South Hills Junior Orchestra Gears Up For Concert

Students from all over western Pennsylvania descended upon Saturday as the South Hills Junior Orchestra prepared for its spring concert.

The upcoming event, led by Upper St. Clair's own Paul Fox, is fast approaching. The teens and pre-teens are rehearsing diligently for the concert scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday in the .

Fox took the orchestra through a repertoire of numbers, including Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, A Salute to Cinema, and Polestar, a piece written by William Critser, a fellow teacher and composer. Critser is part of the trio of musical directors for the SHJO, alongside Fox and his wife, Donna (an orchestra leader at ).

The South Hills Junior Orchestra is a nonprofit youth symphony orchestra founded in 1983 by Paul and Donna Fox. The students from middle to high school come from all over to participate.

“Donna and I were teaching on Saturdays at CMU and we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have something for the kids in the South Hills? Somewhere they could go without having to audition?'" Fox said.

From that germ of an idea, the SHJO was born. Fox persuaded the former Upper St. Clair superintendent to donate the school’s space.

And the orchestra grew.

Now, members come from various local school districts such as , Aliquippa, Avonworth, Belle Vernon,  Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park, Peters, Quaker Valley and West Mifflin—among many others.

“Some of the kids are from smaller schools where there’s probably only one trumpet player. Here, they get to play as part of an ensemble,” Fox said.

Fox enthusiastically championed the organization. “We suggest that anyone who wants to come down sit in and try us out. The kids get to decide if they want to join us, not the other way around.”

“It’s inexpensive to join compared to other orchestras, and we’ve gotten to go all over. We’ve played in Washington, D.C., colonial Williamsburg, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Columbus and more,” said Chaz Vukotich, a former performer and current assistant managing director.

“Mr. Fox is a great teacher and every kid here wants to be here. We play for the sake of playing,” Vukotich said.

A parent, Dennis Mazur, ushered his daughter Emily into the rehearsal space.

“The group is always looking for members. There is no audition process. The only requirement is that the students are part of the music group at their own school,” he said. 

Fox educates and entertains his young musicians. At rehearsal Fox took the students through “Salute to Cinema,” a medley of famous Hollywood music such as “Hooray for Hollywood,” “Singing in the Rain” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” He couldn’t help himself from booming in a deep baritone, singing along to the melodious sounds of the South Hills Junior Orchestra.