In the world of classical music, no composer is more well known than Ludwig van Beethoven.

He’ll be a part of the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert on Sunday, but Music Director / Conductor Susan Davenny Wyner also is interested in showcasing less represented composers in its “Spring Celebration!” performance.

Sunday’s concert at downtown Warren’s First Presbyterian Church will open with two works by women composers, both of which were written in the last century — “Fanfare of Hope and Solidarity” (2020) by Augusta Read Thomas and A Short Piece for Orchestra (1952) by Julia Perry.

“I think it’s terribly important for us to embrace living authors, living composers and see what they’re up to,” Wyner said. “We may not always respond to them, but they stimulate us and create dialogue, either in allowing us to enter fantasy realms or deal with the assault of things coming at us in the modern world.

“18th-, 19th-century composers had a much slower rate of life by our standards. I think in that sense being in touch with our times is important. And I do think calling on composers who are under-represented is important.”

Thomas’ “Fanfare of Hope and Solidarity” was composed during the COVID-19 pandemic and designed to be played by musicians recording their parts individually and assembled by a audio / video engineer. The Warren Philharmonic Orchestra will play it together in front of an audience.

“I think it will work beautifully in the church, which has such warm acoustics,” Wyner said. “What she loves to do is create layers of sound, so there are bells and vibraphones that ring in the air after the sounds of the instruments.”

Perry, who died in 1979, had northeast Ohio ties. The African-American composer grew up in Akron, and A Short Piece for Orchestra was the first work by a woman of color performed and recorded by the New York Philharmonic.

“She broke all kinds of barriers,” Wyner said. “She embraced the very avant garde kind of sound of those days and the composing techniques of the ’50s. So the piece is dynamic, it’s stormy, it’s strange, it’s got mysterious things in it. I feel she was very aware of her African-American heritage and wrote a lot of early pieces with that in mind.

“Even through this stormy language, there are references to something like the Underground Railroad with train whistle gestures going through and the serious, haunted night music. It’s very exciting to me to do this piece, which is very challenging for the orchestra … It’s so tricky in its short length. I think it packs a powerful punch.”

Looking for a contrast from the first two works, Wyner selected the Pelleas and Melisande Suite by French composer Gabriel Faure to follow, which she described as “very warm and lush and restrained and touching.”

The program will close with Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony. Wyner said the composer considered it one of his best works, but audiences at that time weren’t sure what to make of it.

“The Eighth Symphony takes the most unpromising material, little melodic fragments, and builds these fragments into the most incredible piece,” she said. “This piece is so unusual in the sense that it is all upbeat and alive. It goes to dark places as he develops the material. It turns things upside down and goes into dark worlds, then it comes out the top. There’s no slow movements … There are all kinds of delicious, beautiful jokes going on in it and surprises and shocks.

“I thought it was a wonderful way to celebrate spring and going out into maybe sun or maybe rain. Who knows?”

WPO often announces its upcoming season at its final performance of the current year. Wyner said some details are still being completed for the 2023-24 season, and it will be announced in the coming weeks.

If you go…

WHAT: “Spring Celebration!” — Warren Philharmonic Orchestra with Susan Davenny Wyner, conductor

WHEN: 3 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: First Presbyterian Church, 256 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $30 for adults, $15 for students and free for children 12 and younger and will be available at the door. For more information, go to www.warrenphilharmonic.org or call 330-399-3606.