100 years ago a new age was dawning, the skirts were shorter, the money flowed freely and the the Roarin’ Twenties brought in a whole new style of American music. Be at the Ariel Opera House on May 20th to celebrate an entire concert of brand new arrangements of Roarin’ Twenties music by Cincinnati Pops Principal Arranger Tim Berens featuring vocalist Mandy Gaines and pianist Michael Chertock.

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

This concert is presented in part by support from The Ohio Arts Council and The National Endowment for the Arts.

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!

Michael Chertock, piano
Pianist Michael Chertock has fashioned a successful career as an orchestral soloist, collaborating with conductors such as James Conlon, Jaime Laredo, Keith Lockhart, Erich Kunzel and Andrew Litton. His many orchestral appearances include solo performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, l’Orchestre Symphonique du Montreal, the Toronto Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Naples Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, the Chattanooga Symphony, the Utah Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony and the Dayton Philharmonic. Chertock has toured Asia with the Boston Pops and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestras. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1999 with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, performing Duke Ellington’s New World A’Comin’.

In June 2005, Mr. Chertock performed the world premiere of a work by Todd Machover for hyperklavier and orchestra with computerized visual accompaniment, commissioned by the Boston Pops Orchestra expressly for Mr. Chertock. He recorded the piece, called Jeux Deux, in Denmark in 2007. Last May, Mr. Chertock traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria for the world premiere and recording of a new work written especially for him by Roger Davis, who is on the music faculty at Miami University in Ohio.

Claude Gingras of La Presse, Montreal, said of pianist Michael Chertock: “Chertock revealed himself as a first-rate pianist and an interpreter of noticeable interest through the freshness that he brought to these familiar scores….(he) displayed the sensitivity of a Chopin interpreter.” The Boston Globe has called his playing “unmannered, zestful, and lovely.” The Cincinnati Enquirer has described the Virginia native as “intelligent and disciplined…noble…finely finished…expressive and well-controlled.” The Salt Lake City Deseret News said “Chertock… is a musical performer with an immense technical command of the piano.” His 2003 performance on the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Petrouchka with Paavo Järvi turned in rave reviews in Gramophone and American Record Guide.

Mr. Chertock first performed publicly at the age of 11, and at age 14 he performed on live television in Guam. At 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 International Piano Competition (Brahms Division,) and the grand prize in the 1993 St. Charles International Piano Competition. He also shared the silver medal in the 1991 World Piano Competition of the American Music Scholarship Association. He received the Rildia B. O’Bryon Cliburn Scholarship in 1986.

In 1994, Mr. Chertock released his first CD on the Telarc label, a collection of his original arrangements of music from movies entitled Cinematic Piano. American Record Guide said “(Chertock) plays beautifully, and Telarc’s lush sonics bathe the listener in an intoxicating wash of piano sonorities.” Cincinnati Enquirer critic Janelle Gelfand called it “one of the most gorgeous discs of the summer”, citing his “elegant techniques…just the right poetic tone.” The recording has sold more than 30,000 units worldwide. Since then, he has recorded three more discs with 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.

Mr. Chertock is the conductor of the Blue Ash-Montgomery Symphony, located in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio, and he frequently composes and arranges music for the orchestra’s concerts. He also serves as Artistic Director of Linton Music’s Peanut Butter and Jam Sessions, an interactive music series geared toward children ages 2 to 5. When not on tour, Mr. Chertock 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.

Mr. Chertock makes his home in Cincinnati with his wife Maaike, son Joshua and daughter Maria. When he’s not on the road, you can often find him playing piano and organ for services at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church.

