The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra is proud to announce GapVax as a new Leadership Sponsor for the 2025–26 Season, Musical Roots
The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra (JSO) is proud to announce GapVax, Inc. as a Leadership Sponsor for the 2025–26 Season, Musical Roots.
The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra (JSO) is proud to announce GapVax, Inc. as a Leadership Sponsor for the 2025–26 Season, Musical Roots. This partnership highlights GapVax’s longstanding commitment to the arts and to the cultural vitality of Johnstown.
GapVax has supported the JSO for many years, most memorably partnering with the Symphony in 2018 to host a mill concert at their plant in Moxham, bringing the full orchestra into the heart of the former steel mill. Their vision and support helped make that landmark concert possible, and they have continued to stand with the Symphony as it has grown and flourished.
“We are thrilled to welcome GapVax as a Leadership Sponsor,” said Erin Codey, Executive Director of the JSO. “As a manufacturer, GapVax is well known for their commitment to quality and innovation. Their sponsorship of our orchestra reflects that same commitment to the cultural life of the Johnstown area. We are grateful for their support as we launch Musical Roots, a season that celebrates American music, Maestro James Blachly’s 10th year with the Symphony, and the deep connections between music and our community.”
The Musical Roots season honors the 250th anniversary of the United States with programs that highlight American composers such as Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Charles Ives, and Adolphus Hailstork, while also featuring world premieres by contemporary voices. This season also marks a milestone for the JSO, celebrating a decade of Maestro Blachly’s inspired leadership.
“Supporting the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra is an extension of our commitment to our hometown,” said Deborah Cover, Vice President of Talent Acquisition at GapVax. “We believe in investing in the people and cultural institutions that make Johnstown a vibrant place to live and work. The JSO inspires creativity and pride in our community, and we are honored to be part of that legacy.”
The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra extends its sincere appreciation to GapVax, which joins our distinguished Leadership Sponsors, 1st Summit Bank, AmeriServ Bank, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, and Somerset Trust Company. Their collective commitment, together with the generosity of many supporters, empowers the JSO to expand its artistic reach, enhance music education, and deepen its engagement throughout the community. Together, this network of support sustains the JSO’s tradition of excellence and its role as a cultural cornerstone for the region.
From Maestro James Blachly: Program Notes for “America @ 250 Part I & Brahms 3”
Tonight’s program begins with a musical question, as presented in Charles Ives’s iconic and enigmatic work “The Unanswered Question.”
Notes on the Program by Maestro James Blachly
Tonight’s program begins with a musical question, as presented in Charles Ives’s iconic and enigmatic work “The Unanswered Question.” The piece was composed in 1906, but not premiered until decades later, and only became an established concert work after the Second World War. Yet despite its being composed more than a century ago, the piece continues to sound strikingly forward-looking. Leonard Bernstein, the great American conductor and composer, used the title of this work as the overarching thesis of his famous Norton Lectures at Harvard, and suggested that the unanswered question was, at least for his purposes in those lectures, “whither music?” In other words, what will classical music sound like in the future? The answer is, of course, as widely varied as each individual composer we have, with no end to creativity.
As we celebrate America, it seems fitting to begin with Charles Ives, a composer who represents so much of our American ideals. He was boldly individualistic, and composed music that was ahead of its time. He incorporates a wide variety of musical traditions, celebrating in much of his music not only the orchestral tradition, but also camp meetings, church revivals, children’s songs, folk music, military bands and marches, and much more.
This work exists in a much broader context, but the specific soundscape it creates is unique, with a slow, steady passage of the sustained strings, an increasingly agitated group of woodwinds, and, repeated seven times, the “question” as posed by a solo trumpet – the question that remains unanswered. We can speculate about what Ives himself meant with this “unanswered question,” but we are also invited to pose our own, to consider what in our own lives might remain unanswered – an invitation to reflect and imagine.
We follow the Ives with a piece that was composed especially for this evening, by Levi Taylor, a Los Angeles-based composer who enjoys as much success in writing music for film and television as for the concert hall. This piece is called “One Foot After the Other,” and over the course of roughly six minutes, we hear a theme of something rising from the depths, ultimately growing and increasing in energy and sound before returning to a quiet calm. The work is an elaboration on a shorter piece that I heard of Mr. Taylor’s, and was immediately drawn towards – the sonority and direction seemed to me like a larger work ready to be brought to life. I am personally so grateful that Levi Taylor accepted my invitation to expand that work, and we are honored to be giving the world premiere of this work tonight.
