Painted on the Sky
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Our first Masterworks of the season transforms the concert hall through the marriage of visual art, movement, and music, creating a truly immersive concert experience.
We aptly begin with Opening, a work by Eric Nathan, a longtime collaborator of Music Director John Devlin. This piece features brass fanfares, ebullient spirit, and a few special surprises—perfect to open our season. Following this, audiences will delight in the WSO’s multidisciplinary presentation of Benjamin Britten’s suite from the opera Peter Grimes, which will be accompanied by the brilliant lighting and visual design from legendary stage director Doug Fitch. In addition, this piece will be a collaboration with Oglebay Institute’s School of Dance, with many local dance students collaborating both as performers and as creators of these special visual effects.
After intermission, WSO musicians will take center stage—our very own horn section! Led by Acting Principal Jason Allison, the WSO horn quartet will provide virtuosic and raucous fun as the soloists in Schumann’s iconic showpiece Konzertstück. The concert closes, appropriately, with Appalachian Spring. This is perhaps the seminal work by an American composer about America, and it paints a beautiful picture of our home amongst the hills.
New subscriptions go on sale May 15. Single tickets go on sale June 27 at 10 am.
Featuring
John Devlin, Conductor
Conductor John Gennaro Devlin, is an ardent champion of American music, an innovator of concert design, and a thought leader in the field of classical music. In his seventh season as Music Director of the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Devlin is only the ninth conductor in its 90-year history to hold that title. He was recently named a recipient of the 2023 Georg Solti Foundation Career Assistance Award. Devlin’s artistry and versatility make him a frequent guest conductor with major orchestras across the nation. His engagements include performances with the National Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and the American Repertory Ballet. Of his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra and violin soloist Joshua Bell, Anne Midgette of The Washington Post wrote that Devlin “led the evening with flair … and was visibly in his element.” A strong advocate for American music, Devlin has made it a programmatic focus and has premiered over 40 new American works. Committed to serving the wider arts community beyond the podium, Devlin is part of the six-member Conductor Constituency Leadership Team of the League of American Orchestras, advocating for conductors nationally. Previously, he served on the Conductors Guild’s Board of Directors and was a featured speaker at the organization’s annual conference, discussing the future of orchestras with the Executive Directors of the National and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. He also delivered the keynote TED talk on “Innovation in Crowded Marketplaces” at a TEDx symposium. Devlin completed his master’s and doctoral degrees in orchestral conducting under the tutelage of James Ross at the University of Maryland. His undergraduate degree is from Emory University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a double major in Clarinet Performance and Latin.
