Kypros Markou will conduct his farewell symphony -- "Kudos, Markou!" -- on March 13 at the Palace Theatre in Greensburg, ending a 31-year tenure as music director of the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra.

"The orchestra is at its finest and is playing at its highest level ever," said WSO executive director, Morrie Brand. "That's the most important thing he has done. That's a tribute to him."

Maestro Markou is not retiring. He will now devote more time to directing and teaching here and abroad, and will continue as a professor and director of orchestral studies at Wayne State University, in Detroit, and music director of the Dearborn (Mich.) Symphony Orchestra.

WSO was founded in 1969 by Richard Karp, manager and director of the Pittsburgh Opera. In the first 10 years, there were four performances at Greensburg Salem High School. Mr. Markou, who now lives in Grosse Pointe, Mich., was hired in 1979 and moved WSO to the Palace Theatre.

"I saw an opportunity to build an orchestra, and I did."

There are now five concerts per season, a Fourth of July concert in St. Clair Park, Greensburg, and a December performance of "The Nutcracker" with the Laurel Ballet.

Mr. Markou, 65, was born in Cyprus. Although he loved music, his parents discouraged him from pursuing it as a career. So out of high school, he studied in London to earn a degree of barrister at law. Later, he studied music at the National Conservancy of Greece and at the Royal College of Music in London.

In the United States, he trained at Indiana University in Bloomington and earned a graduate degree in orchestral conducting at the New England Conservatory, in Boston. He also is an accomplished violinist.

He has conducted in Europe and the United States, including the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic and the Somerset Music Festival. He collaborated with the Pittsburgh Opera Theater, Pittsburgh Ballet, Laurel Ballet and the Dance Alloy, and taught at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, where he directed the University Orchestra.

In addition, a CD was just released of his conducting the London Octave performing "American Serenades," the music of Victor Herbert and Arthur Foote. It was recorded at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

"I took an interest in American composers," Mr. Markou said. "I made it a point of including a lot of either new works by American composers, or works that were rarely performed."

Mr. Markou is known for his leadership and the high standards that he sets for himself and, Mr. Brand said, "for what he expects from others."

"He is a multi-faceted, reasonable person who can work with people," he added. "He has the best interests of the organization at heart."

Mr. Markou has a philosophy about conducting. First and foremost, he said, a good conductor has to be a good musician, has to understand the music well, how it's put together and what it means.

"These days, there are too many stick wavers," he said. "A good conductor has to have a good understanding of how musicians work.

"You often hear about the orchestra being the conductor's instrument. I think that approach is utter nonsense and a complete misunderstanding. An orchestra is not an instrument. It is a group of musicians. They are human beings with personalities, with skills and perceptions.

"A good conductor has to appreciate and understand the talent and knowledge that's in front of him, and encourage and elicit the best from them. Then the musicians bring it out to the audience, and you have to get the audience excited about the music. It's all about the music."

Years ago, Mr. Markou tried to teach his son, Matias, now a teenager, how to play the violin.

"He told me that I was not a good teacher," the father said with a laugh. "Then another teacher told me that he had never seen a kid with such good rhythm. He now plays electric guitar, bass, keyboard, drums and acoustic guitar. I go to his shows, and late in my life, I am appreciating rock."

Mr. Markou has praise for the WSO musicians.

"They have the flexibility to play Mozart or Stravinsky in the right style, or to play modern, or classical or romantic. They have the flexibility in style and competence, and in the levels of both musical and technical accomplishment.

"It's a very fine orchestra. I think my greatest accomplishment was in building an orchestra that sounds very professional and plays with a cohesiveness."

The farewell concert will begin at 8 p.m. following a lecture at 7. The orchestra will play Johann Strauss's "Voices of Spring," Glazunov's "Spring" from "The Seasons," and Copland's "Appalachian Spring" in its original instrumentation for 13 musicians.

The second half will include Suppe's "Morning, Noon & Night in Vienna," and piano soloist Gleb Ivanov performing Mozart's "Piano Concerto No. 21 in C."

"I really enjoyed all the wonderful concerts with WSO," Mr. Markou said. "I have developed friendships, and I have bonded with some of the musicians, and some of them are my friends. I will miss them, and I hope that they will miss me, too, a little bit."

Tickets are $9 to $37 and are available at the door or by calling the WSO office, 724-837-1850. Student rush tickets will be $5 at the door.

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