The end of the first half is a piece of music I consider one of the great American masterpieces – Samuel Barber’s Second Essay for Orchestra. Despite the fairly unpoetic, generic title, this is a piece that is packed with intensity and emotion, as well as a rewarding example of compositional skill and integrity. Composed in 1942, I hear so many connections between this piece and the Copland Symphony No. 3 that we present in March at the end of our American @ 250 celebration. Both works seem to embody, in sound, the strength of the American character during that decisive Second World War, a conviction that was as firmly rooted in a common sense of moral imperative as it was in military might. We all benefit from the actions of the heroes who fought to defend this country and world from tyranny, and this music represents a sense of that courage and strength. The opening theme you hear in the flute, then carried on in the clarinet, is changed and elaborated upon in a multitude of ways over the course of these ten minutes, at times played slowly in the lowest instruments, and at other times increased in speed and adjusted to form the basis of a repeated melody that becomes its own fugal section. For many American musicians of subsequent generations, Barber, who grew up in Pennsylvania and attended the Curtis Institute of Music, is a composer who represents American creativity in a particularly compelling way.
If the first half represents a uniquely American sense of freedom in music, the Brahms Symphony No. 3 does so on a very personal level. Composed in 1883 in Wiesbaden, a beautiful resort town in western Germany just off the Rhine River, the symphony seems to be fully unfettered, an expression of freedom both in the musical notes that form the basis of the first movement, and in the feeling we get in listening and performing the work.
Brahms’s close colleague Joseph Joachim was famous for having a musical motto of the notes F-A-E, which he used to mean “Frei aber einsam,” or, free, but lonely. Brahms, who remained a bachelor his entire life, played on this theme with his own combination of letters: F-A-F, “Frei aber froh,” or free, but happy. Indeed, while Brahms never married, he had an abundance of important friendships and professional partnerships, including the inspiring, tragic, and complex relationship he had with the entire Schumann family – not only Robert Schumann, who declared the young Brahms a musical savior – but also with Clara Schumann, who, as the preeminent concert pianist of her day, was a life-long creative muse, advocate, and thought partner. She said of this symphony that she had trouble choosing which movement was her favorite, and I think that is a sentiment many of us share. Each movement is a true delight in its own way.
The first movement is energetic and surging in its opening bars, revealing a sense of inner tumult and striving, a mixing of sonorities from a bright, optimistic F major, immediately into a chord that with just a few changes becomes a fully diminished seventh chord, and then mixing between major and minor in revealing, ambiguous, and rewarding ways. The movement repeats these opening bars several times, each with the F-A-F theme prominent, but because of those mixtures of sonority-dark and light, major and minor – we are left uncertain exactly what the music is telling us. In other words, there are always layers to the emotional landscape, just as we each are so much more than meets the eye.
The second movement is particularly lovely, and is so lovingly written that we have to simply count ourselves grateful for the gift of the music itself. A series of short phrases begins in the woodwinds, but soon invites a soaring build of harmony, all while beguiling melodies flow like a fresh-water stream throughout.
The third movement is one of the greatest melodies Brahms composed, repeated six times by various instrument colors, a dark-hued C-minor rising and falling melody that evokes some of the great tragedies of Brahms’s life-but in a poetic and profound way, makes us able to feel grateful that we can experience the richness of being a human being – even the difficult aspects of life.
The fourth movement is truly a finale – a culmination of the rest of the symphony, but begins with a deceptively soft murmur in unison throughout the orchestra, before bursting forth with energy and rhythmic drive.
Hans Richter, who conducted the premiere of the piece, gave it the nickname “Brahms’s Eroica,” a reference to Beethoven’s own third symphony, which has the name “Eroica.” Like the Beethoven symphony, Brahms’s Third expands the orchestral palette, with a bold, unique vision for the form, and, like the Beethoven symphony, reveals a sense of rhythmic and personal drive and energy, a kind of surging yearning.
While some composers wrote music to match a specific concept or plot, Brahms wrote what became known as “absolute music,” or music for its own sake, without a specific meaning attached to it. What that ultimately means is that whatever you hear in Brahms’s music is the correct interpretation. Whatever it means to you, whatever your experience with this music, is in fact the true meaning of the music.
- Notes © 2025 by James Blachly
Johnstown Symphony Orchestra to Celebrate “America at 250” with its October 25th Season Opening Concert
The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra (JSO) will open its 97th season on October 25th with America @ 250 Part I & Brahms 3.
The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra (JSO) will open its 97th season on October 25th with America @ 250 Part I & Brahms 3. The concert will begin at 7:30pm at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center on the University of the Pittsburgh-Johnstown campus.
