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POTSDAM – Praised for her “thrilling blend of fury and finesse” (San Antonio Express-News) and her “winning combination of passion, imagination and integrity” (New York Concert Review), internationally acclaimed piano soloist Ms. Young-Ah Tak will be the featured soloist in ONNY’s fall concert, Beethoven. 

Performances are 7:30 p.m., Saturday, October 19 at Hosmer Hall, SUNY Potsdam and 3:00 p.m., Sunday, October 20 at First Presbyterian Church, Watertown. 

A donor reception is being co-hosted for major supporters of ONNY and WPBS immediately following the Sunday concert in the church’s Fellowship Hall. The event is by invitation only.

Ms. Tak enjoys a remarkable career that has taken her throughout the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy, her native Korea, and Japan.

She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Julliard, her Master of Music and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory, and her Doctor of Musical Arts from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

She made her New York City debut at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Alice Tully Hall with the Julliard Orchestra. Other notable performances have taken place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater in Philadelphia, and many others around the world.

Her performances have been broadcast in New York City, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Ontario, and in Korea. Ms. Tak has been awarded top prizes in numerous international competitions.

Currently, she serves as an Associate Professor of Piano and is the Founding Artistic Director of the Crane International Piano Festival.  She is a Steinway Artist.

The concert opens with Beethoven’s Triumphant March from Tarpeja,(1813), followed by Ms. Tak’s rendition of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15 (1795/rev.1800). After a brief intermission, the 48-piece professional orchestra will perform program Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 “Pastoral – Sinfonie oder Erinnerung an das Landeleben” (“Pastoral Symphony or Remembering Country Life”)., conducted by Maestro Kenneth Andrews.

The Orchestra of Northern New York is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It is sponsored, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the NYS Legislature, and by the Northern New York Community Foundation.  

Tickets are $27 adults, $22 seniors and military personnel, $10 college students, and $5 teens (13-17). Children, 12 and under, are admitted free to all ONNY concerts.

For tickets or more information, contact the Community Performance Series box office at 315-267-2277 or visit www.onny.org to purchase tickets online. They may also be obtained at brick and Mortar Music, 15 Market St., Potsdam.

Dear Friends & Patrons,

Welcome to the 32nd season of the Orchestra of Northern New York. With a wide array of brilliant orchestral masterpieces from our classics to our pops series, we invite you to join us and Experience the Passion of Live Music from virtuosic soloists and exceptional professional musicians from Northern New York and beyond. 

Thank you for your generous and continued support over these many years. We look forward to seeing you at our concerts.

Kenneth Andrews, Music Director

POTSDAM - The Orchestra of Northern New York, the North Country's only year-round symphony orchestra, has received a five-year commitment to sponsor the exceptionally gifted students from the Crane School of Music who are selected for the ONNY Apprenticeship Program. The students are paid as young professionals.

The donation comes from The Secret Sits Pro Musica Ensembles, Inc. (TSS, Inc.), a charitable nonprofit organization founded in 2017 in memory of Marie A. Patten, of Athens, GA and the Gull Pond Community in the Piercefield, NY area. TSS, Inc. is incorporated in Georgia and New York.

Marie Patten was educated in New York City public schools and went on to earn BA, MSW and PhD degrees at the College of William and Mary and the University of Georgia. Her love of music grew throughout her life. An avid opera- and concert-goer, she would leave chamber music performances and frequently comment to the effect that the world would be a better place if that kind of music was on street corners. It is that sentiment, and the pursuit of related goals finding root around it, to which TSS, Inc. is now dedicated -- Better Music, Better World.

Marie was very fond of poetry, and wrote some herself. A personal encounter with Robert Frost when she was young became indelible in her life, and this is reflected in "The Secret Sits" being the title of one of Frost's poems:

We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.

"It is a wonderful opportunity for Crane students to perform with a professional symphony orchestra," says Kenneth Andrews, who founded the orchestra in 1988. "They are held to the same high standards as the other musicians, and the experience fosters discipline and professionalism."

"We are most grateful for this generous gift. It truly is transformational for the orchestra," Andrews continued.

ONNY is celebrating its 31st season of music that inspires and excites. It is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is "to enrich the quality of life in Northern New York and engage area youth by inspiring the enjoyment and appreciation of music through live performances by professional musicians." It is funded, in part, by the Northern New York Community Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

For more information about ONNY, call 315-267-3251 or visit www.onny.org.

POTSDAM -  The Orchestra of Northern New York seeks high school students to compete in its 13th Annual James and Katherine Andrews Young Artist Competition for High School Instrumentalists to be held 10:00 a.m., Saturday, February 16 at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music.  The application deadline is February 1st.

The event is open to the public that is sure to be amazed as high school students from northern and central New York compete by performing required works from memory. 

Established in 2007 to help fulfill ONNY's youth mission of engaging young people in the enjoyment and appreciation of music. the competition's mission is to inspire young musicians to reach their highest level of artistry. 

The competition is one of the few of its kind in the U.S. that offers both a cash prize and the opportunity to solo with a professional symphony orchestra. 

The first place winner takes home $500 and this year will perform the winning piece during the Harry Potter Spectacular concerts on March 23rd and 24th in Watertown and Potsdam.  Second and third place prizes of $300 and $150 respectively are also awarded.

This year, we are proud to announce the $500 First Prize is donated anonymously by a friend and classmate of the late Rev. Peter J. Sullivan in his memory.

For an application form, list of required repertoire and more information about this year's competition, visit onny.org or call 315-267-3251.