SYMPHONY – 7 p.m. The Catskill Symphony Orchestra presents their final concert of the season ‘American Heritage,’ celebrating American composers of the 20th century including Florence Price (Violin Concerto No. 1), Amy Beach (Gaelic Symphony), and George Whitefield Chadwick (Rip Van Winkle Overture) and will feature solo violinist Er-Gene Kahng. Health guidelines will be followed. Cost is $35/adult at the door. Alumni Field House, Dewar Arena, SUNY Oneonta. Visit catskillsymphonyorchestra.org
Mary Ann Mazarak, age 90, passed away at Robinson Terrace in Stamford, NY on May 8, 2022.
She was born December 15, 1931 in Lancaster, Ohio to Henry and Freda Cook. They later moved to Steubenville, Ohio where she graduated from high school. She then attended Ohio State University where she obtained a BS degree in Music in 1954.
It was at Ohio State where she met a fellow music student, John Mazarak. They dated through college and were married after her graduation on June 18th, 1954. When John was hired at Oneonta State College, they moved to Oneonta in 1959. They had two children, Eric and Ann.
Mary Ann stayed very active throughout her life. She taught music in Mt. Vernon Ohio, as well as work as a librarian at Ohio State. Later in life she was Assistant Director of the Catskill Area School Study Council.
Music was a major part of Mary Ann’s life. She studied french horn in college until the cello became her instrument. She performed throughout her life, with the Oneonta/ Catskill Symphony from 1959 to 2008. She was a member of the original Glimmerglass Opera orchestra and performed with them until 1986. John and Mary Ann formed the Woodside String Quartet, performing for many events and weddings.
Jake Patterson steps in for his dad, Paul, who won the coveted ‘guest conductor’ honors to lead the Catskill Symphony Orchestra’s Cabaret finale. [Photo courtesy of David Treanor.]
The Catskill Symphony Orchestra’s Cabaret fundraiser on March 26 raised more than $44,000 – not including ticket sales – attracting a sell-out crowd of some 550 attendees to SUNY Oneonta’s Alumni Field House.
“This is one of the most successful Cabarets, ever, in the more than 20 years we’ve been doing it,” says CSO Chair Sarah Patterson, who has volunteered with the CSO for more than a decade and whose husband, Paul, won this year’s guest conductor competition.
Paul, a retired fleet master and director of Oneonta Public Transit, competed against Stagecoach Coffee’s Matt Grady and SUNY Oneonta’s Dr. Tracy Allen to raise the most money for the CSO and
SYMPHONY – 7 p.m. The Catskill Symphony Orchestra presents their Cabaret fundraiser, featuring fun works from Strauss and Dvořák with guest star Mandy Harvey who is an award winning jazz and pop singer, songwriter and inspirational speaker. The program will be followed by the guest conductor competition to see who gets to wield the baton for Sousa’s ‘Stars & Stripes Forever.’ Health guidelines will be followed. Cost is $50/adult. SUNY Oneonta. Visit catskillsymphonyorchestra.org
COOPERSTOWN – Long time Cooperstown, N.Y. resident Dr. Emery Cline Herman, Jr. died peacefully at home with his wife by his side on Saturday morning, February 26, 2022 at the age of 92.
Born July 24, 1929 in La Grange, Georgia, Emery was the eldest of three children born to Emily Park Herman and E.C. Herman, MD. He was a graduate of Darlington School, Emory University and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (class of 1953).
While at Hopkins, he met Margaret (Peggy) Whitaker of Springfield, Ohio, and they married in 1955. After a stint at the National Institutes of Health, in 1959 Emery took a position at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital and moved his young family to Cooperstown. He began work as a research physician with Dr. Don Thomas and Dr. Joe Ferrebee in the field of bone marrow transplantation. He soon transferred to clinical medicine at Bassett, where he spent his entire medical career as a practicing physician in internal medicine, retiring in 1994. In addition to hospital commitments, Emery was actively involved in the greater Cooperstown community, serving on the Village Board of Trustees and as Cooperstown Mayor in 1970-72. Emery and Peggy raised five children together in Cooperstown until her untimely death in 1975.
Pandemic restrictions prohibited it, but this year, the Catskill Symphony Orchestra picks up where it left off and presents its annual Cabaret Concert and Guest Conductor Competition fundraiser with headliner Mandy Harvey on Saturday, March 26 at SUNY Oneonta’s Alumni Field House.
They’re doing it with flair, of course – presenting the same program they had planned for the 2020 Cabaret that was cancelled by COVID shut-downs just two days before its performance. CSO Executive Director Cassandra Miller said the event marks a new and special rebirth for the Orchestra.
“It’s the first time the entire symphony will have been together for a performance in two years,” she said. “We’ll have the full group of more than 50 musicians on the same stage, and it’s the first time the new Maestro will conduct the group as one.”
Maestro Maciej Zoltowski became the new conductor of the CSO for its 2021-22 season.
“It’s an event the community really looks forward to, not just to hear our impressive orchestra perform popular music with a headliner, but because people love the guest conductor competition,” said CSO board chair Sarah Patterson.
This year’s guest conductor candidates: Dr. Tracy Allen, a dean at SUNY Oneonta (“The Geologist”), Stagecoach Coffee co-owner Matt Grady (“The Connoisseur”), and former Director of Oneonta
By. T. Stephen Wager • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
Maestro Maciej Zoltowski made a triumphant return to Oneonta on November 20, 2021 with a concert of Wind Serenades by Mozart, Dvořák and Richard Strauss. It is a completely fortunate situation that so glamorous and cosmopolite a musical personality such as Maestro Zoltowski has come to grace Catskill Symphony Orchestra and Upstate New York. In just two years’ time, his efforts of international renown at orchestra building have already been shown to great effect. The concert provided a vehicle showcasing the woodwind section of Catskill Symphony Orchestra in its second offering of the 2021-2022 concert season. Preparation for such a concert requires not only daring but knowing the capabilities of the orchestra at hand, and capabilities of its individual members, and a knowledge of the repertoire that balances one work with the other.