The JSO’s 97th season, entitled Musical Roots, is a dual celebration of America’s 250th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of Maestro James Blachly’s tenure with the orchestra. This October 25th season opener sets the stage for an extraordinary year with a program that highlights the rich tapestry of American music.
Executive Director Erin Codey shares, “Our season opener is always a special night in Johnstown, and this year it feels even more meaningful as we begin a multi-concert celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. The program our Music Director, James Blachly, has crafted not only honors the American spirit but also reminds us of how music can bring people together. We are excited to welcome our community back to the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center, and we invite everyone to be part of this journey through music, history, and inspiration.”
About the Music
The evening opens with Charles Ives’s The Unanswered Question, a work that Blachly describes as “a testament to American innovation. In this piece, Ives creates a stunning, mysterious texture of sound for solo trumpet with sustained strings and woodwinds.”
The program continues with the world premiere of One Foot After the Other by composer Levi Taylor, who is widely recognized for his work in film, television, and the concert stage. “At my invitation, Levi expanded a chamber work to one designed for full orchestra,” notes Blachly. “We are honored to give the world premiere of this excellent piece.”
The American spirit of resilience is captured in Samuel Barber’s Second Essay, composed during World War II. Blachly describes it as “a full emotional journey in only ten minutes. To my mind, it represents the resilience of the American spirit, the courage of our soldiers, and the resolve of an entire country.”
The evening concludes with Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 3. “This piece takes Brahms’s personal motto of Frei Aber Froh (‘free, but happy’) and expresses a kind of musical freedom of expression through stunningly beautiful melodies and orchestration,” says Blachly. “It is one of the most precious gems we have in the orchestral repertoire, and one of the reasons I committed myself to becoming a conductor.”
This concert is the first of the JSO’s multi-part celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, continuing throughout Season 97: Musical Roots.
Tickets and Information
Tickets for America @ 250 Part I and Brahms 3 are available online at www. Johnstownsymphony.org or by calling the JSO box office at 814-535-6738.
Ticket prices range from $10-$65.
Concert Sponsors
The JSO is deeply grateful to Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield for their partial concert sponsorship in support of this performance. We also thank our 2025-2026 Leadership Sponsors: 1st Summit Bank; AmeriServ Bank; Concurrent Technologies Corporation; GapVax, Inc; and Somerset Trust Company.
Johnstown Symphony Orchestra’s Four Companion Ensembles and Two Auxiliaries Share Upcoming Events
The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra (JSO) is proud to share events and ways for the community to join its four companion ensembles and two auxiliary groups for the upcoming fall semester.
Johnstown, PA – The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra (JSO) is proud to share events and ways for the community to join its four companion ensembles and two auxiliary groups for the upcoming fall semester.
The JSO’s four companion ensembles are:
- “Inclined to Sing” Youth Chorus
- Johnstown Symphony Youth Orchestra
- Johnstown Symphony Chorus
- Community Strings
The JSO’s two auxiliary groups are:
- The Johnstown Auxiliary
- The Somerset Auxiliary
Complete information on all ensembles and auxiliaries can be found at johnstownsymphony.org.
“Inclined to Sing” Youth Chorus – Directed by Emily Roy
Designed for ages Kindergarten - 9th Grade, this dynamic ensemble offers a welcoming space for budding vocalists to explore their passion for music in a supportive and inclusive environment.
Inclined to Sing will host a new member orientation on zoom on September 2nd at 7pm. NO auditions are required for Inclined to Sing, just a love of singing!
Rehearsals are held on Tuesdays from 5pm-6pm. The first in-person rehearsal for the Fall 2025 semester will be on Tuesday, September 9th at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church on Scalp Avenue.
Inclined to Sing will perform a Fall Concert in November and will appear in the JSO’s December Holiday Pops concert.
All information can be found at johnstownsymphony.org/youth-chorus
Johnstown Symphony Youth Orchestra – Directed by David Anderson
The Johnstown Symphony Youth Orchestra is an auditioned ensemble for rising 7th grade students through seniors in high school.
The JSYO is currently accepting applications from new players in the following instruments:
- Oboe
- Bassoon
- Horn
- Trumpet
- Trombone
- All string
Interested musicians should contact Mr. David Anderson at david.anderson.jsyo@gmail.com.
Rehearsals take place every Sunday afternoon from 3:30 - 5:30pm at Richland High School.
The JSYO’s fall performance is a side-by-side with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra for their annual Young People’s Concerts on November 5th. Repertoire includes excerpts from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Respighi's Pines of Rome, and music from Harry Potter and Jurassic Park.
All information can be found at johnstownsymphony.org/youth-orchestra
Johnstown Symphony Chorus – Directed by Jeffrey L. Webb
The Symphony Chorus is an auditioned ensemble for adult vocalists.
