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YSO announces 2023-24 season lineup

Thorgy Thor and the Thorchestra perform Sept. 21

AP photo / Invision Drag artist Thorgy Thor will be part of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra's opening concert for its 2023-24 season.

A contestant from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” a live orchestral accompaniment to a film directed by Champion native Chris Columbus and a performance with local act The Vindys will be part of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra’s 2023-24 season.

The season will include six concerts. Erik Ochsner, who was guest conductor last season for “Ghostbusters in Concert,” will return, along with two new guest conductors as the orchestra continues its search for a permanent replacement for Randall Craig Fleischer, who died in 2020.

The season opens at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21 at Powers Auditorium with Thorgy Thor and the Thorchestra. Thor is a classically trained musician who has played solo violin, viola and cello with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and others. Thor also is a New York City-based drag performer who appeared on season eight of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and season three of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” as well, as Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle and TLC / Hulu’s “Dragnificent!”

The guest conductor will be Lawrence Loh, who has been music director of Symphoria in Syracuse, N.Y., since 2015 and held major conducting positions with the Pittsburgh Symphony, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony and others.

Loh also will conduct a Masterworks concert at Stambaugh Auditorium at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 21.

Guest conductor Francisco Noya will lead a Latin pops concert titled “Latin Fire” at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 14 at Powers.

Noya is a member of the conducting faculty at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and he is conductor of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra and resident conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra.

After accompanying “Ghostbusters” last season, the orchestra will provide live accompaniment to the movie “Home Alone” for two performances at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 22 and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 23 at Powers Auditorium.

The 1990 film starring Macauley Culkin was directed by Chris Columbus, who was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Champion and graduated from John F. Kennedy High School.

Ochsner will conduct a Masterworks concert at 2:30 p.m. March 10 at Stambaugh called “Unknown & Gorgeous: River & Iron.” The program will draw on connections to Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley as well as Ochsner’s Finnish-American roots.

The season will end at 7:30 p.m. April 26 at Powers with “The Vindys Meet Your Youngstown Symphony.” The local rock band that also incorporates soul, blues and jazz influences in its original songs will perform orchestral arrangements of music from its albums “Keep Going” and “Bugs.” The Vindys performed with the Canton Symphony Orchestra in March.

Season subscriptions range from $100 to $220 (plus fees), and subscribers receive free parking at DeYor Performing Arts Center and the opportunity to buy discounted tickets for Opera Western Reserve’s “Carmen” and Ballet Western Reserve’s “The Nutcracker.”

Individual tickets range from $13 to $63 (plus fees), depending on the concert and pricing tiers.

Season subscriptions are available now to past subscribers and go on sale along with individual tickets starting Friday. Tickets are available at the DeYor Performing Arts Center box office, by calling 330-259-9651 and online at experienceyourarts.org.

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