Artist Spotlight - Orchestra of Northern New York
HarmoNNY is thrilled to announce that, for the first time, we will be featuring an organization for our April Artist Spotlight. The Orchestra of Northern New York, or ONNY, was formed in 1988 by current director and conductor, Kenneth Andrews. At the time, there were no professional orchestras within a reasonable radius of Crane School of Music in Potsdam so the goal of forming the orchestra was to provide both students and professional musicians an opportunity to connect and perform.
Ken received most of his musical training in Chicago, where he originally grew up. His primary instrument was the flute, but he also learned piano and ended up composing a musical while still in high school. Ken then went to school for music at Indiana University. During his senior year he conducted the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and had to frequently commute by plane between college and Montreal. After working for a time at Ohio University, Ken eventually got hired at Crane School of Music in Potsdam in 1986.
Two years into his position at Crane, Ken and a few of his colleagues decided it was time to form an orchestra. After planning and discussions with as many musicians as possible, there was a general agreement that an orchestra was needed, as long as it was a professional orchestra. They had their first concert at Snow Hall at Crane in the fall of 1988. Since then, they have continued to play at Crane, while also extending a reach into the Watertown region with concerts at First Presbrytarian Church. They are also well known in Watertown for the Concert in the Park, an annual Independence Day celebration at Watertown’s Thompson Park. The orchestra features members from a wide area including Potsdam, Canton, Massena, Waddington, Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, Syracuse, Rochester, Ithaca, Burlington, Vermont, New York City, Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto.
Now in his 34th year of music directing and conducting, Ken is grateful that the orchestra was able to continue operations and concerts during the pandemic. COVID-19 forced the orchestra to adapt to new technologies that allowed them to do virtual concerts, including a collaboration with PBS. Because of their continued presence, as well as the activity of the executive director, Kathy Del Guidice, and all volunteers, the orchestra was able to move beyond the pandemic and into a season of thrilling in-person performances. As Ken said, “It exists because all these people work so hard.”
ONNY’s next two performances will be Saturday, April 2nd at Hosmer Hall in Potsdam beginning at 7:30 PM and Sunday, April 3rd at First Presbyterian Church in Watertown beginning at 3:00 PM. The concert is entitled “Dreams of Spring” and will feature a piece from Haydyn, performances by their Young Artist winner, Victoria Huffman from Theresa, NY, as well as a musical composition from a high school freshman, Constantine Darie. Constantine started writing a piece entitled “Waves” as an 8th grader and now has the amazing opportunity to have it performed by a professional orchestra.
Be sure to check out the full interview below and follow ONNY on social media to find out all of the places they will be playing this summer.