Repertoire

Scott E Woodard, conductor
Dr. Scott E. Woodard was born in Huntington, WV and is proud to be a life-long West Virginian. He is the Music Director of the Butler Philharmonic Orchestra in Hamilton, Ohio, the Founding Music Director of the West Virginia State Philharmonic Orchestra of Charleston, WV, and the former Cover Conductor of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Woodard is currently a finalist in the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director search. His primary teachers were Dr. Leonid Korchmar of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory of Music and the Mariinsky Theatre and Dr. Oleg Proskuryna. Scott is the recipient of First Prizes at the International Conductor’s Workshop Competition (Macon, GA) and the International Academy of Advanced Conducting (St. Petersburg, Russian Federation).
A product of the public schools in Cabell County, Scott picked up the trumpet in the sixth-grade band. He is a proud Son of Marshall, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. During those MU years, Scott began his study of orchestral conducting under the tutelage of Dr. Paul Balshaw. In 2014, he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University, where his dissertation explored the importance of the Leningrad School of conducting and its founder Ilya Musin.

Scott lives in Scott Depot with his wife Nafi, a family physician, their son, Gabriel (a trumpet player just like his dad!), and a beautiful seven-month-old daughter, Gabriella. His hobbies include playing horrible golf and trying to figure out how to work on his vintage 1970 Volkswagen Beetle.

Repertoire

We all need a bit of levity in our lives and April 1st is the perfect time for it.  Maestro Peter Stafford Wilson will lead the OVS in an evening of whimsy and farce.  Canon Brent Sturm will join him with tongue planted firmly in cheek narrating The Young Lutheran’s Guide to the Orchestra.  This demos each instrument of the orchestra and the narrator lets us know why a good Lutheran would not want to play it! Also on the program is Vaughan Williams Aristophanic Suite (remember Aristophanes is the father of comedy), William Walton’s Facade Suite No. 1 and Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kije Suite (music written for one of the earliest sound movies about a fictitious soldier).

Peter Stafford Wilson, conductor
Peter Stafford Wilson, one of the most exciting and talked about conductors of his generation, is entering his 17th season as Music Director of Ohio’s Springfield Symphony Orchestra.  Concurrently, he holds the post of Music Director of the Westerville Symphony, and was named Principal Conductor of Tulsa Ballet in 2012.

With the SSO he brought international attention for Agriculture and the Arts Growing Together and American Made: Celebrating Our Manufacturing Heritage and a new multi-media, multi discipline production of Gustav Holst’s The Planets resulted in a sellout house.  Under his baton, the orchestra’s innovative series, “Night Lights,” has enjoyed steadily increasing sales and attendance.

Mr. Wilson held the posts of Assistant and Associate Conductor of The Columbus Symphony Orchestra for 28 seasons.  He was named Artistic Director of the orchestra’s Festival Weeks @ The Southern, for which his innovative programming was consistently praised.  Mr. Wilson 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.  The CSYO has performed at national and international conferences and tours in such places as Alberta, Austria, the Czech Republic, The People’s Republic of China, and Germany, where the CSYO maintains an exchange relationship forged by Wilson, with the Heinrich Schütz Konservatorium in Dresden. Wilson was awarded the George Hardesty Award for Leadership Excellence by the Columbus Symphony and the

During Mr. Wilson’s 25 year tenure, the SSO has more than doubled its public offerings and seen its budget and community financial support grow more than 500%.    Mr. Wilson has led over 100 performances with BalletMet Columbus.

A native of North Carolina, Mr. Wilson studied at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where his primary mentor was the late Thomas Schippers.  During his years at CCM, he became a leading exponent of contemporary music, often collaborating with faculty and student composers, including the Conservatory’s Visiting Professor of Composition, Lukas Foss.  He also studied at the Aspen Music School, where he studied with Dennis Russell Davies, 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, where he was associated with Franco Ferrara.  He has work with Canton Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and The Cleveland Orchestra and has guest conducted the orchestras of Bozeman, Charlotte, Chautauqua, Dallas, Detroit, Erie, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Louisville, North Carolina, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Roanoke, Seattle, Syracuse, Tucson, Tulsa, West Virginia, Wheeling and Youngstown.  He also led the Independence Day Concert with Peter Nero’s Philly Pops Orchestra and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic’s highly popular “Awesome Classics” series, as well as programs with Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo and Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra in China.  No stranger to the lyric theater, Mr. Wilson has held the positions of Principal Conductor of South Carolina’s Opera Charleston and Music Director of the Ohio Light Opera and conducted performances at Spoleto Festival USA, Young Artists Opera Theater, College Light Opera, Canton Lyric Opera and Otterbein College Opera Theatre.

