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.

On Tuesday evening, October 15th, Heritage Ohio held their 2024 Annual Awards ceremony at the Midland Theatre in Newark, Ohio, as the opening of their annual conference. Over 100 nominations were received for 11 awards. The awards honor Ohio’s best projects, places and people who create lasting impacts through historic preservation and community revitalization.

This year’s award for the Historic Theatre of the Year Award was presented to the Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre in Gallipolis.

The Historic Theatre of the Year Award is presented to the historic theatre, opera house or cinema which most embodies the spirit of historic preservation.

The Ariel Opera House, built in 1895 by the Ariel Oddfellows Lodge and designed by the state architects Packard and Yost, originally featured two street-level storefronts, a banquet hall and parlors on the second floor and a lodge room on the third floor. After changing hands several times, the Gallia Masonic Lodge acquired it in 1919, adding another storefront, a ballroom and expanded facilities in 1930. While the front portion of the building remained in use, the theatre portion closed in the mid-1960’s and fell into disrepair. Local professional musician, Lora Lynn Snow, attracted by the spectacular acoustics of the abandoned opera house, began efforts to restore it in 1987 for use by The Ohio Valley Symphony she wanted to form. With community support, the Ariel was restored preserving the original architecture such as golden oak woodwork and ornamental plaster while bringing it up to code. A Grand Re-Opening was held June 9, 1990.

In 2005, Mrs. Ann Carson Dater purchased the building and gave it to The Ohio Valley Symphony for their home in perpetuity. Subsequent work included installing energy efficient windows, a new elevator, upgraded HVAC, plaster repair and painting and a new marquee.

In 2014 the Box Office was restored recreating the original 1895 aesthetic at the street level. In 2016 with the help of the League of Historic American Theatres, the original carpet was recreated and installed. Now restored to her former glamour, the Ariel retains the nineteenth century look, but boasts state-of-the-art amenities such as Wi-Fi throughout and is ADA accessible. The Ariel is recognized as one of the top 10 restored theatres in Ohio.

Heritage Ohio Prompts economic growth through the preservation and revitalization of downtowns and neighborhoods across Ohio. Heritage Ohio is the designated statewide Ohio preservation partner with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Through saving the places that matter we can all build a community and live better. Learn more about how to get involved by visiting heritageohio.org.

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.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Our #FeaturedFriday doubles as a #FlashbackFriday today as we take a look at the Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre in Gallipolis, Ohio. The first image in this video is from the opera house’s grand opening celebration in 1895, and the second is a photo taken in 2019 by #OHGovernorsAwards2020 #ArtsAdministration award winner Lora Lynn Snow. A professional oboist and Gallipolis resident, Lora was integral to the restoration of this architectural and artistic jewel in Southeast Ohio. . Under Lora’s leadership, the community came together to clear the pigeon manure and other debris that had collected in the Ariel during its 25 years of disuse. Inspired by the opera house’s marvelous acoustics, Lora envisioned the restored space as a top-class performance venue for internationally renowned musicians and ensembles, including the Ohio Valley Symphony (OVS), the only professional orchestra in the Ohio River valley. In 1990, the newly restored Ariel Opera House celebrated its grand opening with a performance by the Symphony, and it has since welcomed many guest conductors and artists to its stage, including folk singer Michael Johnathon, who recently performed “Songs of Rural America” with the OVS in a concert that was nationally broadcast on PBS. . As executive director of the Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre, Lora has worked to engage audiences through a holistic view of the arts, establishing at the Ariel a music education program, a double reed festival, a community theatre troupe, OVS woodwind and dance programs, and more. She is principal oboist for the Ohio Valley Symphony and OVS Woodwind Quintet, a member of the West Virginia Symphony, and a freelance musician. . We’re thrilled to recognize Lora’s passionate dedication to leadership in the arts with this award! Come celebrate with us and learn more about Lora and all our winners at the 2020 Governor’s Awards luncheon on March 25. Get your tickets today via the link in our bio! . Photos courtesy of Lora Lynn Snow | #ArtsAdministration #OhioArtists #ArtsOhio #ArielOperaHouse #Gallipolis #OhioHistory #OperaHouse

A post shared by Ohio Arts Council (@ohioartscouncil) on Feb 28, 2020 at 11:07am PST

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.

[Transcript]
Lora Lynn Snow:  “Welcome to the historic Ariel Opera House in downtown Gallipolis, Ohio. The Ariel was built in 1895 by the Ariel Oddfellows lodge. It was a fairly typical 19th century Appalachian Opera House with retail space on the front sidewalk and the theatre portion in the back with a banquet room on the second floor and their lodge room on the third floor. Most towns had an opera house in the nineteenth century and they were built by the various lodges, Moose, Masons, Elks, Oddfellows, etc. and they shared a similar design. Retail space was on ground level to provide income, opera houses were behind or on second or third floors and their lodge room was on the top floor as they felt they were the upper class citizens of their community and they literally wanted people to look up to them. It also meant any secret parts of their rituals couldn’t be seen by the people on the street.

We call them theatres today, but in the nineteenth century, “theatres” were considered disreputable so they used the term “opera house.” Opera houses proliferated throughout the nineteenth century and almost every town had one. The Ariel was designed by the state architects of Packard and Yost who were responsible for many facilities throughout Ohio, including the Great Southern Theatre and connected hotel in Columbus, Ohio. Another of their designs, The Ohio Valley Bank also on Second Ave. in Gallipolis has been recently restored and occupied by Ohio Valley Bank, the original owner.

