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.