All City Orchestra to tour Italy in June

Philadelphia's All City Orchestra, the School District's little orchestra that could, is joining the ranks of its bigger, better-funded musical brethren and going on a foreign tour.

The 115-or-so-member ensemble, drawn from public schools and recent alumni, will play five concerts in Italy in nine days starting June 20. It is the first tour for the program, says Don S. Liuzzi, the Philadelphia Orchestra timpanist who has led the orchestra for a decade.

"There is no musical experience quite like taking your collective work on the road and musically giving and sharing with another country or culture. It is a very powerful experience, sharing music with others," says Liuzzi, himself an All City alumnus. "This will be an unforgettable experience for all the students and faculty and chaperones. When you are truly giving collectively with all your heart, that can change lives. That's the real reason we are undertaking this tour."

Before serenading Italians, the All City Orchestra will bring its program to Philadelphians in a free 90-minute send-off concert at the Kimmel Center on June 18.

Touring was a long-held wish for Liuzzi, now in his last season as All City's leader. The idea emerged as a real possibility after former Aramark board chairman Joseph Neubauer agreed to contribute $125,000 from the Neubauer Family Foundation - about a quarter of what was needed. When H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, owner and publisher of The Inquirer, pledged another $125,000, "that's when we felt things were going to really roll," Liuzzi says.

Roll they did, and now there's progress on the last $110,000 needed to cover airfare, hotels, ground transport, passport fees, meals, and insurance: On Tuesday, the William Penn Foundation approved a challenge pledge that would close the funding gap, a $55,000 grant if All City and its fund-raisers can attract the same amount, some of which is being sought through www.indiegogo.com.

Among the works the orchestra will play in Italy are an Italian-language version of Copland's Lincoln Portrait, for whose narration Liuzzi is recruiting local mayors and officials, and Lyric for Strings by George Walker, a Curtis Institute alumnus and the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize in music. Liuzzi will conduct, as will his successor, Philadelphia Orchestra assistant principal double bassist Joseph Conyers.

The orchestra will play in Perugia, Assisi, Montecatini, Massa, and at the Festival Orchestre Giovanili (youth orchestra festival) in Florence, and a chamber music concert in Rome. Only the concert in Montecatini is ticketed; the rest are free outdoors or in cathedrals. "It's a chance to play for the masses there," Liuzzi says.