The Oddfellows lodge sold the Ariel a few years after it opened on Christmas Day in 1895 and it changed hands several more times until the Gallia Masonic Lodge bought it in 1919. Silent movies began to share the stage with live entertainment and then only movies remained until the doors closed for good in the mid 1960’s. TV sealed the fate of many historic theatres and they were lost to the wrecking ball.

I’m Lora Lynn Snow and I’m a professional musician. In 1987, I had a vision of starting a professional orchestra and a few days later found the abandoned Ariel. It was love at first sound! I could hear the spectacular acoustics and knew if would be the perfect home for The Ohio Valley Symphony. After a year and a half or planning and organizing, we obtained a long term lease and began physical work on the theatre only portion of the building. We encouraged the long time pigeon residents to move on and then began the cleanup of the remnants of their occupation. We found beautiful golden oak woodwork under many layers of paint, graceful plaster ornamentation and decorative woodwork in the piles of rubble which were carefully sifted through. Volunteers by the dozens showed up for months of clean up and initial restoration work and we had a tea to show it off. That raised community interest a bit, but it wasn’t until we had our first performance of The Ohio Valley Symphony on April 1, 1989 that people really sat up and took notice. They, too, were mesmerized by the sound of the instrument that is the Ariel and they began to respond in earnest.

A Grand Re-opening date was set for June 9, 1990 and the work began. The building was still strong and sound, but a new roof was installed, new wiring and plumbing and the real plaster repaired. The goal was to restore the Ariel with the look of the original while bringing it up to code. We had no interior photos of the Ariel, but serendipity was often at play during the process. We ordered the massive main stage curtain and had the seat fabric dyed to match. Later, in a room that had been sealed up in 1930, we pulled up some threadbare carpeting. Apparently during the installation, they folded under the excess instead of cutting it off and the colors on that portion were still brilliant AND the red background was an exact match for the fabric we had just ordered.

As the re-opening date drew near, work became more frantic and round the clock. The original ceiling stencil was discovered only a few weeks before June 9 and was re-created in an all-night dash by volunteers before the scaffolding came down in a beat-the-clock race against time. The seat installers were literally screwing in seats until 8:00 pm the night of the re-opening concert as the line to get in stretched down the long hall, out the door and down the street. The OVS sold out of their first upcoming season that very night.

The Ohio Valley Symphony, the only professional orchestra in the southeast Ohio River Valley region, has grown and developed over the years. We pull in musicians from seven states and Canada and have world class soloists join us in concerts. The OVS recently completed a project with folk singer Michael Johnathon resulting in Songs of Rural America that is being shown on public tv stations around the country. This was conducted by Cincinnati Pops Principal Arranger, Tim Berens, and you can hear his arrangement of “Simple Gifts” arranged especially for OVS playing in the background. You can view and hear both on our website at arieloperahouse.org

In 2005, longtime arts patron, Ann Carson Dater, purchased the entire 25,000 square foot facility and gave it to us as a permanent home for The Ohio Valley Symphony. Her incredible generosity has enabled us to expand our offerings and propel us into the future. In her honor, we renamed the facility the Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre. She wanted a place for young children to have dance and music lessons and experience the thrill of performing before an audience. She often said to me, “If more people listened to symphonic music, the world would be a better place.” We agree and to that end, we facilitate the connection between artists of all kinds and students, both young and old, to be able to select a teacher at the Ariel Academy on our website. We also offer performances of all kinds and of all abilities, lectures, debates, book signings and conferences. We are available to rent for parties, weddings and commercial events.

The Ohio Valley Symphony has a six concert season with fall and spring concerts surrounding the annual Christmas Show the first Saturday in December. Our soloists have included Philadelphia Orchestra concert master, David Kim, jazz great Byron Stripling, pianist and Gershwin expert Richard Glazier, Broadway star Mark McVey and many, many more. Audience members come from far and wide to hear fine symphonic music expertly performed in a fabulous acoustic instrument, the Ariel Opera House.

The Ariel hosts an annual Merry TubaChristmas on the second Saturday in December which allows tuba and euphonium players from far and wide to gather together to perform traditional Christmas carols. The warm rich organ-like sound of the low brass instruments sounds especially wonderful in the Ariel’s spectacular acoustics.

We now have a Banquet Room seating 100 and a ballroom on the second floor. The former lodge room on third floor has been transformed into our Chamber Theatre seating 130 and we also have a Conference Room complete with state of the art Web-Ex conferencing equipment allowing connections around the world. From that little scrap of carpet we found back in 1990, restoration work has recently culminated with the completion of a long term project recreating the original carpet and laying that throughout the building. With the help of the League of Historic American Theatres we found a world renowned historic carpet expert who guided us through the textile analysis and recreation of the Axminster wool carpeting that is a historic reproduction of the original.

Visit our website at arieloperahouse.org and plan your visit to coincide with an Ohio Valley Symphony concert performed in an intimate hall with superb acoustics. Parking is nearby and plentiful, nearby restaurants and hotels and motels offer discounts for symphony ticket holders when visiting our ADA accessible facility. We guarantee you will leave here uplifted and ready to return.”