Oboes on the Ohio, The Ohio Valley Symphony

November 5, 2022
at 7:30 p.m.
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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.