Submitted photo Howland native Marino Longo will conduct a Warren Civic Music Association concert next month featuring six vocalists backed by a four-piece band and a 32-piece orchestra.

Many nationally and internationally known stars performed for the Warren Civic Music Association over its 83-year history.

For the finale of its 2025-26 season, the concert series will shine that spotlight on talent with local roots. The May 7 performance at Packard Music Hall will feature the SoundScape Symphony, led by Howland native Mariano Longo. He’ll be joined by six singers — four soloists and two backing vocalists — who will be accompanied by a four-piece band and a 32-piece orchestra.

It’s the kind of performance Longo has staged around the country — and occasionally closer to home — for 25 years. He is the founder and musical director of Orchestral Events, which has presented orchestral pops concerts with such acts as Gary Puckett and The Buckinghams.

When he was music director for Puckett’s band, Longo staged the Generation Us concert at Warren Community Amphitheatre in 2007 with Puckett, as well as local acts such as The Kellys, all backed by an orchestra. More recently he did a show at the Robins Theatre with three R&B tribute acts backed by an orchestra.

Dale Janus, talent co-chair with Warren Civic Music, saw the show at the Robins and another concert Longo did a few years before at the College of Wooster.

“I was just totally impressed with the full orchestra playing rock and pop songs,” Janus said. “I just thought it’d be a great show for Warren Civic and to use local musicians.”

Longo described the program as a best-of concert using arrangements created for different programs over the last 25 years.

“I have quite a catalog of music from every genre, every pop music genre,” Longo said. “The concept of this show is that I’ve curated the best of those arrangements. It’s a wide cross section of pop music from the ’60s up through today.

“It would have been very easy to bring in somebody from Vegas or New York or wherever to do that, but they wanted to feature local artists, and I am 1,000% behind that concept.”

With the exception of Longo’s concertmaster, Erika Syroid, who is coming in from Las Vegas, the rest of the talent is local. Musicians from the W.D. Packard Concert Band will fill the wind section of the orchestra. Many of the string players perform with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.

The four vocal soloists are Doug Thomas, Janis Jones, Aairo and Janet Opritza-Davis. The two backup singers are Rebekeah Mancino and Jenny Brady.

“Doug is certainly our veteran musical statesman from this region,” Longo said. “He has a certain style, and there are songs that fit his voice perfectly. Janet Opritza is another veteran talent from this area who toured all over the country back in the day. She has a pristine voice. A lot of contemporary singers would not be able to do what she does.

“Janis Jones is the big R&B vocal talent that can sing the big power ballads. Then Aairo,

this young man is just shockingly good, and he is exploding … He is coming up with some stunning performances of material that came out before he was even born. That’s what’s going to be a real treat for the audience, when they see this young man interpret some of this music from back in the day that he just makes sound brand new.”

Longo wants most of the setlist for the May concert to be a surprise, but he did reveal a couple of selections the audience will hear.

“Doug sings Joe Cocker’s ‘The Letter’ with the weight of the full symphony behind him, and that’s pretty stunning,” Longo said. “And Janis Jones sings the old R&B hit ‘Band of Gold.’ There’s some things that reach right into the psyche of anyone who’s old enough to remember the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.”

The singers will team up for several duets as well.

Bringing this concert to Packard Music Hall had a special appeal to Longo. He vividly remembers seeing the Warren Symphony Society, now known as the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, perform at Packard when he was in third grade.

“That’s where I was first exposed to an orchestra,” he said. “I remember that the orchestra demonstrated their instruments. The bassoon played ‘Popeye the Sailor Man …’ and the piccolo played some little lyrical thing, and that burned a hole in my musical realization that didn’t manifest itself for many years. How is it that 60 some years later, I can remember that like it was yesterday?

“That’s really why I’m so passionate about this. It’s because if we can expose young people to this real live music experience with real instruments, it’s a power that they can’t witness through the phone or television or videos. It’s just a different type of immersive experience.”

That’s one of the reasons Longo and WCMA wanted to make the concert accessible to area students. Through an anonymous donation, free tickets for the performance are available for area students. Those interested in getting those student tickets can email info@warrrencivicmusic.com for more information.

“If you’re a music student and you see this and hear this with live musicians playing songs that you know or have heard on the radio, you’ll say, ‘Wow, that’s how they did it,'” Janus said. “It’d be such a great experience for any musician, especially young ones.”

Longo agreed and said he is trying to create a concert that will have the same impact on the audience that his first orchestral experience had on him.

“I put the full weight of my 50 years of experience and all of my connections to bring this home to Packard Music Hall, where it all started for me,” Longo said. “I’ve assembled the best singers that I could find from the area to interpret this music, and the best musicians that we could assemble. I handpicked everybody, and I expect it to be a magnificent show.”

If you go …

WHAT: Warren Civic Music Association — Mariano Longo and the SoundScape Symphony

WHEN: 7 p.m. May 7

WHERE: Packard Music Hall, 1703 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $45 and are available at the Packard box office and through Ticketmaster. Free tickets are available for area students by emailing info@warrencivicmusic.com.