Mr. Wilson and his wife, Barbara Karam Wilson, Director of Corporate Tax for the White Castle System, reside in Westerville, Ohio.  When not conducting, he enjoys traveling, golf and reading.  He is also a wine enthusiast and an avid gourmet cook.  Wilson and his wife also serve as staff for their two rescue kitties, Murphy and Smidgen.

Canon W. Brent Sturm, narrator
Canon W. Brent Sturm, O.S.L is organist and Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church. A 40-year veteran of church music, he is a graduate of Marshall University and The Methodist Theological School in Ohio. Brother Brent professed annual vows in The Order of Saint Luke in 1988, and life vows in 1996. After ten years of managing The Order’s international business affairs, he was named Canon in 2010. In addition to his academic and administrative work, he has appeared in “Company” (David), “The Secret Garden” (Capt. Lennox), “Fiddler on the Roof” (Motel), and “The Fifth Sun” (The Colonel).

This opening concert will be held at Wedge Auditorium at Pt. Pleasant Jr./Sr. High School, 280 Scenic Dr., Point Pleasant, WV.

On November 5th the dulcet sounds of the Cincinnati Symphony’s principal oboist, Dwight Parry will be heard on a North American premiere of Carl Vine’s Oboe Concerto with Cincinnati Symphony’s Associate Conductor, François López-Ferrer, on the podium.  The concert also features music by Ravel, Debussy and Poulenc.

François López-Ferrer, conductor
François López-Ferrer is the assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival.  He provides artistic support to CSO Music Director Louis Langrée and May Festival Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena, and conducts the CSO Young Peoples Concerts.  He recently came to international attention after a critically acclaimed debut with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, jumping in for Iván Fischer and conducting alongside Sir Simon Rattle and Gabor Takacs-Nagy.  The Spanish-American conductor is also Principal Conductor of the Ballet Nacional Chileno and previously served as Associate Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile.

Internationally in demand as a guest conductor, highlights of López- Ferrer’s next season include debuts with the Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, as well numerous re-engagements with the Orquesta de la Radio Televisión Española, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile (OSNCH), and others.

Recent engagements include the Verbier Festival Orchestra, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta de la Radio Televisión Española, Orquesta Joven de la Sinfónica de Galicia, and others.  As winner of the inaugural 2015 Neeme Järvi Prize awarded through the Menuhin-Gstaad Festival, he conducted the Musikkollegium Winterthur in February 2017.

López-Ferrer holds a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne, under the tutelage of professor Aurelien Azan Zielinski, and a Bachelor of Music in Composition from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where his teachers included Joel Hoffman, Miguel Roig-Francoli, and Michael Fiday. Furthermore, Since 2009 he has been a student and protégé of Maestro Leonid Grin. As a composer López-Ferrer participated in master classes with Leonardo Balada, Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski and Jack Body.

Dwight Parry, oboe
Dwight Parry has been the principal oboist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since his appointment in 2007. Previously, he held the same position with the San Diego Symphony and was a Fellow with the New World Symphony. He has performed as guest principal oboist with groups including the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Korean Broadcasting Symphony, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Deutsches Symphonie of Berlin. Originally from coastal Southern California, he found his passion for music studying piano, voice, and jazz saxophone. It was not until late in high school, however, that he began playing the oboe, taking lessons from Joel Timm, and truly found his calling. He received his Master’s Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music with John Mack and his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Southern California with Allan Vogel and David Weiss, a gentleman who also taught him to surf!

Mr. Parry performs and teaches internationally in concertos, recitals, masterclasses, and chamber music. Past appearances have featured the works of Mozart, Goossens, Haydn, Bach, Strauss, Vivaldi, Albinoni, Barber, Francaix and Marcello. 

Mr. Parry is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Oboe at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  Additionally, he has served as interim faculty or guest lecturer at the University of Michigan, Ohio University, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He also teaches privately and gives masterclasses at schools and festivals throughout the year.  His summer activities include faculty positions at the Interlochen Academy for the Arts and the Stellenbosch Festival in South Africa.  He was a judge and featured performer in the 2018 Sony International Oboe Competition held in Tokyo, Japan.

When not performing, you’ll often find Mr. Parry in the audience for concerts and shows, including broadway, jazz, and bluegrass as well as opera and symphony performances. He spends the rest of his time hiking, running, volunteering, tossing frisbees, reading and creating curiosities in the kitchen.

New subscribers click the purple button to purchase your season subscription or call the Box Office at 740-446-ARTS (2787).  Existing subscribers who wish to keep their current seats call the Box Office to order!

Welcome our 33rd season and one of the most diverse ever planned!

We kick things off with a change in venue. Our first concert will be held at Wedge Auditorium at the Point Pleasant Jr./Sr. High School, 280 Scenic Dr., Pt. Pleasant, WV on November 5th, with the dulcet sounds of Oboes on the Ohio.

Is there any Christmas music more beloved than the Nutcracker? On December 3rd we’re back in the historic Ariel Opera House where we’ll hear the suite in its entirety, plus be a part of the fun with our annual Maestro for a Moment competition. Get your tickets early for this always sold out Christmas Show!

Spring will usher a bit of levity into our lives on April 1st when we enjoy an evening of whimsy, farce, and April Foolishness.  Spring is all around on April 15th with Maestro Scott Woodard conducting Copland’s Appalachian Spring as well as other beloved spring selections both new and old.  And what better way to end the season than with a brand new arrangements of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at the May 20th The Roarin’ Twenties? You’ll want to be a part of the audience as it’s being recorded live for public television by a multiple Grammy and Emmy winning team of recording engineers.

The 2022-23 Season will see on the 5 exciting maestros conducting The Ohio Valley Symphony in this 5-concert season featuring world class soloists. The November Concert will be held at Wedge Auditorium, and the remaining 4 concerts will be held at the historic Ariel Opera House.

In these times of uncertainty, concert dates and location may be subject to change. Please watch the website for the latest news.

The Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Cultural & Performing Arts Centre and The Ohio Valley Symphony are 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, Federal Tax ID# 31-1273779

Is there any Christmas music more beloved than the Nutcracker? On December 3rd hear the suite in its entirety along with other holiday songs of the season such as Silver Bells, Feliz Navidad, Frosty the Snowman and more under the baton of Steven Huang on December 3rd. 

Join in the fun with our annual Maestro for a Moment competition

Steven Huang, conductor
Maestro Steven Huang is thrilled to return to Southeastern Ohio to the podium of The Ohio Valley Symphony.  He has conducted orchestras and operas across the country and throughout the world.

At the age of twenty-one Mr. Huang 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).  Most recently, he successfully concluded a sixteen-year appointment as Associate Professor and Director of Orchestras at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he brought the program to new achievements, including earning competitive accolades and awards from Ohio Music Educators Association and Columbus Roundtable Awards, through over 200 performances, including symphonic concerts, opera, musical theater, and Halloween pops.

Widely respected as a music educator and conducting pedagogue, Mr. Huang is the founder and director of International Conducting Masterclasses, Inc., which has trained scores of conductors over the last two decades.  He is currently working on a book about conducting.

Mr. Huang has collaborated with orchestras around the world, including California, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Ohio, Haiti, Moldova, 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.  He has served as guest conductor with multiple appearances with Brasov Philharmonic (ROMANIA) and the National Philharmonic of Moldova.  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).  Mr. Huang debuted with The Ohio Valley Symphony at the 2018 Christmas Show.

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