CHRISTMAS – Be an Angel. Sign up to give the gift of Christmas to local families in need with this years Angel Tree Program. Visit www.allotsego.com/angel-tree-program/ for details.
SYMPHONY – 7 p.m. The Catskill Symphony Orchestra presents a program of serenades, both classical and romantic, by a trio of master composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Antonín Dvořák and Richard Strauss. Health guidelines will be followed. Cost is $32/adult. Foothills Performing Art Center, Oneonta. Visit catskillsymphonyorchestra.org
SYMPHONY – 7 p.m. The Catskill Symphony Orchestra returns after a nearly 2 year hiatus. The first concert will be titled ‘Archissimo’ and will feature evergreens of the string orchestra reqertoire from MOZART Serenata Notturna, to BARTÓK Romanian Folk Dances. Health guidelines will be followed. Cost is $32/adult. Foothills Performing Art Center, Oneonta. Visit catskillsymphonyorchestra.org
BENEFIT DINNER – 5 – 8 p.m. Enjoy delicious pasta dinner featuring homemade bolongnese, alfredo and other sauces to help a local women battling against breast cancer. Cost, $10/plate. Anything extra will help toward costs not covered by insurance. The Black Barn, 3522 Co. Hwy. 11, Cooperstown.
The Catskill Symphony Orchestra will stage its first concert since before the coronavirus pandemic, with a show Saturday, Oct 23, at Foothills in Oneonta. (contributed)
The Catskill Symphony Orchestra’s new season will begin Saturday, Oct. 23, with a performance at the Foothills Performing Arts Center in Oneonta.
In addition to being the CSO’s first performance since before the coronavirus pandemic began, the October date will also mark the first CSO performance with new Music Director Maciej Zoltowski.
The October concert will feature the string section performing works by Mozart, Bartok and Grieg.
The second CSO concert will take place Saturday, Nov. 20, at Foothills. The concert will feature the wind section performing a variety of works by Mozart, Strauss, and Dvorak.
Cassandra Miller does publicity with the cast of ‘One Night in Miami’ at the Baltimore Center Stage, where she was the public relations manager of the professional theater and managed publicity for the East Coast premiere of the play, which is now a 2021 Golden Globe-winning film. (contributed)
Oneonta native Cassandra Miller said she never imagined leading the Catskill Symphony Orchestra when she returned home two years ago, but now that she has officially been upgraded from interim to full-time executive director, she is excited about upcoming plans.
Miller, who had been in an interim role since March, spoke with AllOtsego not long after she shed the tag in July.
“(I hope to) bring my background and be able to open up the organization to new audiences,” she said.
Miller graduated from Boston University in 2006 with a degree in journalism.
The Cooperstown Concert Series was awarded $10,000 through a state grant to support live music or theater performances. Other groups that got $10,000 include the Glimmerglass Festival, Chenango River Theatre, Franklin Stage Company and the Catskill Symphony Orchestra.
CAA invites artists to submit for ‘Fine Arts on the Lawn’
Artists are invited to participate in the Cooperstown Art Associations’ Fine Arts on the Lawn event Labor Day weekend in Cooperstown. Artists are allowed to display up to five works or apply for and maintain a 10′ x 10′ tent. Go to www.cooperstownart.com for more information.
AUDUBON SOCIETY – 10 a.m. – Noon. Get your questions in Q&A session with the Delaware-Otsego Audubon society board members. Topics on everything from the society in general to birding to effects of lead ammunition. Presented as part of OCCA’s online Earth Festival. 607-547-4488 or visit occainfo.org/earth-festival/
BEETHOVEN CONVERSATIONS – 7 p.m. Tune in for musical soiree ‘Beethoven in Love – Songs and the Only Opera’ featuring pre-recorded presentation on Beethoven followed by live Q&A session with Maciej Żółtowski, Music Director, and Thomas Wolf, Executive Director. Q&A limited to 10 patrons. Please RSVP. Next conversation to be held 3/27 on ‘Beethoven Conspiracy – the Illuminati’. Presented by The Catskill Symphony Orchestra. E-mail cso@oneonta.edu to rsvp.’
To continue serving classical music fans in time of COVID, The Catskill Symphony Orchestra took to Zoom Saturday night with a program featuring Conductor Maciej Żółtowski in the first of a series of “Conversations with Beethoven.” You can hear it at the “Catskill Symphony Orchestra CSO” YouTube channel. In the first episode, Żółtowski discussed all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies – some with cited performances. He presented anecdotes, including an alleged “tantrum” after Napoleon rose to power and the conspiracy around the unlucky ninth symphony that proved to be the last for many composers, Beethoven included. In the next episode, Żółtowski will delve deeper into the man behind the music, exploring the love-life of an unmarried Beethoven. The episode date and time to air is yet to be announced, however, the event will be followed by a Q&A zoom. For access to the zoom, email CSO Executive Director Thomas Wolf at cso@oneonta.edu. Also, donations are welcome at https://catskillsymphony.net/ or by mailing checks to the Catskill Symphony Orchestra to P.O. Box 14, Oneonta, NY 13820. (Chrystal Savage/AllOTSEGO.com)
