Berks Sinfonietta presented an evening of music celebrating love and peace Saturday at Atonement Lutheran Church, featuring a regional premiere, a celebrated piano concerto and an early Schubert symphony while showcasing the talents of local musicians and conductors.
The July 18 performance of Canto de Amor e Paz featured Berks County conductors James Gilmer and Tyler Readinger leading the orchestra in the absence of Artistic Director David McConnell. Guest pianist Jacob Leonowitz, orchestra director at Governor Mifflin School District, joined the ensemble as the featured soloist in Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major.
The performance drew a strong crowd. Audience members responded enthusiastically throughout the evening, giving standing ovations following the featured performances by Leonowitz, Readinger and Gilmer.
“Tonight was a chance for two younger conductors to have a great opportunity,” Gilmer said after the performance. “Tyler did a wonderful job. Jacob Leonowitz did a wonderful job on the Ravel. I’m very pleased with how the Schubert went.”
Gilmer said the evening reflected Berks Sinfonietta’s broader mission of nurturing young musicians and conductors within the region.
“I think what Berks Sinfonietta is trying to do with young musicians and conductors is creating a very bright future for the county,” he said.
The program opened with Canto de Amor e Paz (“Song of Love and Peace”) by Brazilian composer Claudio Santoro. Although little known outside his native country, Santoro’s music has gained increased international attention in recent years. Written for string orchestra in 1950, the work was presented as its regional premiere.
The reflective composition, which earned the International Peace Prize from the World Peace Council in 1952, offered a contemplative opening to the evening. Built around a single expressive musical idea, the piece explores themes of hope and peace through warm, lyrical writing for strings.
The concert’s centerpiece featured Governor Mifflin School District orchestra director Jacob Leonowitz as soloist in Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major. The concerto, first performed in 1932, is known for combining classical elegance with energetic rhythms influenced by jazz, creating a work that is both virtuosic and approachable.
Leonowitz, who has led Governor Mifflin’s orchestra program for the past decade while also serving as the district’s Performing Arts Chair, returned to Berks Sinfonietta in a different role after previously performing with the ensemble as a violist.
The evening concluded with Schubert’s Symphony No. 3 in D Major, composed in 1815 when the Austrian composer was just 18 years old. Bright melodies, lively rhythms and youthful energy made the work an uplifting finale, showcasing both the orchestra’s precision and expressive range under Gilmer’s direction.
Preparing a performance of that scale requires months of study before rehearsals even begin, Gilmer said.
“As a conductor, you look at the score months in advance. You have to know everybody’s part,” he said. “Over three rehearsals, the orchestra has improved, and tonight, I think, was the best yet. So it’s just a testament to how the group collaborates and comes together.”
Gilmer credited the ensemble’s years of performing together for its continued growth.
“They’ve been doing it for 12 years now, so they’re used to working with different styles, listening to one another,” he said. “I think they get better and better every concert.”
Founded to bring high-quality chamber orchestra performances to Berks County while introducing audiences to lesser-known orchestral works, Berks Sinfonietta continues to emphasize homegrown talent and opportunities for emerging musicians alongside established performers. Saturday’s concert reflected that mission, pairing familiar masterworks with a regional premiere and showcasing local artists before an appreciative hometown audience.
