Allentown, PA<\/i> <\/strong>— The Board of Directors of The Allentown Symphony Association invites you to celebrate Diane Wittry and her 20 years of outstanding artistic leadership as Music Director and Conductor of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra. Come honor your Maestra as we celebrate one of very few female Music Directors and Conductors in the industry. Long-standing ASO musicians will also be celebrated at this event.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Thursday, October 1, 2015<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
5:30 pm<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 Reception in the Hall \u2013 Painted Violin Auction<\/span><\/div>\n
7:00 pm<\/span><\/span> Dinner \u2013 Rodale Community Room (Catering by Karen Hunter)<\/span><\/div>\n
Business or Cocktail Attire <\/span><\/div>\n
Tribute Reception $50<\/span><\/div>\n
Tribute Reception & Dinner $150<\/span><\/div>\n
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There will be plenty of feasting going on as we hold a Tribute on stage at Symphony Hall\u00a0 with video and slides commemorating the past twenty years as we make history in our community\u00a0 and with honoring long-standing musicians. Proclamations will be mentioned from Senator Pat Browne\u2019s Office,\u00a0 State Representatives Peter Schweyer and Michael Schlossberg at the Tribute and by Mayor Pawlowski at the Dinner. Live Music will fill the air by some of our musicians both at the Tribute and during the dinner portion in the Rodale Room. A painted violin auction is a highlight of the evening as we feature local artists who have taken gently used violins and have come up with their own creation. The instruments are beautifully displayed in the store-front windows of the Hall until the day of the tribute as they will be auctioned off at the event.\u00a0 Local artists featured are: Chris P. Jones, Ron De Long, Ann A. Lalik, Michelle Neifert, Erin Anderson, Rosemary Geseck, Ann Schlegel, Corianne Thompson, Kim Hogan, Virginia Abbott, Andi Grunberg, Ana M. Hamilton, Sharon Schenkel, Jane Heft, Kevin Jamison, Linda La Due and Laura L. Elmore. (See attachment for more details).<\/span><\/div>\n
\nTwenty years of Board Presidents from 1995 to 2015 include:<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (in chronological order \u2013 each serving two years)<\/span><\/div>\n
Barbara McGovern,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 L. Charles Marcon<\/span><\/div>\n
Suzanne H. Mason\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kristine Burfeind<\/span><\/div>\n
William Edmundson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 David Osborn<\/span><\/div>\n
John Berseth\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Peter Kern<\/span><\/div>\n
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Philip Jackson (current –2015-2017)<\/span><\/div>\n
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Internationally acclaimed conductor, DIANE WITTRY<\/b>, maintains a dual career as an esteemed music director and guest conductor throughout the world. She is celebrating twenty years as a music director\/conductor with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra this season.\u00a0 What was once known as a community orchestra, Diane Wittry has taken the ASO to new heights over the years and it is the only professional orchestra in the Lehigh Valley.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Wittry specializes in conducting American music abroad, and is known in the United States for her innovative and creative programming.\u00a0\u00a0 Diane Wittry is the Music Director and Conductor of the Allentown Symphony, PA, and the Ridgewood Symphony, NJ.\u00a0 She also serves as the Artistic Director (USA) for the International Cultural Exchange Program for Classical Musicians through the Sarajevo Philharmonic (Bosnia) and the Bosnian\u2010 Herzegovinian American Academy for Arts and Sciences, as well as being the Artistic Director for Pizazz Music, an ensemble that specializes in bringing classical music to people in new and different ways.\u00a0 In the United States, Diane Wittry has led performances by the symphony orchestras of Milwaukee, San Diego, Houston, New Jersey, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic, Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra Society of New York, among others. She has also conducted at the music festivals of Ojai (CA), Penn\u2019s Woods (PA), and I\u2010Park (CT). Her international engagements include concerts with the Sarajevo Philharmonic in Bosnia, the Zabrze Philharmonic in Poland, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Russia\u2019s Maikop and Sochi symphony orchestras, Slovakia\u2019s State Orchestra\u2010Kosice, Italy\u2019s Sinfoni aDell\u2019Arte di Firenze, Canada\u2019s Niagara Symphony, and Japan\u2019s Osaka Symphony Orchestra.<\/span><\/div>\n