The Orchestra: The Westmont Philharmonia Accordion Orchestra (WPAO), a serious ensemble of musicians, was formed in 1960 by Stanley Darrow and Roman Pawlowski. In 1976, Mayor William G. Rohrer designated the WPAO as the official community orchestra of Haddon Township, N.J.
The Orchestra is a Classical Symphonic orchestra. The WPAO is made up of 14 members from the area who perform serious classical and contemporary works. The conductors for the orchestra are the director Stanley Darrow and Anatoly Cherkassky from Moscow, USSR.
Members are arranged into four separate sections and a bass. The harmonies, the thoughtful insights of the conductors, and their musical expertise combine to create a sound not unlike that of a chamber ensemble. Often other orchestral instruments such as violin, clarinet, horns, trumpets, and bells can be heard from their specially designed instrument, the Electronium, which was developed and refined over the last 100 years.
The musical repertoire includes works by Bach, Bernstein, Gluck, Bert Kaempfert, Borodin, Morton Gould, Mozart, Rossini, Schubert, Suppe', Verdi, von Weber, Wagner, and other classical/ contemporary composers.
The WPAO is an affiliated sister organization of the Westmont Accordion Club and the Pitman Accordion Club. All of these organizations being dedicated to the advancement of the accordion in different areas of interest.
Communities Served: The Orchestra performs up to four concerts each year in the New Jersey area. Attendees to the concerts come from Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Orchestra members typically come from New Jersey. The orchestra has had members come from as far away as Maryland, Philadelphia, and New York. One current member comes from the city of Bejing in China and attends Glassboro State College, NJ.
When the Orchestra hosts groups from abroad, there is a special appeal to ethnic groups in the local and Tri-State areas as well as New York and Maryland.
Through the Director, Stan Darrow, other communities across the United States, Europe, and the world, are kept informed of our activities.
Education: The Orchestra accepts young associate members who have talent and potentially greater musical abilities. These associate members rehearse and perform with the full Orchestra. This gives the young individual a chance to expand their musical knowledge with other more advanced musicians. When the associate member has proven his/her musical abilities, he/she may become a full Orchestra member.
Each year the Orchestra performs a Children's Concert. This concert is oriented toward introducing young people of the local area to baroque, classical, and contemporary music. This concert is typically held during the winter.
The Orchestra has been designated an official training orchestra for accordionists attending Glassboro State College, NJ.
Scholarships: The WPAO has established a Scholarship Fund to encourage young musicians to continue their music education and to further the development of the accordion as a serious concert instrument. All monies collected by the Orchestra, in excess of those required for working expenses, are used to support this fund.
One grant each year is awarded from the Orchestra to an individual or group for advanced music studies. The recipient of this award is chosen on the basis of general musicianship, references, financial need, and his performance in an advanced music competition held each spring. In addition to the cash award the winner is featured as a guest artist of one of the Orchestra's major concerts.
The Director: The WPAO is privileged to have as Director-Conductor, Stanley Darrow, noted classical accordionist. He has made a career of demonstrating the accordion's vast potential as a serious musical instrument of concert stature.
Mr. Darrow keeps abreast of the field through regular concert study tours of Europe including the famous State Accordion College, Trossingen, W. Germany. His lectures and recitals have taken him from Glassboro State to the Pilzen and Prague Conservatories. He is a board member of the "Accordion Teachers Guild", a founder member of the "American Musicological Society:, and director of the "Acme Accordion School", Westmont, New Jersey.
Conductors: The Orchestra invites conductors to lead the Orchestra during one of its concerts. Conductors come from other parts of the United States as well as other countries. Guest conductors have been featured from Great Britain, The Netherlands, Germany, and USSR.
The primary conductor of the Orchestra is the Director, Stanley Darrow. Mr. Darrow selects the compositions which are to be performed at each concert. He also conducts at each of the Orchestra's concerts.
The current guest conductor of the Orchestra is Anatoly Cherkassky of Moscow, USSR. Mr. Cherkassky conducts both Accordion and symphony orchestras. He started as a guest conductor in 1985.
Members: The members come from all parts of New Jersey and their purpose is to perform serious music and to premiere original accordion compositions. The WPAO contributes to the musicianship of each member and provides enjoyment for its audiences.
The orchestra features virtuoso artists as guest performers. Its concerts have been heard in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Europe and throughout New Jersey. For membership information, phone 854-6628 or 589-8308 in the 609 area code.
Update (May 24, 2025): This page is from http://www.cs.cmu.edu:80/afs/cs/user/phoebe/accordion/wpao.html as captured on Dec 05, 1998 by the Way Back Machine (webarchive.org).