Allegro's 2025 Year in Review

As we dive into 2026, we’re looking back at exciting music, guest performers and composers, new venues and new collaborations! Month by month, we’re going through the year, and showing gratitude for all the support, all the great performances, and hope for what the new year brings! 

January: 

In January 2025, Allegro featured two incredible performers: Sara Male and Bernard Kane for Back to Bach. This concert featured two stunning contemporary works from living composers, and got to share the joy of having those composers present for their compositions. Bernard Kane, Cardiff-born composer and violist, traveled to Lancaster to announce and perform in his piece Bardsey Sound, and Tina Davidson, local Lancaster composer, gave the introduction to her piece Always Parisa. Check out the concert and relive these brilliant performances here. 

This month also saw the first ever post in our Allegro blog! Not yet named, this blog was designed as a means of exploring music history, Allegro and Nextgen news, and providing more content for our audience. The Allegro blog now has 13 posts with steady readership, and we’re looking forward to continuing under its new title, con Espressione. 

February: 

Our February concert featured a very special performance by the Anthracite Marimba Ensemble. After our venue West Art had to pause events due to ongoing renovations, First United Methodist Church stepped up and saved us, providing their Celebration Center as an alternative performance space. We’re very proud and grateful to our community for coming through, and thankful to our audience for being flexible and understanding. Times like these remind us of the importance of nimbleness, flexibility, and adaptability. 

March:

The month of March featured two performances from the Allegro and Nextgen family: on March 2nd, Nextgen’s Overture and Allegretto had their late Winter concert at Lancaster Country Day School’s Gardner Theatre. 

Allegro welcomed Lancaster-born baritone and rising opera star Luke Harnish and featured a bonus blog post where I sat down with Luke to discuss his life and work. Check out our Luke Harnish interview here. 

April: 

This year our April energy was focused towards our Nextgen Spring Festival, featuring all 5 of our Nextgen performing groups – over 250 students.. This festival brought a combined audience of over 600 to Franklin & Marshall College’s Barshinger Center and presented to them the incredible work Prelude, Intermezzo Strings, Intermezzo Winds, Overture, and Allegretto had done over the year. The Nextgen program is central to Allegro’s mission of spreading the joy of classical music across multiple generations in Lancaster County, and this festival is an annual testament to that mission. 

During April we also announced the first clue to our experimental Summer Surprise concert. With a secret program revealed slowly through hints and riddles, this concert challenged our audience to trust our programming instincts and accompany Allegro on a marketing journey that, while not our most popular summer concert, saw a brilliantly enthusiastic audience who came together to discover a program filled with great works. 

May:

In May, the Wheatland Chorale Festival Singers were preparing for Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, what would become our best-attended concert of the year! This 80-voice ensemble came together in a fantastic collaboration with the full Allegro Orchestra to present this iconic and moving work. The brilliant David Fitzpatrick, conductor of the Wheatland Chorale, and skilled accompanist Renee Sadorf (an Allegretto alum) prepared the choir expertly for weeks, ensuring this work had the expertise and execution it deserved. 

June:

Summer Surprise was full of surprises! Another last-minute venue conflict introduced an additional surprise to the mix, and the true surprise of the evening was the premier of a new piece by our Founder, Conductor, and Artistic Director, Brian Norcross. Titled Rain, this piece featured motifs from popular childhood tunes. Enjoy the premier of this work, along with Dr. Norcross’s heartwarming introduction here. 

June also saw Allegro hire 2 new personnel for the Nextgen Youth Music program: Francis Caravella and Robert Shaubach, are now Nextgen’s Program Directors, both are currently conducting Nextgen’s new developmental string ensemble Crescendo, and Mr. Caravella has returned as the assistant conductor of Allegretto. Both have been working tirelessly to boost enrollment and foster strong collaboration within the program. 

July:

Allegro’s second summer concert of the season, Ein Deutsches Requiem, was a resounding success with over 320 audience members, a majority of whom were new to Allegro. This performance was an absolute joy to put together and participate in. Large works like these truly showcase the unbridled power of concert music, the ability to bring people together in appreciation and in collaboration to reanimate a piece of art that relies directly on the coordinated effort of human beings. Enjoy the recording of this monumental work here. 

In July, we also started sending a post-concert survey and have received some excellent responses from our audience. Reactions to Requiem were a moving reminder of the impact live music offers, with one respondent calling the concert “Spectacular” and another praising the “fruitful collaboration of the Orchestra and Chorale.” 

August:

We closed our 2024-2025 season in August with Opening Remarks. A tongue-in-cheek title to the final concert of our season, this concert primarily featured Overtures. However, the standout performance from Opening Remarks came from our exquisite concertmaster, Melody Cliff, on Linda Robbins Coleman’s Prairie Portraits. A fun and spirited, three movement concertino for violin (fiddle) and small orchestra, this work combines Coleman’s unique contemporary concert music style with a country flavor. Each movement is named after a small town in Iowa, from where Coleman hails. You can enjoy Cliff’s performance (and the other Overtures filling Opening Remarks) here. 

August also saw the well-deserved retirement of Allegro’s incredible CEO, Paul Richer, and in the wake of his departure organizational changes including the creation of the Executive Director position, playing alongside Artistic Director, Brian Norcross and overseeing the logistical and financial aspects of the organization. Marketing Coordinator Caroline Burns now holds this position. 

September: 

In September, Allegro was featured in Fig Magazine! We had such fun working with Fig to come up with our page, and their reach has helped us to continue rebuilding our audience in the receding echo of COVID-era gathering hesitance. As we entered our 2025-2026 season, our goal was to increase exposure and get in front of the community. Through a combination of increased content creation, advertising, and collaboration with other arts and music organizations in the area, we are doing all we can to increase our visibility and expand our audience. (You can help by interacting with Allegro’s content wherever you see it! We are on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Every time you like, comment on, or share our posts, it helps to boost Allegro with social media algorithms. It’s a cost-free way to support Allegro’s mission!) 

October: 

October opened our 2025-2026 Season with a semi-annual favorite: Brass & Organ! We introduced open dress rehearsals and matinees back to our schedule, allowing our audience more opportunities to experience the joyful music of Allegro!

October also saw the Nextgen ensembles Overture and Allegretto perform as they never have before: together! 

November:

In November, Allegro had our first concert at the Lancaster Art Vault: The White Star! This concert was an excellent premier for our newest and most unique venue. The Art Vault is the newest addition to Lancaster’s vibrant art scene and provided us an opportunity to return to true Music in the Round. With a Vine Bar table and a gorgeous, visually stimulating setting in the gallery, The White Star saw inspiring results and glowing feedback from our audience and musicians alike! 

November also saw a great fundraising push with the annual Lancaster County Community Foundation’s Extra Give, 24 hours of giving during which Allegro and Nextgen raised over $21,000 to support our programming!

December:

We closed out the year with a stunningly well-attended rendition of A City in Song! With over 400 combined audience members between the two performances and a wealth of online engagement, this concert and the reactions to it were so encouraging and exciting. Some responses we’d like to share include: “it was a tsunami of self discipline! So impressive” “Whimsical,” “Loved the variety” “Music for every level of appreciation” “The entire concert was magical” and "The orchestra and singers were superb. I enjoyed every song, and this concert always puts me in the holiday spirit. I must say that Maestro Norcross’ humanness and his handling of a few hiccups made me smile and reassured me that he is extremely capable on all fronts.  Bravo!!!!"

2025 was a year of changes, growth, new audiences and new venues, but don’t call it a comeback - we’ve been here for years! We’ll continue working hard through 2026 and beyond to bring you great works, unique venues and programs, community engagement, and above all joyful music!