BUTLER TWP - Youth was the focus Saturday night at the "Irish Spring" concert of the Butler County Symphony Orchestra.

Featured was mezzo-soprano Camille O'Connor, the winner of the symphony's high-school age Young Artists Competition.

In 2004, she attended the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts where she sang the selections from Georges Bizet's "Carmen," which she performed with the orchestra.

She also sang "Habanera" and "Seguidilla" from Carmen with a clear and mature voice that belied her 17 years. At the end of the concert, she was given a standing ovation by the audience.

A junior at Knoch High School, she has studied piano and voice with Evelyn Callender, and for the past three years she has studied voice with Diana Walters.

Beethoven's "Leonore Overture No. 3" opened the program. Beginning quietly with a descending major scale for strings, the slow introduction, punctuated by Beethoven chords, gave way to a symphonic piece for full orchestra.

Beethoven wrote four overtures for his only opera, "Fidelio." The fourth one, the Fidelio Overture, is performed whenever the opera is performed. The other three serve as concert pieces.

The third, which the orchestra performed on Saturday, is the best known of those three.

The orchestra performed Leroy Anderson's "Irish Suite" of six movements. A member of the audience expressed the opinion that the "Minstrel Boy" movement was especially lovely. I agreed.

Beginning with snare drum, bass, and cello, the ensemble was joined by woodwinds. The theme as played by the strings was a melody filled with emotion. An occasional snippet of muted trumpet, combined with the snare drum, served to provide more than a hint of the military.

The concert closed with Robert Schumann's "Symphony No. 1," the "Spring Symphony."

The symphony was directed by Elisabeth Heath-Charles at the Butler Intermediate High School Auditorium.

The concert was dedicated to the memory of David Taylor, who with his family, has been supportive of the symphony.

Because the concert showcased the winner of the Young Artists Competition, 51 Young Musicians of Note were invited to attend. The names of two of them, Emily Petrak and Elizabeth Small, were drawn for prizes from May's Music Shoppe and the Butler Symphony Association.

Concerts, which feature young artists, are always a treat and this one was no exception.