Maestro for a Moment FUN-draiser 2025

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

Congratulations to Cindy Sexton, Executive Director of French Art Colony, the 2025 Maestro for a Moment! The Maestro for a Moment Fundraiser is one of the highlights of The Ohio Valley Symphony’s season for both audience and orchestra! Each season’s three candidates vie for the opportunity to conduct the orchestra during the The Christmas Show in a rousing rendition of Sleigh Ride! Thank you to this year’s candidates are Gallia Co. Prosecutor Jason Holdren; Peoples Bank Branch Manager Chris Nida; and French Art Colony Executive Director Cindy Sexton for making this year’s fundraiser a success.

Click “Read More” to learn more about our candidates!

THE CHRISTMAS SHOW! The Ohio Valley Symphony

December 6, 2025
at 7:30 p.m.
CLICK TO BUY TICKETS NOW!

Maestro Steven Huang’s annual Christmas Show on December 6 is a perennial favorite of audiences young and old with carols and songs both new and familiar. Tickets sell out fast so be sure to get yours soon. December is also our annual Maestro for a Moment FUNdraiser when community members vie for the chance to conduct the OVS in Sleigh Ride. Every dollar is a vote for your favorite candidate and helps support The Ohio Valley Symphony with your tax deductible donation.

Steven Huang, conductor
Maestro Steven Huang is thrilled to return to Southeastern Ohio to the podium of The Ohio Valley Symphony, a Christmas tradition since 2018.

Mr. Huang has conducted orchestras and operas across the country and around 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). 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, through over 200 performances that included symphonic concerts, opera, musical theater, and Halloween pops.

ALL HALLOWS’ EVE, The Ohio Valley Symphony

November 1, 2025
at 7:30 p.m.
CLICK TO BUY TICKETS NOW!

Join us Nov. 1 for All Hallows’ Eve when Matthew Troy leads us in a musical celebration of All Saints Day with Wendel’s Ride of the Headless Horseman, Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette and Khachaturian’s Masquerade Suite and Borodin’s Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances as part of an evening of musical tricks and treats. Pianist Michael Chertock returns for Liszt’s Totentanz.

Matthew Troy, conductor
Matthew Troy was named Music Director and Conductor of the Western Piedmont Symphony (NC) in 2019. During this time, he has raised the profi le of the orchestra, increased the scope of the youth orchestra, created a vibrant pops series, increased the budget and sponsorships, formed new strategic partnerships, increased musician wages, and led the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic. Troy is a conductor with a mission to make classical music accessible to everyone and to program concerts that are meaningful, relevant, and artistically exceptional. He has conducted orchestras across the country, including the Sarasota Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Portland Symphony, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Northern Lights Chamber Orchestra (AK), Oklahoma Virtuosi, University of North Carolina School of the Arts Symphony, Salisbury Symphony, and others.

2025-26 SEASON SUBSCRIPTION! The Ohio Valley Symphony

BUY NOW! (click here)
EXISTING Subscribers who wish to keep their current seats and NEW Subscribers download order form here and mail, or call the Box Office and leave a message.

The 2024-25 Ohio Valley Symphony season is almost upon us. Mark your calendars now and get your season tickets so you can experience the magic of music at every single one.

Internationally noted conductor, François López-Ferrer will be back on the Ariel Opera House stage as he leads the OVS through Double Delight on September 13 with Cincinnati Symphony’s principal cellist, Ilya Finkleshteyn  performing Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello along with his violinist wife Evin Blomberg also a member of the CSO. The OVS will also perform Shostakovich’s cheeky and charming Symphony No. 9.

Join us Nov. 1 for All Hallows’ Eve when Matthew Troy leads us in a musical celebration of All Saints Day with Wendel’s Ride of the Headless Horseman, Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette and Khachaturian’s Masquerade Suite and Borodin’s Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances as part of an evening of musical tricks and treats. Pianist Michael Chertock returns for Liszt’s Totentanz.

ROMANTIC SPRING, The Ohio Valley Symphony

April 26, 2025
at 7:30 p.m.
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW!

Max Bruch’s Concerto for Clarinet and Viola will feature two OVS members, Laura Sabo on clarinet and Bernard Di Gregorio on viola, in Romantic Spring. Maestro Scott Woodward leads the orchestra in African-American composer William Grant Still’s Woodnotes, Howard Hansen’s Symphony No. 2, the “Romantic,” and other selections.

Dr. 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, the Principal Guest Conductor of the Rimini Chamber Orchestra in Rimini, Italy, and the former Cover Conductor of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. 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).

DOUBLE DELIGHT, The Ohio Valley Symphony

September 13, 2025
at 7:30 p.m.
CLICK TO BUY TICKETS NOW!

Internationally noted conductor, François López-Ferrer will be back on the Ariel Opera House stage as he leads the OVS through Double Delight on September 13 with Cincinnati Symphony’s principal cellist, Ilya Finkleshteyn  performing Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello along with his violinist wife Evin Blomberg also a member of the CSO. The OVS will also perform Shostakovich’s cheeky and charming Symphony No. 9.

François López-Ferrer, conductor
Spanish-American conductor François López-Ferrer currently serves as Resident Conductor of the Académie of the Opéra de Paris. Former Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and May Festival, and a 2021-22’ Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, López-Ferrer stepped in for Louis Langrée with the CSO in January of 2022 for the US premiere of Mark Simpson’s Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti to great critical acclaim.

DARING DANCES, The Ohio Valley Symphony

March 15, 2025
at 7:30 p.m.
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW!

Daring Dances will move you with a selection of dazzling dance music under the baton of conductor Michael Chertock leading the OVS through Ravel’s La Valse and Bolero. Even more dazzling, Michael will also be the piano soloist on Leroy Anderson’s Piano Concerto. Talk about multi-tasking! This concert is sponsored In Memory of Clare E. Gettles.

Michael Chertock, conductor & pianist
Conductor and pianist Michael Chertock has fashioned a successful career as an orchestral soloist, collaborating with conductors such as James Conlon, Jaime Laredo, and Keith Lockhart.

His orchestral appearances include solo performances with, among others, The Philadelphia Orchestra, l’Orchestre Symphonique du Montreal, the Toronto Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Naples Philharmonic, the Dayton Philharmonic, and The Ohio Valley Symphony. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1999 with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, performing Duke Ellington’s New World A’Comin’.

Michael first performed publicly at the age of 11 and by age 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 Int’l Piano Competition (Brahms Division) and the grand prize in the 1993 St. Charles International Piano Competition.

Maestro for a Moment FUN-draiser 2024

Congratulations to our 2024 Maestra for a Moment Teresa Ford!
And thank you to all of our candidates and patrons for your support!

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

Learn more about our candidates by clicking “Read More”