It was a night of moving music and emotion on Saturday, April 18th as Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts (ARCA) celebrated the contributions of the late Drew Orient, ARCA’s Executive Director from 2009 to 2013.
An eclectic mix of music from jazz and blues to bossa novas and the Great American Songbook was performed in Lincoln Hall by Mark DeWalt’s CATRO and Key Factor with special guests that brought the capacity audience to a standing ovation. CATRO band had been presented by Drew Orient in Lincoln Hall and jazz festivals on multiple occasions and in Poetry and Jazz concerts he produced.
Executive Director John Soroka opened the night with a moment of silent remembrance which was concluded by the strains of bagpiper Jonathan Shegog and Brian Lowry performing “Highland Cathedral” on the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer — a nod to Drew Orient’s production of ARCA’s very popular Scottish Festival for five years. Drew Orient also brought bagpiper Jonathan Shegog to perform numerous times in commemorative experiences in the historic village of Harmony, to where he moved after his tenure with ARCA.
ARCA’s current artistic administrator and marketing director, Kathy Soroka, offered a tribute outlining Drew’s creativity as an innovative impresario working closely with founding President and Secretary/Treasurer Dr. Arthur and Patricia Steffee and current President and Vice President, respectively, Nancy and Tom Hovis, brilliantly fulfilling the Steffee’s vision of festivals presented on their RiverStone Estate.
Drew Orient produced five years of Scottish Festivals, Maple Syrup and Dogwood Festivals plus bird watching events and owl prowls at RiverStone Estate. Soroka, who performed ARCA’s first concert in 2006, sang in Lincoln Hall Beethoven and Mozart Festivls that Drew Orient produced and a recital in 2013. In his honor, she sang a song that was a favorite of Drew Orient’s that had been sung by his brother at Drew’s celebration of life – “Going Home”, to music by Antonín Dvořák.
Poet Philip Terman and former PennWest Clarion professor who had performed with Mark DeWalt and CATRO in several Poetry and Jazz concerts Orient produced performed three poems to the jazz accompaniment of CATRO.
Honoring Drew Orient’s love of jazz as an avid amateur jazz saxophonist, longtime CATRO saxophonist Dave Kana began playing “In a Sentimental Mood” at the back of the hall – moving up the aisle to the stage to join Mark DeWalt on the Steinway, guitarist Dave Brown, bassist/vocalist Lori Russo and drummer Glenn Schaft in a first set of jazz, sambas and bossa novas.
After an intermission of high-spirited sharing and reminiscing about Drew by family members and friends, keyboardist and accordionist John DeCola joined the group for an eclectic second set by Key Factor also featuring vocalist Lori Russo – who earlier in the day with four other amazing Pittsburgh women musicians had won the 21st Annual Blues Society of Western Pa Blues Challenge – going on to Memphis!
The evening was a joyous remembrance of a very special human being, referred to as “a gem” by those who knew him – whose generosity, vision and creativity established a foundation of quality and diverse programming and instigated the creation of the Red Brick Gallery – without which ARCA would not have flourished.
Many of his family – some of whom had travelled from Maine and New York City – attended the concert and from 5 to 7 PM the Red Brick Gallery soft opening of the exhibit of Charlie Platt’s earthenware ceramics and Jason Floyd Lewis’ drawings and paintings.
During his tenure, Drew Orient’s vision instigated the founding of the Red Brick Gallery by Donna Edmonds, its founder and first Artistic Director for ten years.
The current Artistic Director and curator of the Red Brick Gallery, Jason Floyd Lewis, has been a Red Brick Gallery cooperative artist since its inception when Drew Orient was Executive Director. Jason’s exhibit of drawings and paintings was paired with the earthenware ceramics of Charlie Platt in the first exhibit of the Red Brick Gallery’s 2026 season. The exhibit runs weekends from Friday, April 17 to Sunday, May 24 at 17 Main Street, Foxburg.
During this tenure, Drew Orient, an amateur jazz saxophonist, would sit in front of the RBG riffing in the sunset on warm summer nights. In his honor, alto saxophonist Quin Coltman, a Slippery Rock University student and recent concerto winner with the Butler Symphony, performed solo sax to entertain the guests during the Platt-Lewis exhibit soft opening.
Nearly 100 people attended the soft opening before the CATRO and Key Factor concert. Jason Floyd Lewis spoke with poet Philip Terman, who is joining him in the collaborative exhibit of poets and artists in the second exhibit of the 2026 Red Brick Gallery season – Reverse Ekphrasis – running weekends from May 29 to July 5 with the opening reception and poetry reading on Saturday, May 20 from 2 to 4 PM. Weekend hours are Fridays 1 PM to 6 PM, Saturdays 11 AM to 7 PM and Sundays from noon to 5 PM.
