Youngstown Symphony Will Declare Its Place with ‘Inextinguishable’
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Erik Ochsner will put a closing touch on his first season as music director of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra with a classical concert that makes a statement.
It will be the second classical show of the season and, like the first, will feature music that not only tells a story but is part of the story of Ochsner’s life. The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Stambaugh Auditorium. For tickets, click HERE.
The program of four noteworthy pieces will conclude with Carl Nielsen’s “The Inextinguishable” (Symphony No. 4, Op. 29). The late Danish composer wrote the piece in 1916 as a statement of defiance against the ongoing horror of World War I. “Music is life and, like life, inextinguishable,” Nielsen famously said when asked about the title.
“The music is unmistakably marked by the turbulent spirit of its time,” Ochsner writes in his program notes for Friday’s concert. “It is characterized by a restless, primal energy, shifting from moments of profound lyrical introspection to outbursts of volcanic power.”
Nielsen’s Fourth reaches its peak in its finale, which features a “battle” between two sets of timpani positioned on opposite sides of the stage.
“This visceral, aggressive duel – where the drummers exchange violent rhythmic volleys from across the orchestra – serves as a physical manifestation of conflict,” Ochsner writes. “Yet, this violence does not lead to despair. Instead, it acts as crucible, testing the symphony’s core themes until they emerge, transformed and triumphant.”
Nielsen’s “The Inextinguishable” was last performed by the YSO in 1990.
Ochsner selected it as the centerpiece of this finale concert as a response to false rumors of the YSO’s demise that were swirling before the start of this season.
The orchestra is here to stay and, like music itself, is inextinguishable, the conductor says.
The YSO was facing the same financial worries afflicting most orchestras but put itself on firmer footing last year when its board transferred its ownership to Stambaugh Auditorium.
“‘The Inextinguishable’ was sort of a comment that Nielsen was making about the politics at the time, but I took it as a pun to play on [gossip] that the YSO was going bankrupt,” Ochsner said in an earlier interview. “In fact, we were not. We never were. It was just a reorganization [of ownership and duties]. So we are ‘inextinguishable!’”
There are no guest artists for Friday’s concert, but the first three pieces, which will comprise the first half of the evening, have a role in Ochsner’s personal or professional life.
The evening will open with Mussorgsky’s “Prelude: Dawn on the Moskva River” from the composer’s “Khovanshchina” opera. “I worked on this opera when I was 16 years old and [employed] at an opera festival in Finland,” Ochsner says.
It will be followed by “Archora,” by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, which the conductor describes as a vast sonic ecosystem that is visceral and immersive. “I want our orchestra members and audience members to learn something new; this piece was only written in 2022,” Ochsner says. “It’s like a soundtrack!”
The first half will conclude with Mendelssohn’s “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage.”
Ochsner was being tongue-in-cheek in selecting it. “I hope that this new era with me as music director will be a calm sea and prosperous voyage,” he says.
Friday’s concert can be seen as a follow-up to the YSO’s January performance, which featured Hector Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique.” Ochsner selected the piece as a comparison to the Youngstown Symphony’s ability to thrill listeners.
The YSO will soon announce its 2026-27 season, which will be expanded by two concerts for a total of six.
The orchestra will perform a special event Sunday, July 5, outdoors in Wean Park, downtown. Titled “Ignite the Night,” the free public concert will be highlighted by fireworks.
Pictured at top: Erik Ochsner will lead the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra in its final concert of the season Friday.