Classical series
“It’s been hard with the pandemic and then the flood,” Allentown Symphony Music Director and Conductor Diane Wittry says. “We’re very happy to be back with the full concerts and in-person audiences,” says Wittry, who is in her 27th year leading the ASO. The Oct. 15 and 16 concerts feature Eric Lu, piano, for the Beethoven “Piano Concerto No. 3.” Also on the program: Rachmaninoff, “Symphonic Dances,” and Tailleferre, “Overture for Orchestra.” The Allentown Symphony Chorus precedes the Rachmaninoff.

“I selected Eric Lu just after he won the Leeds International Piano Competition. And at that time, he was 21 and virtually unknown as a soloist,” Wittry says,” adding, “I took a leap of faith because I felt that he was going to be a really big name. The weekend of Oct. 8, he’s playing with the Chicago Symphony, with Riccardo Muti conducting. “The Tailleferre piece that we’re opening with is by a female French composer. It’s very rarely performed, but a lot of fun,” says Wittry in a phone interview with Lehigh Valley Press. The Tailleferre work has been performed five times in the past seven years in the United States, according to Wittry. Germaine Tailleferre (1892 – 1983) was the only female in ”Les Six,” a group of six composers who lived in Montparnasse, the Left Bank, Paris, France.

The “Classical Series” is preceded by “Meet the Artist,” noon Fridays prior to a concert, beginning Oct. 14, with a discussion by Wittry and performers. The event is free and open to the public.

The ASO “Classical Series” continues with “Bernstein’s On The Town,” 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12 and 2 p.m. Nov. 13. Soloist is Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin, for the Barber “Violin Concerto.” The program includes Vaughan Wlliams, “Symphony No. 5,” and Bernstein, “On The Town: Three Dance Episodes.” “Our soloist for the November concert was soloist several years ago and she was a judge for the Schadt Competition,” says Wittry. The 24th Biennial Schadt String Competition held by the ASO was in March 2022.

Wittry will be on the podium for the ASO “Holiday Pops” concert, 2 p.m., 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17, headlined by Broadway star and DeSales University Division of Performing Arts graduate Phoenix Best. It’s the second year for the ASO “Holiday Pops” concert. Says Wittry, “I love creating these community-based events.” Tom Dressler, choir director, College Hill Presbyterian, Easton, will prepare the choruses, which include, in addition to the Allentown Symphony Chorus, choirs from First Presbyterian Church, Allentown, and College Hill Presbyterian Church. The high school chorus featured for the Holiday Pops concert will be the Parkland Chorale with Director Alison Lagan.

“Dvorák’s ‘New World” is 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11 and 2 p.m. Feb. 12, 2023. Soloists are Mimi Stillman, flute, and Frances Duffy, harp. Duffy is principal harp, ASO. Stillman performs the “Flute Concerto” by Zhou Tian. “We’ve featured him two times before. We commissioned ‘Rise.’ He will be in attendance,” Wittry says, adding, “We haven’t had a flute soloist for a very long, long time, so this is exciting.” The program includes Grant Still, ”Ennanga,” and “Dvorák, ”Symphony No. 9, ’New World.’” Still (1895 – 1978) is an African-American composer. The concert will include dancers from DeSales University.

“Daphnis And Chloe” is 7:30 p.m. March 11 and 2 p.m. March 12, 2023. The program is Boulanger, “Of a Spring Morning” and “Of a Sad Evening”; Ravel, “Rapsodie espagnole,” and “Daphnis and Chloe: Suite No. 2,” and Chris Rogerson,” New work for orchestra and chorus, featuring the Allentown Symphony Chorus. Lili Boulanger (1893 – 1918) died at age 24. Her older sister was composer and teacher Nadia Boulanger. Lili Boulanger is said to have composed the works in the last three months of her life. “The reason I paired her with Ravel is because her orchestral colors and textures were so compatible,” says Wittry. Rogerson is the ASO composer-in-residence. “His career is taking off, too. We’re very lucky to have him and catch him at this point in his career,” Wittry says. The Ravel features the Allentown Symphony Chorus, for which there are auditions Oct. 27 and Nov. 3, with details on the ASO website.

