AMERICA’S BIRTHDAY, The Ohio Valley Symphony

September 12, 2026
at 7:30 p.m.
On Sale MAY 15th! (click here)
The Ohio Valley Symphony is celebrating America’s 250th Birthday on September 12 with a season opener of all-American music ranging from Leonard Bernstein to Aaron Copland and George Gershwin led by Maestro Peter Stafford Wilson. Our soloist, Maalik Glover, is performing the Concerto for Violin by African-American composer Florence Price whose magnificent early 20th century musical scores were found just a few years ago in an old trunk in an abandoned house about to be demolished!

Peter Stafford Wilson
Peter Stafford Wilson is Music Director of Ohio’s Springfield Symphony Orchestra. holds the post of Music Director of the Westerville Symphony, and was named Principal Conductor of Tulsa Ballet.  With the SSO he has brought international attention to programs and a new multi-media, multi discipline production of Gustav Holst’s The Planets.  Mr. Wilson was Assistant and Associate Conductor of The Columbus Symphony Orchestra for 28 seasons.  He has had enormous community reaction and has been recognized as “Best Music Director” and “Best in the ‘Bus 2015” for his work in Columbus. He also served as Music Director of the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra, which he has regularly led in local and regional concerts.

Mr. Wilson studied at the University of Cincinnati’s College- Conservatory of Music, the Aspen Music School, Eastern Music Festival (on whose faculty he subsequently served), Pierre Monteux School, Boris Goldovsky Summer Opera Institute, and Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.  He has worked with Canton Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and The Cleveland Orchestra and has guest conducted numerous orchestras across the country and world.  No stranger to the lyric theater, Mr. Wilson has held the positions of Principal Conductor of South Carolina’s Opera Charleston, Music Director of the Ohio Light Opera and conducted many operatic performances.

Mr. Wilson and his wife Barbara Karam Wilson reside in Westerville, Ohio.  When not conducting, he enjoys traveling, golf and reading.  He is also a wine enthusiast and an avid gourmet cook.

Maalik Glover, Violin
A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Maalik Glover is an active orchestral musician and private teacher. He was appointed to the Columbus Symphony violin section in 2024 after completing one season at the New World Symphony.  He has received recognition at competitions such as winning Omega Psi Phi’s 2015 Talent Hunt as well as the 2021 CCM Violin Competition.

Maalik has studied the violin since the age of 11.  His first significant accomplishment was his acceptance into the Talent Development Program, an initiative launched by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra that targets gifted African-American and Latino music students to further develop their future careers as accomplished classical musicians.  This has perpetuated his unyielding advocacy of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in classical music.  Since then, he has held multiple private studios including his own with the Columbus Symphony Academy.

During his graduate studies, Maalik held a two-year fellowship with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.  He is a three-time fellowship recipient of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and a two-time fellowship recipient of Spoleto Festival USA where he served as concertmaster.

In 2019, Maalik graduated summa cum laude from Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music.  He later obtained his Master’s at University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music in 2022 upon completion of the CSO/CCM Diversity Fellowship.  In his spare time, Maalik loves exploring, traveling to new cities, as well as composing film and video game music.

Performance credits include the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (Columbus, OH), Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Cincinnati, OH), and Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra (Chautauqua, NY).

Repertoire