April Foolishness, The Ohio Valley Symphony

APRIL 1, 2023
at 7:30 p.m.
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We all need a bit of levity in our lives and April 1st is the perfect time for it.  Maestro Peter Stafford Wilson will lead the OVS in an evening of whimsy and farce.  Canon Brent Sturm will join him with tongue planted firmly in cheek narrating The Young Lutheran’s Guide to the Orchestra.  This demos each instrument of the orchestra and the narrator lets us know why a good Lutheran would not want to play it! Also on the program is Vaughan Williams Aristophanic Suite (remember Aristophanes is the father of comedy), William Walton’s Facade Suite No. 1 and Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kije Suite (music written for one of the earliest sound movies about a fictitious soldier).

Appalachian Spring, The Ohio Valley Symphony

APRIL 15, 2023
at 7:30 p.m.
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Aaron Copland’s immortal Appalachian Spring is the perfect musical description of April and we are happy to have Maestro Scott Woodard to conduct this monumental concert piece that was lost when a previous season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Commissioned by the indomitable Martha Graham and her dancers for a ballet by the same name, Appalachian Spring (originally titled Ballet for Martha). The Shaker hymn Simple Gifts is quoted extensively in this piece. The ballet premiered in 1944 for an ensemble of only 13 instruments, Copland later extracted music to form the Suite then expanded the orchestration to the version most of us know it by today.
In keeping with the spring theme, other music included on the program is Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Fruhlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring) and waltz lovers will not be disappointed in all the beautiful and romantic melodies in this exquisite piece. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Overture pays homage to the season as does living composer Daniel Perttu’s To Spring.

THE FLEETWOOD MAC EXPERIENCE!

MAY 13, 2023
at 7:30 p.m.
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Join the historic Ariel Theatre in welcoming Moxi Events presentation of America’s #1 Fleetwood Mac Tribute Band The FMX Experience.

The FMX Experience will recreate the legendary look and sound of the one and only Fleetwood Mac.

The evening will feature all of their beloved hits! You’ll hear Dreams, Go Your Own Way, Landslide, Silver Springs, Don’t Stop, Everywhere, Rhiannon, You Make Love Fun, and many more!!

Premium seats are Rows A-E and Row AA and BB in the balcony.
Group of 10 or more 10% discount available!
Doors open at 7:00 p.m.

The Roarin’ Twenties! The Ohio Valley Symphony

MAY 20, 2023
at 7:30 p.m.
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100 years ago a new age was dawning, the skirts were shorter, the money flowed freely and the the Roarin’ Twenties brought in a whole new style of American music. Be at the Ariel Opera House on May 20th to celebrate an entire concert of brand new arrangements of Roarin’ Twenties music by Cincinnati Pops Principal Arranger Tim Berens featuring vocalist Mandy Gaines and pianist Michael Chertock.

Be the first to hear these brand new arrangements as the concert will be recorded live by a Grammy winning recording engineer as he and his team capture it all for public television and radio broadcast as well as a CD. Be a part of this special occasion and purchase your tickets today!

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.

Ariel Opera House COVID-19 Statement

Ohio Arts Council Governor’s Awards for the Arts Winner

ARTS ADMINISTRATION
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.

Having 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.

Paul Robert Simón, In Memoriam

Paul Robert Simón
President, Ariel Board of Directors

From Executive Director
Lora Lynn Snow

Paul Simón, President of the Ariel Board of Directors, passed away February 25, 2021. He transformed the board bringing in members with a wide variety of professional skills and he led us ever upward as we completed the restoration of our 1895 opera house. He will be greatly missed.

Paul was a renaissance man. He ran his farm but once owned an antique shop. He was head of the Mason County Emergency Team that stepped in to work at a moment’s notice, and he collected art. While working on the Main Street Committee he found out a community’s ranking could be elevated with certain amenities so he started an art gallery in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Through his many contacts he was able to get the Pitcairn family to loan art work to The Gallery at 409 – and while he was at it, he also found a soloist in the same family, violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn, for The Ohio Valley Symphony.

Ariel Academy Online Music Lessons

The 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.