John Falcone, a 1998 graduate of Silver Creek Central High School and now a surgeon in Kentucky, is pictured with his wife, Trasey, and their three children: Gianna, JD, and Rosem.

It’s an old joke. A fellow goes to New York to attend a concert but gets lost. He spots another fellow who’s carrying a violin case. “Sir, can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?” The musician smiles and says, “Practice, practice, practice.”

For one Silver Creek native, “practice” also includes a medical practice.

John Falcone, a 1998 graduate of Silver Creek Central High School and now a surgeon in Kentucky, is scheduled to play trumpet at a special concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City on July 12. He’ll be joined by his aunt, Susan Stenstrom, a 1973 Silver Creek graduate, a retired legal secretary in Georgia, who will be playing the flute.

John Falcone is the son of Joseph and Jane Falcone and Stenstrom is Joseph’s brother. The family farm in Forestville is one of the largest vineyards in Western New York.

Both John and Susan’s musical talents were honed early on. Stenstrom started playing the flute at age 10 and eventually studied music at SUNY Fredonia. John picked up the trumpet in third grade. Both credit the support and encouragement of then band director Kenneth Reid for their future music endeavors.

Throughout high school, Falcone also took private lessons with John Maguda, a professional trumpet player in Eden, and participated in a variety of music competitions earning several honors including first chair with the New York State Symphonic Band and while still a teenager was paid as a professional trumpet player as a member of the American Federation of Musicians.

Music took a backseat to the sciences while John earned degrees from Cornell University and later at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

“Music is one of the things that kind of I use as a stress relief mechanism in the circus that defines my career in medicine and surgery, because it’s pretty be pretty brutal sometimes,” says John, who plays trumpet in a church orchestra and a community band in addition to his Christian Rock ministry, Falcone Rising. So far, he’s produced two CDs featuring about 20 songs with more on the way.

“Music has always been something that I come back to,” says the father of three.

The opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall came in response to a local newspaper article John Falcone read about a professional pianist who is the featured pianist at the concert.

“She actually put out a call in the local paper for local musicians, vocalists and instrumentalists to join her at Carnegie. I thought, well it’s been several years since I’ve been a professional, but I contacted her and was accepted without an audition. So then, I just asked if my aunt could join the orchestra. And the answer was yes.”

This will be the second time John’s “Aunt Susie” will be playing the flute at Carnegie Hall having performed there in 2005 as part of a local community band, a group she’s been part of for 36 years.

“I think it’s going to be fun,” Stenstrom says of the upcoming performance. “You get there and then you’re just overwhelmed. I mean, we were all sobbing at the end of our concert in 2005.”

The New York City concert will feature the world premiere performance of Lloyd Larson’s new choral cantata which details the “compelling and extraordinary story” of English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery abolitionist John Newton, who previously served as the captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. Surviving a life-threatening storm at sea eventually led Newton to write the popular Christian hymn “Amazing Grace” in 1772. 2025 marks the 300th-year anniversary of “Amazing Grace” writer John Newton’s birth (1725-1807)

“It’s going to be a multi-generational Falcon representation on the biggest stage in the world,” John, who will be joined by his aunt and a 200-voice worship choir and orchestra. “It’s just like one of those random events that just kind of lined up.”

A performance that comes with a lot of practice — both musical and medical — for John Falcone.