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POTSDAM - Maestro Kenneth Andrews, music director, conductor and founder of the Orchestra of Northern New York, will address the audience at a pre-concert lecture at 3:45 pm, Saturday, April 28 in Hosmer Hall at the Crane School of Music, and 2:15 pm, Sunday, April 29 in the First Presbyterian Church in Watertown. The concert, Stravinsky & Mendelssohn, begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3:00 p.m. Sunday.

Both performances are sponsored, 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.

The concert features Stravinsky's masterful Pulcinella  Suite that will showcase the virtuosity of ONNY's principal chairs. On the second half of the program, Mendelssohn's brilliant and exhilarating Symphony No. 4 (Italian) will take the listener back to his magical trip to Italy in 1830.

Silas Smith, 18, of Malone will perform Ravel's Introduction and Allegro for harp. He is the winner of the James and Katherine Andrews Young Artist Competition held this past February. He has been studying harp for ten years through the National String Project at the Crane School of Music, under the direction of Dr. Jessica Suchy-Pilalis.

Tickets for the Watertown concert are available in Watertown at the North Country Arts Council, 52 Public Square, and Pine Cleaners, 237 Franklin Street.

Concertgoers are encouraged to come to Hosmer Hall early on Saturday, April 28th to take advantage of SeaComm Federal Credit Union's 'pay it forward' campaign. The financial institution is providing free tickets to the first 250 people in attendance.

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

POTSDAM - Silas Smith of Malone won first place in the Orchestra of Northern New York’s Young Artist Competition on Saturday, February 10 at the Crane School of Music.  A harpist, Smith performed Maurice Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with pianist Nancy  Hull of Potsdam.  As the first place winner, Smith will receive $500 and the opportunity  to perform this work with the Orchestra on its April 28th concert in Hosmer Hall at the Crane School of Music.

Katherine Betrus of Potsdam won second place.  A violinist, Betrus performed Bach's Concerto No. 2 in E Major with pianist Lori Gruneisen. She will receive a $300 prize.

Smith, age 18, has been studying harp for ten years through the National String Project (NSP) at the Crane School, under the direction of Jessica Suchy-Pilalis.  He has attended Crane Youth Music for the past five summers where he studied privately with Dr. Suchy-Pilalis and performed with the CYM Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra and Harp Ensemble.  He has also been featured in the CYM Honors Recital on several occasions.  Silas has been the recipient of the Scott LaVine CYM Scholarship and the American Harp Society Kids for Camp Scholarship.  He has also participated in numerous NYSSMA solo festivals ad was principal harpist in the New York State All-State program at the Eastman School of Music last year. 

Smith’s non-musical activities include reading and competitive chess.  He also serves as an Explorer in Charge at Explorer in Post 1789 of the United States Border Patrol Explorers in Burke, NY.  He is a proud resident of the North Country and is very grateful for the opportunities, musical and otherwise, afforded to him here.

Betrus, age 15, is a sophomore and a high honor roll student at Potsdam High School. A student of Nancy Kear for the past eight years, Katherine is a member of the high school orchestra and was concertmaster in the Junior High All County Orchestra in seventh and eighth grades. In her freshman and sophomore years, she was selected to perform in the area all-state orchestra. She has also participated in NYSSMA for the past six years.

Katherine has been a member of model U.N. and environmental club for two years. She also enjoys varsity volleyball, varsity indoor track and varsity outdoor track. She is the daughter of Anthony and Kristen Betrus.

ONNY's Young Artist Competition was established in 2007 for talented high school students in Northern New York. Its mission is to inspire young musicians to reach their highest level of artistry.

For more information about next year's competition to be held in February 2019, contact ONNY at 315-267-3251.

POTSDAM - Some of the most beautiful and poignant music from the pen of Johann Sebastian Bach will be performed when the Orchestra of Northern New York, the North Country's only year-round professional symphony orchestra, presents its winter Baroque concert on January 27 and 28.

Performances will be 7:30 p.m., Saturday, January 27 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Watertown, and 3:00 p.m., Sunday, January 28 at St. Mary's Church in Potsdam.

The program opens with the exhilarating Sinfonia from one of Bach's masterpieces, Cantata 42. It continues with two legendary Brandenburg concerti - Concerto No. 3 and Concerto No. 4, and concludes with the sublime grandeur of his Orchestral Suite No. 1.

Featured soloists include Maestro Kenneth Andrews will join ONNY's principal flutist Jill Rubio, and Concertmaster John Lindsey on violin for the Brandenburg Concert No. 4. Andrews, who founded the Orchestra 30 years ago, teaches flute at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam. Jill Rubio, a member of the Crane woodwind faculty and adjunct flute teacher at Crane, teaches band at Potsdam Central School.  John Lindsey is also a founding member of ONNY, and retired Crane Professor Emeritus.

Tickets are available online at www.onny.org, by calling 315-267-2277, or at the door.

The Orchestra is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization. It is funded, in part,  by the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.  (required statement of credit)

This annual report is Intended to keep ONNY stakeholders informed of the Orchestra's state of affairs as it marks its 30th season of making LIVE music in the North Country.  The report is available here.