Neglia Ballet performs at Artpark with the BPO on Friday.

This weekend marks the halfway point of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s Summerfest season at Artpark in Lewiston. Resident Conductor Robert Franz leads the orchestra for one last time on Friday in “An Evening with Neglia Ballet,” before BPO Music Director Joann Falletta returns to the podium for the Saturday and Sunday concerts. Last weekend’s eloquently realized performance of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony under the baton of Franz confirmed what many longtime BPO patrons had suspected—the current conducting staff of Music Director Joann Falletta and Resident Conductor Robert Franz is the strongest that the orchestra has enjoyed since the early 1980s combination of Music Director Julius Rudel and Associate Conductor Semyon Bychkov. It is interesting to note that while Rudel and Bychkov were European born and trained, Falletta and Franz are both American born and educated.

Saturday evening’s concert opens with the thundering chords of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, the most often performed overture by American symphony orchestras, according to a recent poll. Stefan Sanders, who will conduct the overture, is a BPO trombonist who is now also serving as an apprentice conductor, and he has been featured in several BPO outdoor concerts.

BPO Concertmaster Michael Ludwig will be the soloist, under the baton of Joann Falletta, in the much-loved Concerto in E minor for Violin and Orchestra by Felix Mendelssohn. Ludwig has just finished his first season as BPO concertmaster, and he has proven himself a very able successor to Charles Haupt, the orchestra’s previous, long-tenured concertmaster. In his first appearance as a soloist with the orchestra, Ludwig offered vibrant performances of Chausson’s Poeme and Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy on the same program, making an effective coupling of the two very dissimilar works. The evening concludes with the Symphony No. 4 by Tchaikovsky. From the opening theme first heralded in the brass section, the “fate motif,” with its resemblance to the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, is the thread that holds the work together, through changing moods of joy, sorrow and despair, until the ultimate, jubilant ending. The Tchaikovsky Fourth Symphony is one of the most surefire crowd pleasers in the entire symphonic repertoire.

Sunday afternoon, the National Public Radio program From the Top finally comes to Western New York. NPR has been broadcasting the program, one of the network’s most popular, for eight years, and WNED has been carrying it locally on Saturday mornings for at least the last five or six years. While the program has been taped in many major metropolitan areas, some of the locations have been a little more obscure—East Podunk?—well, not quite, but it is still gratifying to finally have it come to our area.

Christopher O’Riley, the host of From the Top, is a formidable concert pianist in his own right. A decade or so ago, O’Riley gave a highly original solo recital, that consisted entirely of intermingled preludes and fugues by J.S. Bach and Dmitri Shostakovich, two composers with very different styles, as part of the old QRS concert series at Kleinhans Music Hall. A mini-blizzard had hit the city earlier that afternoon, but the tiny crowd that braved the elements that evening enjoyed an unforgettable experience. O’Riley has also gained an entirely new following with recordings of his own transcriptions of songs by the progressive English rock band Radiohead, along with a recently released album of interpretations of works by the late, enigmatic songwriter/guitarist Nick Drake.

For those unfamiliar with the radio program, From the Top seeks out young, well-trained, pre-college-age classical musicians and gives them the opportunity to perform before a national audience. It also gives the students a chance to connect with other young artists, something of great importance for those in their teenage years who might feel isolated in their practice rooms from their non-performing peers.

"From the Top's" Chris O'Riley broadcasts his show from Artpark with the BPO on Sunday.

O’Riley works his magic through the charm of his personality. He comes across as your older brother or sister’s best friend—someone who loves to kid with you while still taking your needs and aspirations seriously. Student musicians appearing on the program are interviewed extensively beforehand about their interests, and the production staff always comes up with one or two short comedy skits—a quiz or a funny routine—that add greatly to the show’s appeal.

From the Top usually features either individuals, or small groups performing, sometimes by themselves, but often with O’Riley at the keyboard. This might be one of the few times, if not the first time ever, where the young players get to perform with a major symphony orchestra. It is good to know that BPO Music Director Joann Falletta, someone whose own charm and audience rapport can match that of Chris O’Riley, will be on the podium for this concert.

On Sunday afternoon, Stephanie Chen, along with O’Riley, will perform the Larghetto movement from Francois Poulenc’s Concerto in D minor for Two Pianos and Orchestra.

Cellist Sarina Zhang will be the soloist in the final Allegro molto from Haydn’s Concerto in C major for Cello and Orchestra, and bassoonist Noah Brown will be featured in the opening Allegro from Mozart’s Concerto in B-flat major for Bassoon and Orchestra. Alexander Boissonnault, a recent graduate of Williamsville South High School and an award winning violinist who will be starting his studies at Indiana University this fall, will perform the final, fiery Allegro con fuoco-Allegro moderato (a la zingara) from the Concerto No. 2 in D minor for Violin and Orchestra by Henryk Wieniawski.

Christopher O’Riley will himself be the soloist in the flashy, knuckle-busting Scherzo from the Concerto symphonique No. 4 in D minor for Piano and Orchestra by Henry Litolff, a work he’ll have performed just a few days earlier at the Hollywood Bowl.

Joann Falletta will lead the BPO in the Roman Carnival Overture by Hector Berlioz, the Overture to the Bartered Bride by Bedrich Smetana and the “Hoe Down” from Aaron Copland’s ballet Rodeo. If you have not yet got out to Artpark to hear the BPO this summer, this is the one concert you should not miss.