This year’s series kicks off Saturday, September 25, 2010, with a performance by pianist Jon Gonder with the Tremont String Quartet. Mr. Gonder, a well-known Johnstown, PA-area musician, will lead a program that features a melding of piano and traditional strings, as well as solo piano pieces. This performance will be held at First Lutheran Church in downtown Johnstown, PA (click here for a map to 309 Lincoln Street, Johnstown, PA 15901) with free parking available.

The series continues with two autumn events performed with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra. On Saturday, October 16, 2010, Elena Ulyanova will perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra. This is a concerto written specifically for piano and orchestra and is one of Rachmaninoff’s most well-known compositions. On Saturday, November 13, 2010, violinist Ann Fontanella will be backed by the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Saint-Saens Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61. Concerts with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra are held at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center on the UPJ Campus (click here for a map to the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center, Johnstown, PA).

The 2010-2011 Concert Series concludes with two springtime performances, both held at First Lutheran Church in downtown Johnstown, PA. On Saturday, March 26, 2011, Pittsburgh Concert Society winners Linda Fischer and Becky Billock will perform pieces composed for violin and piano. On Saturday, April 30, 2011, the series will conclude with a concert by the Copeland String Quartet.

For tickets or additional details, contact the Chamber Music Series of Greater Johnstown by calling (814) 467-7943 or visit them online at www.johnstownmusic.org.

The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra’s annual concert series consists of seven concerts between the months of October and May, with additional performances each year including an annual fundraising Opera Festival, a Mother’s Day concert, a Young Peoples Concert aimed towards the area’s 5th Grade students, and several choral concerts. For this year’s complete schedule, visit the concert schedule page on the JSO Web site.

“If you were to go across the country to communities the size of Johnstown, finding a symphony orchestra this caliber would be rare,” says Patricia Hofscher, Executive Director of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra. “There is a magic that takes ahold in this orchestra on concert night. They are just outstanding.”

Founded in 1929, the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra has been delighting music lovers for generations with performances of the works of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and so many more masters from the classical genre. “Unique to our orchestra is the fact that it grew out of a lot of smaller theatre orchestras from the Johnstown area,” Pat says. “In fact, the Johnstown Ironworks brought workers to the area specifically because they were musicians. These families have since played in the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra generation after generation.”

This year’s performances will be under the direction of Maestro Istvan Jaray, who has been the symphony’s conductor since coming to Johnstown as a guest conductor in 1984.

Regular season concerts begin at 7:30PM are held at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (click here for a map). Tickets are available from the JSO Web site and by calling 814.535.6738.

Pat would like everyone in the Johnstown region to understand that the symphony is nothing to be afraid of. “These concerts are not stuffy. Just sit back and listen to the music and it will send a message without words.”

Learn more by visiting the official Web site of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra.