POSTPONED
Date to be determined

What’s better than one horn soloist? How about 4 of them! The entire horn section of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Erik Ralske, Hugo Valverde, Javier Gandara and Barbara Jöstlein Currie, is coming to the Ariel stage to perform the magnificent Schumann Konzertstück for 4 Horns on April 25th. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say you will be blown away! The OVS will also play one of my personal favorites, Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring.

Conductor Miriam Burns

Miriam Burns was on staff with the New York Philharmonic as one of their Cover Conductors from 1999-2007, having been appointed by Kurt Masur as a result of a competitive audition by-invitation-only. In this capacity, she accompanied the orchestra on tour to the Far East as the tour Assistant Conductor to Music Director Lorin Maazel, and for eight years was entrusted as an assistant conductor on call for countless specific, fully prepared programs under many guest conductors of international repute.

Now in her eighth season as Music Director and Conductor of the Tysons McLean Orchestra (VA), Ms. Burns continues as Music Director of The Orchestra of the Redeemer in New York City since 1995. Recent prior Music Directorships include the Tallahassee Symphony, the Kenosha Symphony and the Lawton Philharmonic. Additionally, she is Principal Conductor and Music Advisor for the popular multimedia orchestral show RePLAY: Symphony of Heroes, based on the symphonic music of videogames. As such, she conducted the world premiere with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House in Australia, followed by performances with the Houston Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, members of the Toronto Symphony at the Sony Centre, and conducts ensuing performances with other major orchestras as the show is booked.

This past fall, Ms. Burns debuted as guest conductor with the Rochester Philharmonic. International engagements have included two recent performances with the Magdeburg Philharmonic in Germany, preceded by debuts with the Bournemouth Symphony (ENG); in Germany at the Stadthalle in Wuppertal: the First Ladies Symphony Orchestra of Poland, and the YinQi Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan. Highlights of prior guest conducting within the US include appearances with orchestras such as the Memphis Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, Mansfield Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, MasterWorks Festival, Sewanee Music Festival, C.W. Post Music Festival and the Skaneateles Festival.

Versatile in all genres, she is active on operatic stages as well, having conducted opera at the MasterWorks Festival and having been Associate Music Director of the Bronx Opera Company – conducting opening nights – for nine years. Ms. Burns has performed with two-time Grammy winner Sylvia McNair, and is on the conducting roster of Broadway Pops International, Inc. through which she guest conducted two performances of an Elvis Tribute with the Memphis Symphony. Equally fluent in choral/orchestral repertoire, Ms. Burns has conducted major oratorio with prominent Metropolitan Opera soloists such as Ben Heppner, Heidi Grant Murphy, Angela Brown, Mark Delavan, Mark Oswald and others. Committed to the furthering of musical education of all generations, she recently guest conducted the NAfME All-National Youth Orchestra, is sought-after as an All-State conductor, has guest conducted at CelloSpeak and has twice served as a private coach / specialist on the faculty of Chorus America’s Choral/Orchestral Masterclasses for the orchestral conducting training of choral conductors.

Ms. Burns has received conducting awards from the Aspen Music Festival, studying with Paul Vermel, and the Conductors Guild, where she was unanimously presented with their prestigious biennial prize, the Thelma Robinson Scholarship, while still a student at Mannes College of Music (NY). Ms. Burns also received an Artist Diploma in Yale University’s eminent Conductor Apprentice Program on full scholarship and upon special invitation of Yale faculty. In this capacity, she regularly worked with noted mentor conductors such as Gunther Herbig, Lawrence Leighton Smith and Eleazar de Carvallho. She also participated in master classes under the tutelage of prominent guests such as Kurt Masur, Leopold Hager and Zdenek Macal. Ms. Burns completed her Masters degree and Professional Studies in Orchestral Conducting on full scholarship at the Mannes College, where she studied with Yakov Kreizberg and Michael Charry. Previously active as a violinist, she holds both Bachelors and Masters degrees in violin performance from Mannes, during which time she began preliminary conducting studies with Semyon Bychkov. Ms. Burns is an alumna of both the New York String Orchestra Seminar under Alexander Schneider, and The Quartet Program. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Burns was an original member of the former Chester String Quartet.

The Four Horns of the Metropolitan Opera
The backbone of the world-renowned Metropolitan Opera Orchestra!

Members include Erik Ralske, Hugo Valverde, Javier Gandara and Barbara Jöstlein Currie. While their artistry can be heard on many Grammy-winning MET Opera HD recordings on DVD, and regularly on live radio broadcasts on the MET Sirius Radio Channel and Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network, they enjoy performing as soloists and lecturers worldwide. Together they have performed the Schumann Konzertstück for Four Horns in Japan and the US, and led masterclasses at several leading music schools. Their members can be heard on many movie and television soundtracks, as well as recordings with many famous popular artists’ albums. Collectively they serve on the faculties at all of the major music conservatories in the New York area, including the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Bard College and Mannes College of Music. They look forward to an upcoming 2020 tour of Costa Rica where they will perform the Schumann Konzertstück with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica and give masterclasses at the National Music Institute of Costa Rica.

Repetoire

All tickets for the March 21, 2020 concert will be honored.

Ilya Finkelshteyn, principal cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, will perform Dvorak’s lush Concerto for Cello on June 27th with Maestro Keitaro Harada on the podium. Also, to stir your soul on the Romantic Cello program, is Brahms’ much loved Symphony No. 2. Love is definitely in the air!

Conductor Keitaro Harada

Conductor Keitaro Harada continues to be recognized at the highest levels for his artistic abilities and passion for musical excellence. As a three-time recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award (2014, 2015, 2016), Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview (2013), the Seiji Ozawa Conducting Fellowship at Tanglewood Music Festival, a student of Lorin Maazel at Castleton Festival and Fabio Luisi at Pacific Music Festival, Harada’s credentials are exemplary.

In his third season as Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops, Harada regularly assists Music Director Louis Langrée and conducts the CSO, POPS, and World Piano Competition, and assists James Conlon and Juanjo Mena for the May Festival. Keitaro also holds the position of Associate Conductor of the Arizona Opera.

With a growing schedule as an international guest conductor, Harada’s recent and coming seasons mark several high-profile engagements including the Pacific Music Festival by invitation of Valery Gergiev, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan and with Boise Philharmonic, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony and Music in the Mountains Festival in the USA. Most recently, he conducted Song from the Uproar for Cincinnati Opera, debuted with Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted a run of Bizet’s Carmen for Sofia National Opera in Bulgaria that will reprise with a Japan tour of the same production later in 2018.

Past seasons held an invitation to the prestigious Mahler Competition in Germany and his conducting debut in Japan with the New Japan Philharmonic in a sold out performance as well as his debut with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He led performances of Carmen for Arizona Opera and conducted concerts with Tucson Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Sierra Vista Symphony, and Orquesta Filarmónica de Sonora. He held the position of Associate Conductor for Richmond Symphony from autumn of 2014 to spring of 2016.

In 2013, Harada was selected by the League of American Orchestras as one of only six conductors for the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview, a prominent showcase that occurs biennially in an effort to promote gifted, emerging conductors to orchestra industry leaders. In 2012, Harada was a semi-finalist at the 9th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors in Poland. In 2011, Harada was one of ten semi-finalists invited by Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony to participate in the First Chicago Symphony Orchestra Solti International Conducting Competition and he made his professional opera conducting debut with North Carolina Opera.

Early in his career, Harada served as Music Director of the Phoenix Youth Symphony. During his tenure, he elevated the organization’s profile, expanded their season; added challenging repertoire, and took the symphony on a European tour that culminated with a master class on the main stage of the Berlin Philharmonic.

A native of Tokyo, Japan, Harada is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and Mercer University. He completed his formal conducting training at University of Arizona with Thomas Cockrell and Charles Bontrager. He has also studied under Christoph von Dohnányi, Robert Spano, Michael Tilson Thomas, Oliver Knussen, Herbert Blomstedt, Vladimir Ponkin, Adrian Gnam and Stefan Asbury. Harada champions creative programming, development of the orchestra as a part of a community’s cultural fabric, advancement of each musician he encounters, and responsibility as an artistic and civic leader.

Very early in his career, he was selected as a guest artist for National Public Radio’s From the Top and is featured as a favorite guest alumnus on their PBS television documentary. Arizona Public Broadcasting produced a documentary on the bright career of Keitaro titled: “Music…Language Without Words” for the television series AZ Illustrated in 2013. Harada’s general manager is JEJ Artists. Engagements in Asia are managed by Japan Arts. http://kharada.com

Ilya Finkelshteyn, cello

Principal cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Ilya Finkelshteyn was praised by the Washington Post as a “complete master of his instrument,” and has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. In 2002 he became Principal Cello of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Yuri Temirkanov. Prior to that, Mr. Finkelshteyn was a member of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for five seasons under the late Hans Vonk.

Prize-winner of such competitions as the Concertino Praga, Russian Cello Competition, the WAMSO International Competition, the Aspen Concerto Competition and the Chautauqua Concerto Competition, Ilya Finkelshteyn has appeared as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and many other world-class orchestras including the National Repertory Orchestra. As a winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition, Mr. Finkelshteyn was a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra on its tours to France and Bermuda. He has collaborated with András Schiff, Kirill Girstein, Hilary Hahn, David Soyer, Richard Goode, Joseph Silverstein, Jules Esken, Steven Ansell, Harold Robinson and Vadim Repin. Mr. Finkelshteyn has been heard on Wisconsin Public Radio, Maine Public Radio, KFUOFM in St. Louis, and WYPR in Baltimore. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Cello at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Ilya Finkelshteyn started his education at the Special Music School at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under the tutelage of Sergei Chernyadiev. After immigrating to the United States, he studied one year at the University of Minnesota School of Music with Tanya Remenikova and six years at the Juilliard School with Harvey Shapiro, where he was coached by Felix Galimir, Samuel Sanders, and members of the Juilliard String Quartet. Mr. Finkelshteyn plays a cello by Domenico Montagnana circa 1730 courtesy of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Repetoire

November 9, 2019

Last year’s Songs of Rural America pops concert, seen nationwide on television, let us know that you wanted pops added to our mix. Maestro Tim Berens and Broadway tenor Mike Eldred (Jean Val Jean in Les Miserables) have a terrific Salute to Our Veterans concert on November 9th just in time for Veterans Day!

The concert will feature 4 world premieres of music by Tim and Louise Berens. These premieres include new arrangements of the classics When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Battle Hymn of the Republic, and Danny Boy, and a brand new composition entitled Messages from Mount Rushmore by Tim and Louise Berens.

Messages from Mount Rushmore was inspired by a 2008 visit to Mount Rushmore, when Tim wondered “What would they have to say to us today?” The piece contains wise, stirring, funny and inspirational quotes from George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, accompanied by rousing music. Their messages offer guidance to navigating our modern, hectic world.

Tim Berens, conductor

Tim Berens’ multi-faceted career gives testament to his lifelong quest to learn, perform and write music. So far, his venture 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 tours. Beginning in the late 1990’s, Tim began arranging for the CPO, eventually becoming the orchestra’s principal arranger.

His arrangements are regularly performed in venues from Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center to the Hollywood Bowl.

Tim’s arrangements caught the ears of others and he began receiving commissions from many leading conductors and major orchestras. His arrangements are performed hundreds of times per year by orchestras throughout the United States and abroad, in venues from Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center to the Hollywood Bowl. Tim’s arrangements receive praise from conductors, musicians, librarians, management, and listeners.

In 2010, the desire to continue learning led Tim to return to school to study conducting. Two intensive years later, he earned a Masters Degree in Orchestral Conducting. As he conducted the music of great composers like Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich, his studies of their scores enriched his skills as an orchestrator.

As a young student studying classical guitar at CCM, Tim took every opportunity to play jazz and other styles. This work prepared him well for the audition for the Cincinnati Pops. Over the following years, other orchestras began hiring Tim, and he performed with more than 20 orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He played thousands of services for conductor Erich Kunzel.

Tim was featured as a soloist on many of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra’s concerts, recordings and television broadcasts, most notably when he transcribed the piano part from “Rhapsody in Blue” for guitar.

Throughout his professional career Tim has performed regularly at jazz clubs, releasing 4 jazz recordings on the Red Mark label under his own name along the way, and he has continued working as a classical guitarist, performing Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” to great acclaim.

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 his band’s performance of Smoke on the Water in the Van Buren Junior High School Talent Show. TimBerens.com

Mike Eldred, tenor

Mike Eldred is one of North America’s most in-demand and beloved tenors, thrilling audiences in concert halls, on Broadway, and on recordings, radio and television. He appeared on Broadway in Les Miserables as “Jean Valjean”, and in the original cast of the Tony-nominated The Civil War. He performed in the 25^th anniversary tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, and starred as “The Tenor” in the 2010 national concert tour of Handel’s Messiah Rocks. His starring role as “Tony” in the Nashville Symphony’s production of West Side Story has earned international praise as “arguably the best ‘Tony’ on record”. The cast recording featuring Eldred was released on NAXOS International.

An artist of tremendous depth and reach, Mike’s diversity and generosity of spirit fuel the many facets of his career. He is increasingly interested in using his performances to raise awareness and funds for causes close to him. A recent benefit concert in Whitefish, MT, raised thousands for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and kicked off a fundraiser bicycle ride, in which Mike rode nearly 400 miles over five days on a route stretching from Glacier National Park to Yellowstone National Park.

In addition to numerous appearances on recordings and DVDs, Mike has released three solo CDs that have garnered critical and popular acclaim. His debut album, ME, features favorites from the stage drawn from his years on Broadway. That record was followed byLet It Begin, a holiday album that features appearances from several of Mike’s friends including former touring partner Jim Brickman. The latest release is Come Love Me Again, a celebration of the music of John Denver and a companion to Mike’s newest symphonic pops show. An early inspiration for Mike’s life as a singer, John Denver’s music, his message and his passion for America’s open spaces resonates deeply with Mike and he enjoys sharing this with audiences all over the country. Mike’s new concert series ON THE STAGE features national and local artists in Whitefish, Montana in an up close and personal concert setting.

Eldred is a busy vocal and performance coach, both online and in person around the country and he has performed as a Host and a soloist in concert with many of North America’s finest symphony orchestras, including Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Fort Wayne, Fort Worth, Glacier, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Long Beach, Milwaukee, Modesto, Naples, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, Seattle and Toronto.

December 7, 2019

Last year’s sold out Christmas Show! concert under the baton of Maestro Steven Huang made it clear that this is one of your favorites. Get your tickets early to this December 7th concert and make sure you don’t miss out! And if you have ever had a secret desire to lift the baton and bring out beautiful music, you too could be a Maestro For A Moment at this annual symphony fundraiser. Contact us to be a part of this fun and wonderful event.

Conductor Steven Huang

Maestro Steven Huang has conducted orchestras and operas across the country and throughout the world. At the age of twenty-one, he served as Music Director of the Bach Society Orchestra of Harvard University, where he received his undergraduate degree. While at Harvard, Mr. Huang also directed the Lowell House Opera (the oldest continuously running opera company in New England), in a critically acclaimed production of Kurt Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.

Mr. Huang has worked with musicians around the world, including California, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, Ohio, Haiti, and Romania. He has held the position of Music Director of the University of Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Central Illinois Youth Symphony, the Gilbert and Sullivan Players of Chicago, and the Bradley University Orchestra. In America, he has guest conducted professional ensembles such as the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Shore Symphony (IL), and the Four Seasons Symphony (CA). Abroad, he has led the National Philharmonic and “Organ Hall” Chamber Orchestra of the Republic of Moldova; the Pitesti Philharmonic of Romania; the Tiraspol Philharmonic; the New Symphony Orchestra of Bulgaria; the Attergau Kultursommer Orchestra in Austria, where he conducted for their twentieth anniversary concert; the Jeunesses Musicales Festival Orchestra in Romania; and L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Sainte Trinité, Haiti, where he has volunteered since 2000.

Mr. Huang has studied conducting in Europe as well as the United States with such teachers as Dumitru Goia, Michael Jinbo, Kenneth Kiesler, Gustav Meier, and Rossen Milanov. He earned the Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan, where he was the recipient of the Marian W. and Ernest A. Jones Conducting Scholarship. Huang twice received the Herbert von Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors for study at the Salzburg Festival, and the Fulbright Fellowship for study at the National University of Music in Bucharest, where he received an Artist’s Diploma. Mr. Huang has also studied with Mr. Leonard Slatkin at the National Conducting Institute.

Mr. Huang has served on faculty at Ohio University since 2004. He appears as conductor on two professional recordings, “Sticks & Stones: Music for Percussion and Strings” and “Double Life: Music for Strings by Rozsa” (Equilibrium). Recent engagements include the Brasov Philharmonic (Romania), Tantrum Theater’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” for which he won the 2017 Theatre Roundtable award for Excellence in Music Direction; North Carolina State Honors Orchestra, and recurring appearances at the “Queen Violin” International Festival in the Republic of Moldova. He is also Director of the nonprofit educational organization International Conducting Masterclasses, Inc., which sponsors conducting seminars in Europe and the U.S.

Repetoire

Flutists of all ages are invited to attend a masterclass held by Ohio Valley Symphony soloists, Lindsey Goodman. Admission is free and open to the public. Applications to perform for this masterclass are now being accepted. Lindsey would like young and old, beginner to professional to perform. Those selected will receive a free ticket to hear her performance with The Ohio Valley Symphony that evening.

Those interested should email masterclass@ohiovalleysymphony.org with your name, email address, phone number and a short bio, or call the Box Office at 740-446-ARTS.

A limited number of spaces are available.

October 26, 2019

You asked for him and he’s back! Maestro Keitaro Harada returns to the podium twice this season on October 26th and March 21st. The Fabulous Flute with soloist Lindsey Goodman, OVS’s own piccolo and flutist, who performs an Ohio premiere of Nancy Galbraith’s Concert for Flute. Independent Streams for percussion and strings is another Ohio premiere – written by the OVS’s principal percussionist Roger Braun (a fitting piece as Lindsey’s husband is also a percussionist). Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 and de Fall’s much loved Three Cornered Hat round out the program.

Conductor Keitaro Harada

Conductor Keitaro Harada continues to be recognized at the highest levels for his artistic abilities and passion for musical excellence. As a three-time recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award (2014, 2015, 2016), Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview (2013), the Seiji Ozawa Conducting Fellowship at Tanglewood Music Festival, a student of Lorin Maazel at Castleton Festival and Fabio Luisi at Pacific Music Festival, Harada’s credentials are exemplary.

In his third season as Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops, Harada regularly assists Music Director Louis Langrée and conducts the CSO, POPS, and World Piano Competition, and assists James Conlon and Juanjo Mena for the May Festival. Keitaro also holds the position of Associate Conductor of the Arizona Opera.

With a growing schedule as an international guest conductor, Harada’s recent and coming seasons mark several high-profile engagements including the Pacific Music Festival by invitation of Valery Gergiev, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan and with Boise Philharmonic, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony and Music in the Mountains Festival in the USA. Most recently, he conducted Song from the Uproar for Cincinnati Opera, debuted with Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted a run of Bizet’s Carmen for Sofia National Opera in Bulgaria that will reprise with a Japan tour of the same production later in 2018.

Past seasons held an invitation to the prestigious Mahler Competition in Germany and his conducting debut in Japan with the New Japan Philharmonic in a sold out performance as well as his debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He led performances of Carmen for Arizona Opera and conducted concerts with Tucson Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Sierra Vista Symphony, and Orquesta Filarmónica de Sonora. He held the position of Associate Conductor for Richmond Symphony from autumn of 2014 to spring of 2016.

In 2013, Harada was selected by the League of American Orchestras as one of only six conductors for the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview, a prominent showcase that occurs biennially in an effort to promote gifted, emerging conductors to orchestra industry leaders. In 2012, Harada was a semi-finalist at the 9th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors in Poland. In 2011, Harada was one of ten semi-finalists invited by Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony to participate in the First Chicago Symphony Orchestra Solti International Conducting Competition and he made his professional opera conducting debut with North Carolina Opera.

Early in his career, Harada served as Music Director of the Phoenix Youth Symphony. During his tenure, he elevated the organization’s profile, expanded their season; added challenging repertoire, and took the symphony on a European tour that culminated with a master class on the main stage of the Berlin Philharmonic.

A native of Tokyo, Japan, Harada is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and Mercer University. He completed his formal conducting training at University of Arizona with Thomas Cockrell and Charles Bontrager. He has also studied under Christoph von Dohnányi, Robert Spano, Michael Tilson Thomas, Oliver Knussen, Herbert Blomstedt, Vladimir Ponkin, Adrian Gnam and Stefan Asbury. Harada champions creative programming, development of the orchestra as a part of a community’s cultural fabric, advancement of each musician he encounters, and responsibility as an artistic and civic leader.

Very early in his career, he was selected as a guest artist for National Public Radio’s “From the Top” show and is featured as a favorite guest alumnus on their PBS television documentary. Arizona Public Broadcasting produced a documentary on the bright career of Keitaro titled: “Music…Language Without Words” for the television series AZ Illustrated in 2013. Harada’s general manager is JEJ Artists. Engagements in Asia are managed by Japan Arts. http://kharada.com

Lindsey Goodman, flute

Lindsey Goodman is a soloist, recording artist, chamber collaborator, orchestral musician, educator, and clinician. Renowned for her “generous warmth of tone and a fluid virtuosity” (Charleston Gazette), “impressive artistry” (Tribune-Review), and “agility and emotion” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), Lindsey has performed solo and chamber concerts, taught masterclasses, and given presentations at countless series, festivals, and universities. Her “brilliant”, “bravura performances” (Tribune-Review) “played with conviction” (New York Times), “flair, and emotion” (Gazette) have been heard on three continents, including at Carnegie Hall, Eastman School of Music, University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Google headquarters, several National and Canadian Flute Association conventions, and across China.

A committed advocate for living composers and electroacoustic music, Lindsey is an active commissioner of new works with over 140 world premieres to her credit. Her debut solo album, reach through the sky, is available from New Dynamic Records, and her latest release, returning to heights unseen, featuring eight commissioned works for flute, is available from PARMA Recordings. She can also be heard in solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral performances on the New World, Albany, New Focus, and Navona labels, among others. Lindsey has given multiple professional recitals in New York City, performed concertos from Mozart to commissioned works in the United States and Canada, and been featured in live and recorded radio broadcasts on stations across the country.

Lindsey is principal flutist of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, solo flutist of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, adjunct lecturer at West Virginia State University and Marietta College, and third flute/piccolo of The Ohio Valley Symphony. She is a founding member of the Leviathan Trio (flute, cello, and piano), flute quartet PANdemonium4, and ASSEM3LY (flute, piano, and percussion). Classically trained as a mezzo-soprano, Lindsey is also one-half of Chrysalis, a singing flutist and singing pianist duo. A student of Walfrid Kujala and Robert Langevin, Lindsey received degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, Northwestern University, and Duquesne University. She resides in Pickerington, Ohio with her husband, percussionist, composer, and educator Chris Carmean, and their dog Jack. www.LindseyGoodman.com

Repetoire

September 14, 2019

The Ariel Opera House lives up to its name at the season opener on September 14th when Opera Gala-polis kicks off the season with acclaimed mezzo-soprano Katherine Rohrer under the able direction of Maestro Steven Huang. Katherine’s Carmen sizzles!

Conductor Steven Huang

Maestro Steven Huang has conducted orchestras and operas across the country and throughout the world. At the age of twenty-one, he served as Music Director of the Bach Society Orchestra of Harvard University, where he received his undergraduate degree. While at Harvard, Mr. Huang also directed the Lowell House Opera (the oldest continuously running opera company in New England), in a critically acclaimed production of Kurt Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.

Mr. Huang has worked with musicians around the world, including California, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, Ohio, Haiti, and Romania. He has held the position of Music Director of the University of Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Central Illinois Youth Symphony, the Gilbert and Sullivan Players of Chicago, and the Bradley University Orchestra. In America, he has guest conducted professional ensembles such as the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Shore Symphony (IL), and the Four Seasons Symphony (CA). Abroad, he has led the National Philharmonic and “Organ Hall” Chamber Orchestra of the Republic of Moldova; the Pitesti Philharmonic of Romania; the Tiraspol Philharmonic; the New Symphony Orchestra of Bulgaria; the Attergau Kultursommer Orchestra in Austria, where he conducted for their twentieth anniversary concert; the Jeunesses Musicales Festival Orchestra in Romania; and L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Sainte Trinité, Haiti, where he has volunteered since 2000.

Mr. Huang has studied conducting in Europe as well as the United States with such teachers as Dumitru Goia, Michael Jinbo, Kenneth Kiesler, Gustav Meier, and Rossen Milanov. He earned the Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan, where he was the recipient of the Marian W. and Ernest A. Jones Conducting Scholarship. Huang twice received the Herbert von Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors for study at the Salzburg Festival, and the Fulbright Fellowship for study at the National University of Music in Bucharest, where he received an Artist’s Diploma. Mr. Huang has also studied with Mr. Leonard Slatkin at the National Conducting Institute.

Mr. Huang has served on faculty at Ohio University since 2004. He appears as conductor on two professional recordings, “Sticks & Stones: Music for Percussion and Strings” and “Double Life: Music for Strings by Rozsa” (Equilibrium). Recent engagements include the Brasov Philharmonic (Romania), Tantrum Theater’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” for which he won the 2017 Theatre Roundtable award for Excellence in Music Direction; North Carolina State Honors Orchestra, and recurring appearances at the “Queen Violin” International Festival in the Republic of Moldova. He is also Director of the nonprofit educational organization International Conducting Masterclasses, Inc., which sponsors conducting seminars in Europe and the U.S.

