AMERICAN RHAPSODY: CALL TO FREEDOM. The Ohio Valley Symphony

April 25, 2026
at 7:30 p.m.
TICKETS ON SALE MAY 15

People everywhere will be celebrating America’s 250th birthday in 2026 and the OVS has commissioned Tim Berens to write a special selection celebrating the life of Harriet Tubman for a performance on April 25. Tim’s poignant arrangement of Amazing Grace that was recently featured at the grand re-opening of the Notre Dame Cathedral will be sung on the Ariel stage by vocalist Mandy Gaines along with other selections as part of the nation’s festivities. Be a part of the creation of another live recording for later release on American Public Television.

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. Be a part of this special occasion and purchase your tickets today!

Tim Berens, conductor and arranger
Tim has walked a unique path. While studying classical guitar at CCM, an injury forced him to stop playing guitar. During the years-long recovery, he studied computer science, took a job writing software, and soon owned a small software development company, Back Office Applications. His software is used in grocery stores around the world to this day.

Self employment allowed Tim to pursue his lifelong dream to be a musician. So far, Tim’s dream has led him through the worlds of classical guitar, jazz guitar, orchestral guitar, arranging, orchestration, composition, and conducting.

During his years as the guitarist for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Tim played guitar, banjo, mandolin and bouzouki on concerts, recordings, television programs, and international tours. In the late 1990’s, Tim began arranging for the CPO. His arrangements enriched concerts, CDs, and television broadcasts.

Tim’s arranging caught the ears of others and he began receiving commissions from leading conductors and orchestras. His arrangements and compositions are performed hundreds of times per year by orchestras throughout the United States and abroad, in venues from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl.

In 2010, Tim returned to school to study conducting. After earning a Master Degree in Orchestral Conducting, he began conducting professionally.

Tim’s most recent project is the Berens Pops Library, a library of music for pops orchestras, which was created in response to demand from orchestras to perform his works.

Throughout his professional career Tim performed regularly at jazz clubs, releasing 4 jazz recordings on the Red Mark label under his own name along the way.

Tim’s most nerve wracking performance took place in 1975. Not even the duet he performed with Kristin Chenoweth at Carnegie Hall induced more gut-wrenching performance anxiety than when his band, Holy Terror, performed Smoke on the Water in the Van Buren Junior High School Talent Show. Holy Terror, which consisted of Tim, his neighbor PJ, and PJ’s sister, Cara, would be very impressed that today Tim is conducting symphony orchestras.

An avid chess player (E4) and an enthusiastic, but bad golfer, Tim is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and The Ohio State University.

Visit BerensPopsLibrary.com for more information.

Mandy Gaines, vocalist
Mandy Gaines is a talented, versatile vocalist and entertainer with more than 30 years of professional experience.  She entertains and delights audiences throughout the world. Her performances are viewed as refreshing, soulful and exciting.  She continues to improve and grow through her gifted interpretations of Jazz, Pop, R&B and Soul classics as well as writing and performing her original works.

Mandy began singing at an early age in school and church. She holds a B.A. from the College of Wooster in Speech/Arts. She has continued her studies through private vocal instruction and various workshops emphasizing oral interpretation, jazz improvisation, and vocal technique, theatre and broadcasting/media studies.

Mandy has performed with such Jazz greats as, Wynton Marsalis, Dany Doriz, Randy Brecker, Scott Hamilton, ElDee Young, Red Holt, Rhoda Scott, Deborah Brown, Brad Leali, Bryan Lynch, Keith Loftis, Marcus Printup, Wendall Brunious, Brian Simpson, Vincent Gardner, Wes “warm daddy” Anderson, Michael Stanton and Victor Gaskins.

Mandy was recruited by Coca-Cola Taiwan to become part of an original recording and performing group, “MIT.” With the band she toured island wide to promote their release, “We Can Be One.” She also went on to record with several Asian pop stars as well as maintaining a spot as an on-air radio personality at I.C.R.T., Taiwan’s number one American-Chinese language radio station.

In the ‘90s Mandy returned to her theatre roots and was hired as featured vocalist at “The Oldenberg Dinner Theatre Entertainment Complex” and “The Star of Cincinnati.”  After first traveling to Europe, Mandy returned to Cincinnati and was chosen to be the opening act for Herbie Hancock.  Shortly after, she was nominated “Best R&B” vocalist in Cincinnati’s annual music award show, “The Cammy’s.”  Mandy has been a back-up vocalist for Asian Artist as Harlem Yu and Emil Chou. She has performed for British and American troops at Diego Garcia, Military Base, Indian Ocean.

Upon traveling to Europe she met local musicians and began to perform regularly throughout Belgium and France in local clubs, concerts and festivals where she continues to be invited back each year to perform.  She was selected to perform in Munich, Germany and Zurich, Switzerland as a member of the “Sister City Cultural Exchange Program.” She entertained for the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium to commemorate the inaugural flight and joint venture of Delta and Sabena airlines.

Mandy has continued to perform throughout Asia and Europe.  She has been “Artist in Residence” at 5-star hotels in Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, China and Hong Kong. She performed in Europe at the “April Jazz Festival” in Helsinki, Finland and “Festival International De Jazz” in St.Louis de Senegal, Africa. She also had a European release of her CD “With a Song in My Heart” and was a judge for “Sony Jazz Music Competition” in Riga, Latvia.

Mandy held music workshops in France, teaching jazz and gospel music with emphasis on interpretation, improvisation, stage performance and vocal range. She released her 2^nd CD, “Taking a Chance” In 2007.  Mandy was selected to perform at The American Embassy, Thailand, in commemoration of Black History Month in 2008.

Mandy has been featured as vocalist in the Annual Cote Ouest Big Band Music Festival in Cote, France and starred in the musical revue, “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” performed in Taipei, Taiwan. That same year she performed in the Musical, “Anything Goes” as “Reno Sweeney” at the National Palace Theatre in Taipei Taiwan.  She returned to Russia in 2016 and 2017 to perform a series of Big Band concerts and Pipe Organ Gospel recitals at the American Consulate.

In 2018 Mandy was honored with induction into the Cincinnati Jazz Hall of Fame.

Her videos can be viewed on YouTube and myspace.com/mandygainesjazzy and her CDs “Just a matter of Time” and “Faith Journey” can be purchased on I-Tunes, Amazon, and CDBaby.com.

Mandy continues to travel the world performing and recording while entertaining audiences along the way!

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