ST. MARYS – The world of music suffered a great loss when
Nicholas J. Sinibaldi passed away. To keep his memory and music
alive, a tribute concert has been planned and will be held at 3
p.m. Saturday at the St. Marys Area High School.

As of today, 131 musicians will perform, under the direction of
conductor Dr. Stanley F. Michalski Jr., formerly of the Clarion
University Band. Michalski was a lifelong friend of Sinibaldi.

Sinibaldi was involved in the music field for more than 52
years. He began his career at the Foster Township Elementary School
in Bradford, later moving on to Bradford High School. He is known
in Elk County for his career at both St. Marys Area and Elk County
Catholic high schools in addition to instructing at various
elementary schools.

Meanwhile, for more than 22 years, he was also involved with
summer band clinics at Clarion University. He received the Phi Beta
Mu outstanding band director in 1984.

Sinibaldi married Vera Piscitelli of Bradford and they had five
daughters, Donna Miller of Williamsport, Betty Sobierajski of St.
Marys, Ann Herzing of St. Marys, Mary Mancino of Bethlehem and
Patty Simdelar of Chicago.

“After my dad’s funeral, when us girls were sitting around just
kinda reminiscing, we thought about it (having a concert),” Herzing
said. “When the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus came out, we thought about
it. We kept saying, ‘We should, we should,’ but we don’t do
anything. We thought that wouldn’t it be neat to do that as a
memorial.

“My sister Betty said she would take it on. We contacted some
former students here in St. Marys that we knew and got
together.”

Herzing said they asked the students what they thought about the
idea of a tribute concert and they were all for it.

“We went through and sent out letters to some students, people
who had associated with him and asked them to pass the word,”
Herzing said. That has led to the current number of 131 people who
will perform in Saturday’s concert. This includes Herzing who will
be playing her father’s clarinet for the event.

“My dad taught for 52 years and practiced the clarinet every
single day,” Herzing said. “Even the day he died, he held the
clarinet and fingered it.”

The numbers being played are all something associated with him,
either a favorite tune or a march that has some connection to him.
The 10 musical selections for the concert were chosen by Michalski
and include “Just A Closer Walk with Thee,” “New Colonial March,”
“Nimrod,” “Ave Marie,” “Funiculi, Funicula,” “Alleluia, Italian in
Algiers” and “Gigi.”

“Along with the concert we talked about starting a scholarship,”
Herzing explained. “The admission is free, but we will be accepting
donations to the scholarship through the Elk County Community
Foundation. The scholarship is called the Nicholas J. Sinibaldi
Music Scholarship.”

While none of Sinibaldi’s grandchildren play a musical
instrument, they are all in the fine arts.

Herzing’s daughter is a sculptor and her son creates pottery.
Her second daughter did play the clarinet in elementary school, but
is now a fine arts major in college.

“We find all the grandkids went into the other side of the fine
arts,” Herzing said. “When they were little, they would always
march around the house to the music and are all fans of music and
love music.”

She said she was curious to see if the next generation will go
back into music.

Musicians are coming from across the country, with the farthest
arriving from California. The youngest performer is an eighth-grade
student and the oldest is Dr. Fred Young of Bradford, who is in his
70s.

“My dad was an avid lover of music of all kinds and an educator.
He liked working with younger people and always gave encouraging
words,” Herzing said.

When they began the process, they received many notes about
their father. Some of the most memorable ones include:

“I know that St. Marys loved him, but his Bradford students
loved him as well and we loved him first,” V-Anne Benning Danielson
of Bradford said.

St. Marys student Lori Greene said, “The most important thing he
gave me was the inner drive to always want to do my best.”

Lastly, Nichole Plows, a former St. Marys student, said, “Mr.
Sinibaldi’s passion and life philosophy have taught me what I want
to do when I grow up. I want to be a Mr. Sinibaldi.”