The “Classical Series” finale is “Tchaikovsky’s Fourth,” 7:30 p.m. April 15 and 2 p.m. April 16, 2023. Soloist is Leonard Fu, violin. The program is Coleridge-Taylor, “The Song of Hiawatha Overture”; Elgar, “Violin Concerto,” and Tchaikovsky, “Symphony No 4.” The concert is the Bill Fenza Memorial Concert, sponsored by Joan Moran. Fenza, who died in 2020, and Moran were married. “Leonard Fu is the Schadt Competition winner. The Elgar is the one that he won with. Coleridge-Taylor was also a British composer and was mentored by Elgar. So, I think that’s a really nice connection there. And ending with Tchaikovsky Four. What a fantastic piece to end the season with,” Wittry says.

Pops concerts
In addition to the “Holiday Pops,” Wittry will conduct two other pops concerts, each of which a pandemic postponement. “The Brubeck Brothers – A Dave Brubeck Celebration” is 7:30 p.m. Jan. 21. “I really wanted to do this concert because I am personal friends with Chris Brubeck, one of the sons. We’ve done a lot of concerts over the years,” Wittry says. Chris Brubeck plays trombone and electric bass. Dan Brubeck plays drums. They will be accompanied by a keyboard player and guitarist. The group will perform “Take Five” and other jazz pieces played by Dave Brubeck (1920 – 2012). “They’re going to tell childhood stories and have pictures and video,” says Wittry. The concert was originally to have been presented in January 2021.

The other pandemic postponement pops concert for the 2022 – 23 season is “The Music of John Williams,” 7:30 p.m. May 6, also to be conducted by Wittry. The concert, originally scheduled for September 2021, will feature the Easton High School Chorus.

The 2022-23 Pops Series opened with “From Broadway to Hollywood,” Sept. 24, and concludes with “Disney in Concert: A Magical Celebration,” 7:30 p.m. July 15, 2023.

Wittry reflects on the 2022 – 23 ASO season: “This whole season brings back some people that we’ve had a relationship with. “One of my goals is to continue relationships with composers, living composers over multiple years and also identify women composers and composers of different ethnicities.” Wittry was asked about the effect of the pandemic on the ASO: “We lost a full year of live performances with the orchestra playing and audiences attending. “During the pandemic and with trends across the United States, as people began exploring music online, it opened up their ears and curiosity. So the program this year, features persons of color, women, unusual works and world premieres.”

The ASO and Miller Symphony Hall has many milestones upcoming: 
ASO Associate Conductor Ron Demkee has announced his retirement. Demkee conducts a pops concert of Elton John songs in 2023. Demkee’s final concert before retirement is a pops concert of the music of Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra in 2024. “My 25th anniversary concert was delayed two years,” says Wittry, referring to the ASO concert, “The Pines of Rome,” April 23 and 24, 2022. The 25th anniversary of the National Schadt String Competition is part of the 2023 – 24 season. The 100th anniversary of Miller Symphony Hall is part of the 2024 – 25 season. The 75th anniversary of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra is part of the 2025 – 26 season.

Pandemic lessons
Wittry recounted lessons learned from the pandemic: “We all appreciate so much more the opportunity to go to a live concert and sharing that experience. Before we took it for granted. I can’t tell you how many musicians came in and thanked us for having concerts. There’s a feeling of gratefulness and appreciation that came out of the pandemic. “Because of Zoom and this ability to converse with people in other parts of the country and the world, it exposed us to new ideas and challenged us to think differently. “The last thing is the way that the last two years opened up our minds to explore new repertoire, to do pieces that you maybe wouldn’t have programmed but now you’re delighted to do them.”

The Family Concert, 2 p.m. Feb. 25, 2023, returns in person.
“That’s really about exploring all the music instruments,” says Wittry. “Last year, we took the music into the schools. We did a touring ‘Peter and the Wolf.’ “It’s important for them to hear the music and attend a concert in Miller Symphony Hall, and take them to another world.”

