Salem Philharmonic Orchestra Kicks Off 122nd Season This Weekend

SALEM, MA — The Salem Philharmonic will kick off its 122nd season with the first of four concerts at Salem High School this weekend.

Under the direction of John Koza, music director, and Alan Hawryluk, conductor emeritus, the concert season begins Saturday night with special guest William Kirkley on clarinet in a show that will feature the works of C. M. von Weber, John Williams and Leroy Anderson.

The Jan. 25 show features Eleena Glefgatt, of Marblehead, on piano and the works of Chopin.

The Feb. 1 show features soprano Stephanie Pfundt and the Italian and French opera music of Gounod, Puccini and Verdi.

The season concludes on Feb. 8 with the combined choirs of Salem and Peabody high schools and the works of Vivaldi Gloria.

Each show is free to the audience and begins at 3 p.m. in the Salem High School auditorium.

All concerts are accessible and families are welcome.

The shows are made possible trough funding from Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Salem Inn, Salem Five Bank, and individuals and businesses throughout the Salem area.

At each concert this season, the SPO will offer selections honoring the 250th anniversary of our country’s founding.

SPO is Salem's own 45 piece full symphony orchestra, which has, for more than 100 years, provided a series of free winter concerts to Salem area residents. The Philharmonic consists mostly of professional musicians drawn directly from our community.

The orchestra also invites talented students to play alongside its professionals. Programming covers a wide range of musical genres, and every concert features one or more soloists, often young musicians who have never had the opportunity to work with an orchestra, or a talented professional whose abilities should be better known.

These concerts are created to be a wonderful Sunday afternoon activity, during the darkest months of the year, at which time many arts organizations are not actively performing.

The shows have been traditionally free as a way to allow audiences not often exposed to this type of music to experience it.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)