‘Everyday Heroes’ featured in Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra children’s program

By vocation, Dr. Joel Greenberger has been fighting cancer for nearly half a century.

By avocation, he’s one heck of a horn player.

Along with treating patients while serving as chairman of the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Radiation Oncology, Greenberger managed to add making music to the mix, playing cornet and trumpet with ensembles such as the Allegheny Brass Band and Pittsburgh Savoyards.

“I’m practicing a lot more now, because I retired from clinical practice in July,” the Squirrel Hill native and Edgeworth resident said. “I still have my research lab. I’m developing drugs to decrease side effects in cancer patients.”

In his dual capacities, Greenberger is a natural fit for “Everyday Heroes,” the theme of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s first Fiddlesticks Family Concert of the 2022-23 season. Joining him as featured trumpet players are Stephen McGough, a lieutenant with the Bethel Park Volunteer Fire Company, and Bill Hughes of Pine, a registered nurse at UPMC Passavant — McCandless.

“We’re really thrilled to be able to honor them,” Melia Tourangeau, orchestra president and chief executive officer, said. “It’s great to have the kids be able to see these role models onstage and focusing on the music with them.”

The idea behind the theme also involves demonstrating to children that taking up an instrument can turn into a lifelong pursuit, according to Suzanne Perrino, senior vice president of learning and community engagement.

“We can continue to make music even if we do different things in our workday,” she said.

For Hughes, his workdays at Passavant represent a relatively new career pursuit. He earned his degree in nursing in 2020, wrapping up his studies in the early stages of the covid-19 pandemic.

But music has been a constant, and so has his friendship with McGough.

“Steve and I have known each other since high school,” Hughes said, when he attended Shaler Area and McGough was at North Catholic, and both are longtime performers with the River City Brass Band.

They also were roommates at Carnegie Mellon University, studying with renowned trumpet player Anthony Pasquarelli (1915-2011), known by music aficionados around Pittsburgh and beyond as The Boss.

“One of the biggest things The Boss taught me and music has taught me is dedication and perseverance,” Hughes said.

McGough, a faculty member in Peters Township School District’s music department, agreed.

“People talk a lot about talent when it comes to music, but the reality is that talent just determines where the first plateau is,” he said. “It’s people who really learn to dig in, drive and work hard who end up having success with endeavors like this. And of course, it applies to so many other things.”

Greenberger was another student of Pasquarelli, whom he described as “just a wonderful person, like a second father to me.”

“I think of him every day. I miss him. I have a picture of him right next to my music stand where I practice.”

For the Fiddlesticks concert, he joins Hughes and McGough in performing Leroy Anderson’s upbeat composition “Bugler’s Holiday,” with Jacob Joyce conducting the orchestra.

The show also features the vocal talents of Katy Williams of Mt. Lebanon on several selections, including leading a sing-along of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” which Fred Rogers (1928-2003) wrote as the theme to his based-in-Pittsburgh “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

Other songs in the program carry similar appeal to youngsters, as has been the focus during three-plus decades of Fiddlesticks.

“It’s very much rooted in educational basics and fundamentals, and it’s a really wonderful, easy, casual way for families and young children ages 3 to 8 to be introduced to the orchestra,” Tourangeau said.

The “Everyday Heroes” concert is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. Saturday at Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts, 600 Penn Ave. in the Cultural District. Further Fiddlesticks concerts are on Feb. 18, with the theme “Arts All Around Us,” and April 29, “The Sounds of Nature.”

For more information, visit www.pittsburghsymphony.org/pso_home/web/fiddlesticks-family-concerts-2022-2023-landing.