season ticket prices for the coming season will remain the same, and all seats will be reserved.

Jaray said those who don’t purchase season tickets because they don’t think they can attend all the concerts should reconsider.

“It’s an investment in the orchestra,” he said.

“If they can’t attend all the concerts, they can give away the tickets to others. This is insurance for our future existence. This is what you should consider.”

Adult seats will be $160 and $125, seniors will be $95 and students will be $60.

Additional prices for families of four or more are available.

Season ticket holders will receive assigned seats of their choice subject to availability.

A Flex-Six pass for $135 provides six vouchers that may be exchanged for any of the seven subscription concerts in any combination of one to six seats at a time.

Exchanges for the December concert will be limited.



In concert

What: “Your Destination for Live Music,” 2009-10 season of Johnstown Symphony Orchestra.

Where: Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center, Richland Township.

Season tickets: $125 and $160 for adults, $95 for seniors and $60 for students.

Information: 535-6738 or e-mail at info@johnstownsymphony.org.