ALL HALLOWS’ EVE, The Ohio Valley Symphony

November 1, 2025
at 7:30 p.m.
TICKETS ON SALE MAY 15

Join us Nov. 1 for All Hallows’ Eve when Matthew Troy leads us in a musical celebration of All Saints Day with Wendel’s Ride of the Headless Horseman, Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette and Khachaturian’s Masquerade Suite and Borodin’s Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances as part of an evening of musical tricks and treats. Pianist Michael Chertock returns for Liszt’s Totentanz.

Matthew Troy, conductor
Matthew Troy was named Music Director and Conductor of the Western Piedmont Symphony (NC) in 2019. During this time, he has raised the profi le of the orchestra, increased the scope of the youth orchestra, created a vibrant pops series, increased the budget and sponsorships, formed new strategic partnerships, increased musician wages, and led the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic. Troy is a conductor with a mission to make classical music accessible to everyone and to program concerts that are meaningful, relevant, and artistically exceptional. He has conducted orchestras across the country, including the Sarasota Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Portland Symphony, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Northern Lights Chamber Orchestra (AK), Oklahoma Virtuosi, University of North Carolina School of the Arts Symphony, Salisbury Symphony, and others.

Formerly, he served as the Associate Conductor with the Winston-Salem Symphony. From 2015 to 2020, Troy held the position of music director and conductor of the Piedmont Wind Symphony, where he transformed the ensemble into one of the leading professional wind ensembles in the country. Troy also served on the conducting staff of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic from 2010 to 2023, where he led over 200 performances with the orchestra on the Discovery Family Series, educational concerts, Carnegie Hall’s Link Up concerts, subscription concerts on the Classics and Pops Series and led many other outreach efforts.

Troy has collaborated with many internationally renowned composers and classical artists, such as Jennifer Koh, Midori, Tai Murray, Joe Lulloff , Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Jeff ery Biegel, Bryan Wallick, Wu Man, Anthony Dean Griff ey, Sidney Outlaw, Peter Boyer, Jerod Tate, Quinn Mason, Dan Perttu and pops artists such as Ben Folds, Boyz II Men, Pink Martini, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Doreen Ketchens, Judy Collins, Texas Tenors, Eileen Ivers, The Wailers, and others. As an educator, Troy has taught conducting on the faculties of Wake Forest University, UNC School of the Arts, UNC- Greensboro, and Cannon Music Camp.

Maestro Troy is known for innovative programming and partnerships, deep community involvement, and support for music education. He has long been an advocate for under-represented composers and new music including world premieres and new commissions. He is recognized for creating an instant rapport with both orchestras and audiences, and for his unique ability to make classical music engaging and relevant to today’s audiences. Troy has pushed boundaries through a number of fi lm and music projects. In April 2018, he created a program called Music Without Borders, which focused on the ongoing refugee crisis both locally and abroad. This concert included music and partnerships for many countries aff ected by these issues, including a partnership with World Relief and local interfaith groups. Troy has performed countless clinics supporting local music teachers, and created and funded outreach programs into local prison systems.

Troy is a passionate advocate for orchestral music and music education. As a viola/violin faculty member at the Music Academy of North Carolina, he received awards for excellence in teaching. Troy is a frequent conductor/clinician and has led numerous All-State and All-County clinics throughout the United States. Intermittently from 2015 – 2021, Troy served as conductor of the Cannon Music Camp, where he also played viola in the faculty string ensemble. One of Troy’s most creative projects at the Winston-Salem Symphony was an educational program that partnered the orchestra with a San Francisco-based nonprofi t organization called the African Library Project. This program, created in conjunction with the educational concert series and a corresponding short story competition, used music to focus on the importance of literacy both locally and abroad. Through this program, Troy raised over 50,000 books to start 50 new libraries for schools in Botswana, while allowing three students in Winston-Salem the opportunity to receive new instruments and music lessons. This program garnered national attention, and Troy was invited to lead a presentation on the project at the League of American Orchestras national conference.

Troy is an accomplished violist and has performed as assistant principal violist with Utah Festival Opera, and performed with Winston-Salem Symphony, Piedmont Opera, Piedmont Chamber Singers, Salem Bach Festival, and stays active with his string quartet. In addition, Troy has served as a judge for the Rosen-Schaff el Competition, the Charlotte Symphony’s Concerto Competition, UNC School of the Arts Concerto Competition, and the Peter Perret Youth Talent Search with the Winston-Salem Symphony.

Troy maintains an active guest conducting schedule and has previously competed in the Jordanian International Conducting Competition. Troy completed his master’s degree in orchestral conducting as a student of Maestro Robert Gutter and has studied at the prestigious Pierre Monteux School under Maestro Michael Jinbo and with renowned conducting pedagogues Maestro Gerard Schwarz and Maestro Kenneth Kiesler at the Conductors Retreat at Medomak. In addition to his conducting engagements, Troy keeps a very active schedule as a public speaker and is a member of the League of American Orchestras, and the Pi Kappa Lambda Honors Music Society, and he serves on the board of directors for Greensboro Opera. In his free time, he enjoys reading, studying new music, and traveling.

Michael Chertock, piano
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.

In 2005, Michael performed the world premiere of Jeux Deux, a work by Todd Machover commissioned by the Boston Pops Orchestra expressly for him. He recorded the piece in Denmark.

Michael released three CDs of his original arrangements entitled Cinematic Piano, Telarc: Palace of the Winds, Christmas at the Movies and Love At the Movies, which have been praised for their lush, original arrangements and exquisite technical facility.

In 2023 Michael was soloist for The Ohio Valley Symphony’s “American Rhapsody”, a musical journey of the greatest hits of the 1920’s when he performed a brand new orchestral arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue just in time for the 100th anniversary of Gershwin’s masterpiece, available on CD and DVD.

Michael is the conductor of the Blue Ash-Montgomery Symphony, located in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio. When not on tour he also serves as principal keyboardist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In June of 2004 Mr. Chertock was appointed Assistant Professor of piano at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, where he received his Master’s Degree as a student of Frank Weinstock.

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