Last year, The Millvale Festival Orchestra was formed to bring classical music to the Millvale Music Festival. We created a program filled with eastern and central European composers, as well as a few American legends, including Millvale's own Nancy Galbraith. This year, we will be performing for a second year! We have an exciting program planned, and a roster full of incredibly talented musicians. Now we need your help to make this program as spectacular as it can be! 

The Millvale Festival orchestra is dedicated to bringing classical music to the Millvale Music Festival, one of the cities' most well attended festivals. By bringing these streams together, we hope to broaden the audience for classical music ,while delivering engaging programs that celebrate contemporary music, as well as the tradition that grounds it. Your donations will enable this mission, covering the payment of musicians, music rentals, and other administrative costs. 

The MFO was founded by Jordan Speranzo, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, with a BFA in Composition and a minor in conducting, and an AMSC in Music Entrepreneurship. Jordan has recently served as associate conductor with the Pittsburgh Savoyards, and will be music directing the Pittsburgh regional premiere of The Prom, with Stage 62. Jordan was one of the winners of Nat28's Pittsburgh composer's project for the year 2025

This year, the MFO is excited to bring on board Jiddu Vega as Associate Conductor. Jiddu Vega is a 22-year-old violinist and conductor from Miami, FL. He is currently finishing his second year of the master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon University. He has won and has been selected as a finalist for numerous awards, including the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition at Carnegie Hall, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Fellowship, X-Factor and Quartet Award with SPHINX at the Curtis Institute of Music, and more. Jiddu holds his Bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University under Andrés Cárdenes.

The pieces we will be performing this year will be
Mendelssohn - String Symphony no. 10
Shostakovich - Chamber Symphony, op. 110a (Arr. Barshai)
Fletcher - Their Dreams but Mear Echoes (World Premiere)
Dvořák - Serenade for Strings

This program will be performed at 5:30pm on May 16th. The performance will be held in  St. Nicholas' Croatian Church, at 24 Maryland Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15209. To learn more about the church, and the glorious murals that grace its walls, please visit https://vankamurals.org/

While presently, the Millvale Festival Orchestra only performs at the Millvale Music Festival, we have plans to expand our program, extending beyond our opening concert at MMF to a season of concerts, with a focus on putting the works of living composers in to the context of the music that came before them. We can only achieve these lofty goals with the support of people like you. If this year is successful, we have big plans for next year's program. A fully funded program means that not only will we be able to bring 2 conductors and 13 expert musicians to the stage, to present this amazing program, but that we will be in a good position to keep this program going in to the future! We need your help to make that happen. 

We encourage you to support this project however you are able to. If you can share it with friends, with the hashtag #supportMFO, you will be bringing us one step closer to our goal! Every bit of support helps, and we appreciate it all