Published: October 09, 2007 08:49 am      

Johnstown Symphony cellist plays for keeps

BY RUTH RICE

RRICE@TRIBDEM.COM

As second cello with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, Darlene Lopresti plays second fiddle to no one.

A symphony veteran, Lopresti will start her 38th season with the orchestra this fall.

Unlike some of her fellow orchestra members, Lopresti has no degrees in music, but she has learned a wealth of information from music lessons and teachers and from her many years of playing with the orchestra.

Patricia Hofscher, the symphony's executive director, said Lopresti is the kind of dedicated musician the orchestra has counted on throughout its existence.

"It's the ones that play with us year after year after year," Hofscher said. "Players like her are an invaluable backbone to orchestras in communities like Johnstown."

Lopresti and her four sisters all took voice and music lessons while growing up. Darlene started playing piano at age 5.

"In fourth grade when they had the music and band programs, I wanted to play the piccolo," Lopresti said. "My parents got me a flute and I had a couple of lessons, but I never got a single note out of it before I quit."

Lopresti's older sister played the cello, so her parents borrowed a three-quarter size cello from her teacher for Lopresti to play.

Lopresti explained that at the grade-school level, children are fitted to their instruments, using a half- or three-quarter size.

Doing better with the cello than she had with the flute, Lopresti soon was playing her sister's music for the youth orchestra. When her father found out, he declared that Lopresti should join the youth orchestra for Johnstown Symphony, which she did when she was still in fourth grade.

Before she was in eighth grade, Lopresti had advanced so much that her father thought she should join the adult orchestra.

"It was mostly for high school age or older, but I was able to get in when I was younger," Lopresti said. "I had to do my homework when the cello section wasn't practicing. I was shy, not one to dive into things."

Lopresti's first conductor was Phillip Coleman Spurgeon, who led the symphony from 1961 to 1969.

"He was a technician," Lopresti said.

"He demanded excellence and precision, and he got it."

When Lopresti went to college, she didn't play with the symphony, but she began again after returning home.

Other conductors she has served under are Michael "Mischa" Semanitzky from 1969 to 1973, Donald Barra from 1973 to 1983 and Maestro Istvan Jaray from 1983 to the present.

"I think each conductor has his own style," Lopresti said. "They shape the orchestra in their own way. Dr. Semanitzky was theatrical and a showman, Dr. Barra liked sweeping, romantic pieces and maestro is a combination of all three."

The number of cellos varies with the requirements of whatever musical pieces are played, Lopresti explained.

When she started with the orchestra, there were six to eight cellists, but that number has diminished through attrition.

"Back then, I was back in the curtains," Lopresti said. "Now, my stand partner likes the way I turn pages."

Turning those pages and keeping them down can be especially trying in an outside venue, such as when the symphony plays its annual Fourth of July concert.

"The wind can blow the music and the stands, and bugs get on the music," Lopresti said.

The annual free concert was held in the Cambria County War Memorial Arena this year because of the weather.

"It seemed like the best one I can remember," Lopresti said. "Everyone was feeling good, and the audience really enjoyed it."

Despite her years of experience, Lopresti is humble about her musical talent.

"I'm not as accomplished as some of the others," Lopresti said.

Hofcher said Lopresti is an example of having grown up in the orchestra, receiving training with the youth orchestra and returning after college to play as an adult.

"Players that return every year and continue to play well are the very foundation of the JSO," Hofscher said.

When not playing cello with the symphony, Lopresti works as an accountant at the arena.

She enjoys family get-togethers, attending concerts and other events in Pittsburgh with her husband, John, and picking out interesting old items at flea markets.

Lopresti also is following another childhood dream by learning to play the harp.

"It's a folk harp, not as big as a pedal harp," Lopresti said. "I've gotten some guidance and lessons from the harpist in the orchestra, but I have to do a lot on my own."

Lopresti has played the organ and directed choirs in local churches and played at weddings in a trio with piano, violin and cello for several years.

"Now I play in a quartet with other symphony members for weddings," Lopresti said. "I played a couple times with the Chamber Orchestra of the Alleghenies, and years ago I played with the Altoona Symphony Orchestra."

Wanting to instill the basics of music in her own children, Lopresti had them take piano lessons, but for any other musical inclinations, they followed their own path.

Her son plays guitar, one daughter enjoys singing and the other daughter plays the cello.

Even though one child followed in her footsteps, Lopresti did no teaching.

"I found out it's not a good thing for a parent to be a teacher," she said.