The Warren Philharmonic Orchestra will return to its chamber origins for the opening concert of its 2025-26 season.

For his inaugural season as music director and conductor of the orchestra, Christopher Cicconi programmed some music that required an expanded ensemble, such as the larger horn section needed to perform Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8.

“This year I took it back to sort of its roots, because the orchestra was founded as a chamber orchestra,” Cicconi said. “I was really trying to get that intimate feel with the orchestra, like you can only get with a chamber orchestra a lot of the time. I was searching for repertoire that’s really appealing from a smaller group.”

That necessitated some changes from the original program when the season was announced two months ago. The “Fall Masterworks” concert still will open with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont Op. 84, and the second half will feature Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, Op. 90, but Johannes Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn is replaced by two shorter works, Richard Wagner’s Siegfried-Idyll, WWV 103 and Emmanuel Chabrier’s Habanera.

“The Wagner is a wonderful piece. He wrote it as a present to his wife,” Cicconi said. “It was written for a smaller group, it needed to essentially fit in a foyer where his wife could walk down the steps and hear it. Talk about a present, coming and having this new, 20-minute piece written for you.

“It’s gorgeous. It’s got these lush melodies and these beautiful harmonies. To do Wagner, you usually need about a 200-piece orchestra, but this is a chamber piece in every sense of the word, so I thought it would be a neat thing as the big piece on the first half of the program.”

A habanera is a Cuban style of music and dance.

“We all know the Bizet Habanera, which is the famous one, but Chabrier is another, and I think it rounds out the first half of the concert,” Cicconi said. “It’s quite short, but it’s got those nice sort of driving rhythms that you would usually hear in a habanera. And it’s a great way to end the first half.”

The Mendelssohn work that makes up the second half of the program is known as his “Italian” Symphony.

“I really wanted something that had a lot of passion and a lot of fire,” Cicconi said. “My whole family was born in Italy, and this piece was sort of based off of Mendelssohn’s trip over to Italy. It’s sort of infused and influenced by Italian culture, and I think it’s a great way to end our concert.

The symphony has four movements, and the two slower middle movements are bookended by a faster first movement inspired by the saltarello, an Italian folk dance and a big finale.

“Everything is taken from that sort of Italian culture and Italian heritage,” he said.

One element Cicconi implemented when he took over as music director and conductor of the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra was featuring a youth ensemble as the “opening act” for its concerts; however, the orchestra was unable to arrange that pairing for Saturday’s concert.

“It’s difficult to get a group concert ready, because most of them are still in the throes of marching band season,” Cicconi said.

The Youngstown State University Youth Orchestra will play with the WPO for its spring concert on May 9, 2026.

If you go …

WHAT: “Fall Masterworks” — Warren Philharmonic Orchestra with Christopher Cicconi, conductor

WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Lakeview High School, 300 Hillman Drive, Cortland

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $30 for adults, $15 for students and free for children ages 13 and younger. For tickets or more information, call 330-399-3606 or email warren.philharmonic@gmail.com.