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Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre

Maestro Candidate Teresa Ford

2024-25 Maestro Candidate Teresa Ford

Maestro Candidate Russell Henchey

2024-25 Maestro Candidate Russell Henchey

Maestro Candidate Arun Sharma

2024-25 Maestro Candidate Arun Sharma

Most Recent Articles

Welcome to the historic Ariel Opera House

Photo showing the historic 3 story brick building, The Ariel Opera House

Welcome to the Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre, the historic Ariel Opera House, permanent home of The Ohio Valley Symphony, in the heart of Gallipolis, Ohio. Explore our website for upcoming performances and events, lessons, directions, and history! Be sure to contact the Ariel Opera House Box Office at 740-446-ARTS (2787) if you have any questions or if we may help you in planning your next visit to Gallipolis.

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THE CHRISTMAS SHOW! The Ohio Valley Symphony

December 7, 2024 OVS Concert PosterDecember 7, 2024
at 7:30 p.m.
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW!

The Ohio Valley Symphony’s annual Christmas Show is a perennial favorite to set the tone for the holiday season. Always on the first Saturday in December, Maestro Steven Huang selects an enticing blend of musical holiday treats. Also featured is our annual fundraiser Maestro for a Moment when you’ll want to join in the fun and donate for your chosen candidate. Subscribers, be sure to purchase extra subscriber-discounted tickets for friends and family with your season subscriptions, this concert sells out early!

Steven Huang, conductor
Maestro Steven Huang is thrilled to return to Southeastern Ohio to the podium of The Ohio Valley Symphony, a Christmas tradition since 2018.

Mr. Huang has conducted orchestras and operas across the country and around the world. At the age of twenty-one Mr. Huang served as Music Director of the Bach Society Orchestra of Harvard University, where he received his undergraduate degree. While at Harvard, Mr. Huang also directed the Lowell House Opera (the oldest continuously running opera company in New England). Holzer logoRecently, he successfully concluded a sixteen-year appointment as Associate Professor and Director of Orchestras at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he brought the program to new achievements, including earning competitive accolades and awards, through over 200 performances that included symphonic concerts, opera, musical theater, and Halloween pops.

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DARING DANCES, The Ohio Valley Symphony

March 15, 2025 OVS Concert PosterMarch 15, 2025
at 7:30 p.m.
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW!

Daring Dances will move you with a selection of dazzling dance music under the baton of conductor Michael Chertock leading the OVS through Ravel’s La Valse and Bolero. Even more dazzling, Michael will also be the piano soloist on Leroy Anderson’s Piano Concerto. Talk about multi-tasking! This concert is sponsored In Memory of Clare E. Gettles.

Michael Chertock, conductor & pianist
Conductor and pianist Michael Chertock has fashioned a successful career as an orchestral soloist, collaborating with conductors such as James Conlon, Jaime Laredo, and Keith Lockhart.

His orchestral appearances include solo performances with, among others, The Philadelphia Orchestra, l’Orchestre Symphonique du Montreal, the Toronto Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Naples Philharmonic, the Dayton Philharmonic, and The Ohio Valley Symphony. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1999 with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, performing Duke Ellington’s New World A’Comin’.

Michael first performed publicly at the age of 11 and by age 17, he performed the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 with Andrew Litton. He has garnered numerous awards at major competitions, among them the top prize in the 1989 Joanna Hodges Int’l Piano Competition (Brahms Division) and the grand prize in the 1993 St. Charles International Piano Competition.

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ROMANTIC SPRING, The Ohio Valley Symphony

April 26April 26. 2025 OVS Concert Poster, 2025
at 7:30 p.m.
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW!

Max Bruch’s Concerto for Clarinet and Viola will feature two OVS members, Laura Sabo on clarinet and Bernard Di Gregorio on viola, in Romantic Spring. Maestro Scott Woodward leads the orchestra in African-American composer William Grant Still’s Woodnotes, Howard Hansen’s Symphony No. 2, the “Romantic,” and other selections.

Dr. Scott E. Woodard, conductor
Dr. Scott E. Woodard was born in Huntington, WV and is proud to be a life-long West Virginian. He is the Music Director of the Butler Philharmonic Orchestra in Hamilton, Ohio, the Founding Music Director of the West Virginia State Philharmonic Orchestra of Charleston, WV, the Principal Guest Conductor of the Rimini Chamber Orchestra in Rimini, Italy, and the former Cover Conductor of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. His primary teachers were Dr. Leonid Korchmar of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory Ohio Arts Council Logoof Music and the Mariinsky Theatre and Dr. Oleg Proskuryna. Scott is the recipient of First Prizes at the International Conductor’s Workshop Competition (Macon, GA) and the International Academy of Advanced Conducting (St. Petersburg, Russian Federation).

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A Video History of the Ariel Opera House

Watch the history of the Ariel Opera House unfold – from it’s opening on Christmas Day 1895 to the present.  Narrated by the founder and Executive Director Lora Lynn Snow.

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Ohio Arts Council Governor’s Awards for the Arts Winner

ARTS ADMINISTRATIONLora Lynn Snow
Lora Snow, Executive Director
at the Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre,
Home of the Ohio Valley Symphony
Gallipolis

Lora Lynn Snow is the founder and executive director of the Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre in Gallipolis, home of the Ohio Valley Symphony. Lora, an oboist, was inspired in 1987 to form a professional orchestra in Gallia County and recognized the amazing acoustics in the long-neglected 1895 Ariel Opera House that had been abandoned for 25 years. Lora spearheaded the restoration and set about to organize the community toward the grand reopening of the historic Ariel in 1990 with a performance of the Ohio Valley Symphony. Mrs. Ann Carson Dater gifted the Ariel as a permanent home to the Ohio Valley Symphony (OVS) in 2005, which added an additional theatre, conference room, and banquet rooms. The OVS, now in its 30th season as the only professional orchestra in the Ohio River Valley, recently premiered Songs of Rural America on PBS nationwide with folk singer Michael Johnathon.

Ohio Arts Council LogoHaving a holistic view of the arts, Lora also established a music education program, a double reed festival, a community theatre troupe, and OVS woodwind and dance programs at the Ariel. An active recitalist, clinician, and consultant with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music performance and education from the Ohio State University, Lora has taught at several universities and public schools covering kindergarten through graduate level inclusive. She is principal oboist for the Ohio Valley Symphony and OVS Woodwind Quintet, a member of the West Virginia Symphony, and a freelance musician.

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Ariel Academy Online Music Lessons

Ariel Academy LogoThe Ariel Academy is designed to help you find a teacher to guide you through your musical journeys. Whether you need to find a piano teacher for your first grader or are a professional taking orchestral auditions, a college student needing help with music theory or an aspiring composer needing guidance, you can set up one or more lessons with one of The Ohio Valley Symphony’s musicians.

Now is your opportunity to study music digitally right from the comfort of your own home with professional musicians who have a solid background of education and experience. Peruse the choices, contact one or more and then set up a time convenient for you both. Make this time at home count.

Start your music teacher search!

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Ohio Valley Symphony Evelyn Kirkhart Concertmaster Chair Endowment

Image showing the cover of the American Rhapsody CD with Michael Chertock playing piano and Mandy Gaines singing in front of the orchestra.

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