The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra is one of the Valley’s premier cultural assets, whose continual growth over its 82 year history stands in sharp contrast to the area’s commercial turbulence.

At a recent outreach meeting held by the Ohio Arts Council, the Youngstown Symphony was hailed for its sustained excellence despite catastrophic declines in population and economy in its supporting community.

First formed in 1926 as The Little Symphony Orchestra by Michael Ficocelli and then taken over by his brother Carmine three years later, the group had 12 members all less than 16 years old. During the brothers’ 25-year history, the Junior Chamber of Commerce came aboard in 1935, dropping the “Little” and forming the Youngstown Symphony Society, and the Junior League started sponsoring Pop concerts at Idora Park and The Mansion on Logan Road, in addition to the increasingly popular classical concerts at Stambaugh Auditorium.

Each of the successive musical directors and conductors contributed to the evolution. In 1951 John Krueger changed the name to Youngstown Philharmonic Orchestra, and added a Chorus the next year and a Junior Orchestra two years later. Franz Bibo, who took over in 1965 restored the Symphony name and then, after moving to the Edward W. Powers Auditorium in 1969, spearheaded the restoration of the elaborate performance hall; he also began performing fully-staged operas there.

When Peter Leonard was hired in 1980 he began an outreach program to teach strings to inner-city students, and won a National Endowment for the Arts to involve local college strings players in the orchestra. David Effron started Children and Tiny Tots concerts in 1987, and established a three-concert choral subscription and a string quartet.

In 1996, the Symphony’s seventh musical director, Isaiah Jackson started Storytyme for pre-schoolers, estalished the current schedule of six Masterworks concerts and four Pop concerts, continued outreach programs to approximately 10,000 children each year, and made two commercial recordings: “Strings Attached” with local rock legend Glass Harp, and “Home for the Holidays” with the Joe Augustine Quartet.

Randall Craig Fleischer, who took the reins in 2007, makes frequent appearances as guest conductor with major orchestras in the U.S. and internationally and also directs two other symphony orchestras. An active composer, he is a national leader in the area of symphony rock and world music fusion, and has been prominent in childrens’ educational programs.

A significant factor in the Orchestra’s musical merit is the collaboration with YSU’s Dana School of Music, whose faculty members not only prepare students for professional concert careers but contribute their own personal expertise, many as ‘principals’ with the Symphony.

The Symphony Orchestra’s Artist and Conductor concert, November 15, showed its talent and depth, playing Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C Minor and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with nationally recognized pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn, before he took a turn on the podium to conduct Prokofiev’s WWII commentary 6th Symphony.

Yes, it certainly enhances the appreciation of classical music to have some experience with its complexity, but even a novice can be thrilled enjoying the performance of the extraordinarily skilled professional musicians of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.

Johnny Grahovac (Johnny G.), the lead singer for Away From Eden came to Halloween dressed like a rock star, with tight pants, no shirt, a feather boa and a huge black wig. He could have skipped the outfit. He is tall and thin (think Steven Tyler’s torso) and handsome, and looks like a rock star all the time. He even plays guitar like Elvis, which is occasionally, mostly for effect.

Bassist Lou Liguore dressed like Bruce Springsteen for the event, with a red bandanna and sleeveless denim shirt, but he didn’t quite pull off the look. He is so big and muscular, he looked more like The Hulk breaking out of his clothes.

Costumes aside, Away From Eden looked unusual in another way: with Liguore, Grahovac, lead  guitarist John Johnson and rhythm guitarist Lee Liguore standing side by side across the front of the stage presenting a solid wall of strings, drummer Mike Ezzo in the back was heard, but not seen.

Formed a little more than two years ago, this Youngstown progressive, alternative pop rock band based their name on the psychological, rather than religious symbolism of the Garden of Eden, and they are seeking an unrestricted course, true to their motto: “Music is our passion and our gift to you.”

Their lyrics are thoughtful, and Johnny G. delivers the vocals with accuracy and passion, on both rocking original songs like Wicked Girl and the soulful ballad, When You Cry. Though watching them play looks like guitar overkill, their sound is practically symphonic, and each part seems integral.

Backup vocals by the Liguore brothers add significant depth and interest, and their songs’ heavy chord progressions have a metal edge, offset by touches of subtlety.

In short, Away From Eden really does look like a rock star band.

The evolution of the revitalization of downtown Youngstown moved several steps forward with a multifaceted Halloween celebration, Oct. 31 involving hundreds of costumed celebrants at five venues featuring more than a dozen local bands.

And the toughest part about pulling police patrol duty for the events was the constant curiosity about the authenticity of their outfits. read the rest of this article »

Wow! These guys are really good. Maybe it’s the way Grey Dealer came together in 2005: drum and guitar first, then auditioning for bass, and finally adding lead singer, or maybe their talent is a measure of their motivation, but they are each and all exceptional.

One can’t help but notice lead singer Chuck Shaffer (Anthony?) first; after all, he’s in front, he has a dynamic stage presence, and his voice conjures images of a young Pavarotti in power, range, clarity and depth.

Then, when drummer Tim Harrigan and bassist Patrik Lane (James?) add backups, the melody line gets even better, and one realizes they are also excellent on their instruments (Harrigan did all the vocals in the beginning).

And the best may be the last. There is no ’show’ in Jim Putnam; you have to search to find him standing over in the corner, and further to realize he’s actually the one making those incredible guitar sounds while hardly moving any part of his body. During one extended set, recently, he rolled his eyes to the ceiling twice, and his facial expression changed only when smoke from his dangling cigarette got in this eyes. But boy can he play.

Grey Dealer plays classic rock covers and original progressive rock, and they have clearly spent a lot of time practicing and playing together. They are tight.

Most revealing about them, though, might be their version of Cream’s “White Room,” not because they sound so much like Cream — although there are certainly similarities — but because you almost can’t help but wonder if they’re as good.

The ‘mister’ part of the band name, Mr. Kyle is sort of funny. The Kyle part of the name is Kyle Daley, (right, above) and he’s more like a big kid. He’s in his early 20s and looks like he hasn’t started shaving yet.

Supporting Daley are bassist Sam (left) who doesn’t give his last name but is more than willing to share other personal information about himself with strangers, drummer Adam Altiero who auditioned for the part by walking on at an open mic night when Daley was performing, and superfan Dominic.

But appearances — as with this obvious example — can be deceiving. Despite his boyish looks, Kyle Daley is a very mature young man. Besides very aggressively pursuing his future in musical performance, he has a serious contingency plan: a YSU degree he is finishing up in a field called something like technological sciences. “This stuff,” he explains, pointing to the array of mics, speakers and lights at a recent performance. “If I don’t make it on stage, I’ll be able to manage the stage,” he says.

In addition to his class work, he also works at University Pizza where he performs and promotes an open mic night.

Daley does the singing, plays lead guitar and writes all the original songs for Mr. Kyle, which he formed just this past summer. His voice has a youthful quality, with good range and accuracy and an especially good falsetto. His guitar playing, both electric on band numbers and acoustic when he plays solo during a typical set, is competent.

Clearly, though, songwriting is his forte. Though Mr. Kyle plays a variety of covers, his original works are surprisingly diverse and intriguing, in both music and message, showing the early influence of major rock bands and later leanings toward more esoteric performers. And he’s not afraid to experiment.

Mr. Kyle’s motto, “The revolution starts here tonight,” might be a bit impetuous, but Kyle Daley’s motivation and talent are thoughtful and purposeful, and promising.