Auditions are closed for the fall semester, but interested community members should check the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra social media pages for any openings available in the Spring Semester.
The Symphony Chorus will perform throughout the semester at various community events, and will be featured in the JSO’s Holiday Pops concert.
Complete information can be found at johnstownsymphony.org/symphony-chorus
Community Strings – Directed by Beth Pile
Community Strings is a group of adult string players who gather together to play in a string orchestral setting. ALL adults of ANY ability level are welcome to join Community Strings.
Interested players should sign up online before the first rehearsal, which will be held on Thursday, October 2nd, 7-8:30pm at St. David's Lutheran Church.
Rehearsals continue every Thursday from 7-8:30pm at St. David’s Lutheran Church in Davidsville.
Community Strings will perform at several community events throughout the fall, and will perform their Fall Concert on November 20th, 2025 at 7:30pm.
All information can be found at johnstownsymphony.org/community-strings
Auxiliaries of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra
The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra Auxiliaries are comprised of dedicated community members who generously give their time, talent, and energy to support the Symphony. Serving as the “boots on the ground” for a wide range of initiatives, these groups play an essential role in sustaining the JSO’s mission of bringing world-class music to our region.
The Johnstown Auxiliary and the Somerset Auxiliary each host unique fundraisers and special events throughout the year, from luncheons and teas to raffles, community gatherings, and volunteer support at concerts. In addition to raising critical funds, auxiliary members act as ambassadors for the Symphony, promoting concerts, encouraging community participation, and welcoming new audiences to the JSO family.
Members of the public can look forward to the popular “Taste of the Laurel Highlands” dinner event on October 14th, and the annual Poinsettia & Flower Sale during the holiday season. Information can be found at johnstownsymphony.org and on the JSO’s social media pages.
With a tradition of volunteerism that spans decades, the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra Auxiliaries are a vital part of the Symphony’s story of resilience, growth, and community spirit. Please email info@johnstownsymphony.org if interested in joining the Johnstown or Somerset Auxiliary.
Johnstown Symphony Orchestra Seeks Talented Performers for Johnstown’s Got Talent February 2026 Performance
Calling all singers, bands, dancers, and show-stopping talent of every kind! It’s the return of Johnstown’s Got Talent, last brought to the stage in 2023!
Johnstown, PA – Calling all singers, bands, dancers, and show-stopping talent of every kind! It’s the return of Johnstown’s Got Talent, last brought to the stage in 2023!
The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra (JSO) invites performers of all ages and genres to audition for a chance to take the spotlight at “Johnstown’s Got Talent,” the JSO’s February 14th, 2026 Season Subscription performance.
Auditions are open to solo singers and vocal groups, bands and instrumentalists of up to 5 members, dancers, variety acts, and other unique talents.
The first round of auditions will be by Video Submission. Interested candidates should submit a maximum five-minute video showcasing their talent, preferably with the piece to be performed with the orchestra.
The deadline for first round video submissions is October 1st, 2025. All submissions can be made at www.johnstownsymphony.org/johnstowns-got-talent-auditions.
Selected finalists will be invited to audition in person on October 24th, 2025 at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center in front of a panel of judges.
Finalists selected from the in-person auditions will perform as featured guest artists with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra at the "Johnstown’s Got Talent" concert on February 14th, 2026!
Winners must be available for the following required dates:
Rehearsal: Friday, February 13, 2026, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Dress Rehearsal: Saturday, February 14, 2026, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Concert: Saturday, February 14, 2026, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
All information and submission instructions can be found at johnstownsymphony.org/johnstowns-got-talent-auditions.
Johnstown Symphony Orchestra Opens Auditions for String and Brass Professional Musicians for Upcoming Season
The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra (JSO) invites professional string and brass musicians to audition for four open positions for their upcoming 97th season.
Johnstown, PA – The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra (JSO) invites professional string and brass musicians to audition for four open positions for their upcoming 97th season.
The JSO seeks for their string auditions:
Principal Viola
Section Viola
Section Violin 1
String auditions will be held on October 5th, 2025 at Richland High School at 1 Academic Avenue, Johnstown, PA 15904. Auditioning musicians will be provided a schedule ahead of the audition date.
The JSO seeks for their brass auditions:
Trumpet 3
Brass auditions will be held on October 26th, 2025 at Richland High School at 1 Academic Avenue, Johnstown, PA 15904. Auditioning musicians will be provided a schedule ahead of the audition date.
Interested musicians should go to johnstownsymphony.org/musician-auditions for more information and to sign up for an audition slot.