After 11 years as director of the Warren Concert Association, Dave Kasper is passing the baton to Mark Nelson, the organization's board president.
We're sure the association is in good hands.
More than that, however, it gives us an opportunity to lay some praise on a group that brings quality music to Warren each winter. And by quality music, we don't mean that high-brow, plodding stuff that lulls you into a coma and sends you out into the cold wondering where the last two hours went.
The Warren Concert Association presents, along with its companion organization in Jamestown, N.Y., more than a dozen concerts each year that bring astounding music to the Struthers Library Theatre in Warren and the Reg Lenna Theater in Jamestown. The genres range from classical (often with a modern twist) to seasonal favorites, even humor.
For more than a half century, the association has been filling Warren's landmark venue with sounds from Bach to the Beatles, from Johnny Cash to George Gerswin. Its performers have traveled here from around the world.
And while the largely adult audiences have been appreciative (at times wildly so) at the evening performances, there are frequently performances and clinics for the county's youth. Of particular note is pianist Alpin Hong, who has brought packed houses to their feet in the evening and enthralled children during the day.
Kasper, Nelson and the Concert Association team have turned six winter evenings, that would have otherwise been spent simply waiting for spring, into occasions in which the senses are filled with romance, laughter, sometimes a few tears, and more often than not, awe.
This is the good stuff, and Warren is lucky to have it.