Johnstown Symphony Music Director James Blachly in a Nulton Aviation Services aircraft. Blachly and the Johnstown Symphony perform in the Nulton hangar at Johnstown-Cambria County Airport this weekend. Photo: Jessica Satava
“Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts…. In partnership with Nulton Aviation, the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra will present ‘Ready for Takeoff!’ … Sunday in the lower hangar of Nulton Aviation at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport,” writes Kelly Urban in Wednesday’s (6/22) Tribune-Democrat (PA). “The symphony orchestra will be on display from a stage within the airplane hangar, where it will play Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Elton John and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. The orchestra will be joined by rock vocalist Mary Jo Swank, an audience favorite.… Bedford resident and … vocalist Matt Otis will [perform] with the orchestra. Maestro James Blachly said the concert is an extension of the symphony’s past mill concerts in the Johnstown community…. The audience will be seated outdoors on the apron of the hangar on the tarmac. Those with season tickets will have access to seating under a tent…. Snacks, soda, iced tea and water will be available for purchase. Aviation-themed toys and activities will be available, including face-painting…. Nulton Aviation and Blachly have donated the chance for the winner of a raffle to join Blachly as his co-pilot for a flight in the state-of-the-art flight simulator.”