Katherine Rohrer, mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano Katherine Rohrer has been impressing audiences internationally with her warm, expressive tone, vocal agility, and dramatic, emotionally gripping performances. Balancing the rigors of traditional and mainstream repertoire with some of today’s most celebrated composers, Katherine garnered critical acclaim in recent performances as Nicklausse/Muse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann with Opera Colorado and Florida Grand Opera, Marguerite in La Damnation de Faustwith Oper Frankfurt, the Malaysian Philharmonia, and the Saint Louis Symphony, the role of Lady Macbeth in Bloch’s rarely-heard Macbeth with London’s University College Opera, and her first Pilgrim in Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin with Vlaamse Opera. In her debut in the title role of Carmen with Glyndebourne on tour, the Times Online acclaims, “…she has already deeply assimilated the strength and complexity of this Carmen. And her minutely expressive mezzo-soprano traces every nerve ending of Bizet’s writing.” Previous roles with Glyndebourne opera include Mercedes in Carmen and Nadine in the world premiere of John Lunn’s Tangier Tattoo. Highlights of previous seasons include performances of Princess Clarice in Prokofiev’s L’Amour des Trois Oranges with Thèâtre de Genève (2010), the role of Sonyetka in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mzensk with the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile (2009), Clara in Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery in Valencia, Spain (2008), and Stella in Elliott Carter’s opera What Next? at the Miller Theatre in New York City (2007). Ms. Rohrer returned to the San Francisco Opera after her residency as an Adler Fellow and former Merolini for the 2007-2008 and 2006-2007 seasons performing the roles of Dorebella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Pauline in The Queen of Spades and Maddalena in Rigoletto. This was followed by her debut as Stephano in Roméo et Juliette with the Lyric Opera of Chicago; the Chicago Sun Times proclaims her as “the standout in the supporting cast…she showed a voice and spirit alive.” Ms. Rohrer has shown a dynamic affinity for early opera since her debut as Oberto in Alcina with San Francisco Opera (2002), a role she later reprised at the Opera Lyon (2005). Her New York debut with Gotham Chamber Opera in the role of Teseo in Arianna in Creta was ecstatically received by the New York press, prompting Ann Midgette of the New York Times to remark, “…the role of Teseo…is one of the hardest in the book, every aria a flood of notes spewing out as if from a fire hydrant. Katherine Rohrer…was deeply impressive, playing it convincingly as an angry teenage boy of about 16, and hurling her agile voice (full but not dark) up and down the scale as she executed various bits of stage business, like brushing her teeth without any break in the cascade of notes.” She returned to New York for her debuts with New York City Opera (2006) in a rarely performed Handel opera Flavio as Vitage and with Glimmerglass Opera (2007) in the role of Messenger, and Proserpine in Monteverdi’s Orfeo.

Recent and previous concert engagements include Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Japan with the Mito Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Seiji Ozawa (released internationally on CD and DVD), Mozart’s C Minor Mass with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, and a Gala Concert with New Orleans Symphony under the baton of Kauspeter Siebel. Her Carnegie Hall debut was for the Marilyn Horne Foundation followed by recitals in Louisville, Kentucky and Bradford, Pennsylvania. The Louisville Courier-Journal’s review of the performance praises her “luscious, ringing voice” and notes that she displayed “just enough sass to convert you immediately to her cause.”She made her New York City Ballet debut as the mezzo soloist in Brahms’ Liebesliederwalzer at Lincoln Center as well as at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She has also been featured in two recitals with the 2003 Schwabacher Debut Recital Series, both with collaborative artist Steven Blier.

Ms. Rohrer has collaborated with many of the world’s leading directors and conductors including Michail Jurowski, Seiji Ozawa, Donald Runnicles, Patrick Summers, Daniel Oren, Steven Lord, David Agler, Dimitri Jurowski, Jakub Hrůša, Marco Armiliato, David McVicar, John Copley, David and Christopher Alden, Stephen Langridge, John Cox, Roy Rallo, Ian Judge and James Robinson. Recipient of Central City Opera’s John Moriarty Apprentice Encouragement Award, her other credits include first place in the Rose Palmer Mobile Opera Competition, finalist in the Eleanor McCollum Competition at Houston Grand Opera, and finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Ms. Rohrer was an Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera from 2004-2006. She has a BM in music education from Stetson University as well as a MM in performance from New England Conservatory and a Ph.D from Ohio University. In autumn 2013 she joined the faculty at The Ohio State University as an assistant professor of voice.

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