Rather than politely tiptoeing into its 70th anniversary season, the Butler County Symphony Orchestra strutted its stuff with an exciting, in-your-face Bernstein and Barber concert Saturday night at the Butler Intermediate School.

The orchestra totally dominated Leonard Bernstein’s jazzy dances from On the Town and West Side Story as well as Barber’s daunting Violin Concerto and the Overture to The School for Scandal. Although the two composers had vastly different styles, the jerky rhythms and jagged melody lines were highly complementary.

The opening strains of Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from the movie On the Town vividly depicted the strident energy of New York City. The first movement featured syncopated, quirky cadences that evoked the power of the city in all its brash glory.

A muted trumpet solo heralded the second movement, titled Lonely Town. The slower melody passed from one solo instrument to another in the best tradition of jazz idiom, all played with ease and expertise. It was both wistful and sultry — lonely in a city full of people.

Times Square, 1944 was portrayed in a ragtime tune. Starting with a clarinet solo, including scraps of the familiar song Wonderful Town and accelerating throughout the movement the orchestra followed Maestro Matthew Kraemer to a furious but precise conclusion.

Concertos are designed to show off a featured artist and instrument. Violinist Juliana Athayde’s performance of Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto demonstrated her absolute mastery of an excruciatingly difficult work. The Allegro movement featured a wide variety of tempos and techniques which Athayde handled with precision.

The slower, Andante movement permitted Athayde to play with sensitivity and exquisite control. The poignant opening phrase gave way to a more anxious theme full of challenging cadenzas before resolving into a somber close.

Presto in moto perpetuo certainly lived up to its name: It was very fast and perpetually moving. The extremely frenetic tempo and bouncy melody line showcased Athayde’s consummate talent. It was a tour de force by soloist and orchestra as well.

The razzle-dazzle continued as the orchestra pranced through Overture to The School for Scandal. Kraemer and the orchestra successfully navigated Barber’s choppy rhythms and abrupt volume variations. It seemed like Barber used every virtuosic technique from pizzicato string plucking to childlike lyricism to ominous swirling strings and threatening brass themes all leading to a resounding finale. The orchestra triumphed.

Iconic is the only word for the symphonic dances from West Side Story. From the first strains and finger clicks the orchestra reveled in the memorable tunes. It was tempting to join in with enthusiastic shouts of “mambo.” In turn confrontational, romantic, bacchanalic, pulsating or plaintive, the orchestra brought Bernstein’s beloved score to life to the delight of the audience.

The concert was the beginning of the 70th anniversary celebration. It had unrelenting difficulty, unflagging energy, flashy music and justifiable bravado. Butler County Symphony Orchestra just keeps getting better and better.