Jacobsen has made sure that world goes round, pandemic or not. Miller Symphony Hall closed down in March 2020. Remembers Jacobsen: “The last concert was a BRE rock show, March 12, 2020, Steve Hackett of Genesis. And that was the day that the governor announced that everything was going to close down the next day.”  That would have been Friday the 13th. The Ides of March was two days away.

Zoom stream: “We remained active in many ways. El Sistema went online March 2020. They began doing Zoom the week of March 23. The program only went down for a week,” says Jacobsen.  “We had to cancel concerts that spring and summer [2020]. In the fall, we began to have concerts with invite-only audiences that then were streamed, with members of the orchestra as well as jazz groups. We remained active through the pandemic.  “We did that in-house. We had amongst our staff and stage hands some expertise in videography. We made some purchases of new equipment. We could record and edit the videos in-house, which was really a huge savings.”  The live-streaming continued through 2020. In June 2021, the ensemble sizes were increased. The first live, in-person concert, with limited seating, was in July 2021 with jazz on the main stage.  Streaming of jazz concerts continued in July and August 2021. The online audience dwindled. “A lot of the people who had been watching were buying tickets to come in person.”
Live, in-person, Allentown Symphony Pops concerts resumed in September 2021. The live in-person Allentown Symphony “Classical Series” resumed in October 2021. Jacobsen reflects: “There were still a lot of unknowns. We planned that fall with October and November [2021] so that the instrumentation was a bit smaller. And if we needed to, we could reduce the number of musicians on stage. We ended up not having to do that.”

Federal funding
Jacobsen says the budget of the Allentown Symphony Association, which owns and operates Miller Symphony Hall and the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, has returned to its former status: “We are back where we’ve been. Historically, the budget was $3 million. Now it’s about $3.2 million. “We were very fortunate. Because we continued streaming, we were able to fund raise.” Jacobsen says sponsorships and grants got the organization through the pandemic times. “We received PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] loans. Those were forgivable loans. We received several grants that filtered down from the CARES [Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security] Act at the state and county level. “The other notable one was SVOG [Shuttered Venue Operators Grant]. Those grants really saved us, in addition to the fund-raising and managing expenses.

“All of the staff, including myself and Diane [Wittry] did take a pay cut during the pandemic.” Jacobsen estimates that stimulus and Covid funding totaled “a little over $1 million.” Inflation as a cost of doing business has impacted the organization. “We do have union contracts that have been agreed to. We planned for wage changes. When it comes to purchasing supplies and costs from vendors we’ve seen increases like so many others because of inflation.”

Jacobsen agreed with Wittry that lessons from the pandemic pertain to the importance of live performance: “From a professional standpoint and what we do, one takeaway is that it did show us how meaningful and valuable live performance is. “What we’re seeing, and we’re seeing this across the country, we’re seeing this in the sports area, and entertainment, one of the negative things is that it broke people’s habits. That is something that a lot of us are still dealing with. “At the Allentown Symphony, we’ve done a real good job of hanging onto the majority of season subscribers for the 2022 – 23 season for ASO classical and pops, compared to 2019 – 20 [a pre-pandemic season in the “Before Times”]. “We are at 94 percent of the number of subscribers. And we have new subscribers this season. The challenge, though, we’re seeing is the single ticket sales. Holiday pops is selling well. But single tickets are not where they were before.”

BRE, which produces concerts at Miller Symphony Hall, presented three shows there in Spring 2022: Straight No Chaser, which was postponed twice, and Get the Led Out and Joe Jackson. Each concert sold well. The pandemic produced a knock-on effect of cancellations, postponements and rescheduling: “Because of so many cancellations, it definitely disturbed the market,” said Jacobsen.

Ticket information: Miller Symphony Hall box office, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown; www.allentownsymphony.org; 610-432-6715

“Spotlight” is a column about the performers, artists and producers of the theater and concert stage. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com