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).
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, and their son, Gabriel, a trumpet player just like his dad, and a new baby daughter, Gabriella! His hobbies include playing horrible golf, and trying to figure out how to work on his vintage 1970 Volkswagen Beetle.
Laura Sabo, clarinet
Laura Sabo is a Cincinnati based clarinetist and bass clarinetist. She plays principle clarinet with The Ohio Valley Symphony, Queen City Opera, and Butler Philharmonic. Laura is a regular member of the Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, as well as performing often with regional groups such as West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra. She is also the clarinetist for School House Symphony, a group of six professional musicians that perform educational concerts in the greater Cincinnati area.
Laura received her BM from The Ohio State University, met MM from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and her DMA from CCM/UC. Her teachers include James Pyne, Franklin Cohen and Linnea Nereim of the Cleveland Orchestra, Ron de Kant, Steve Cohen, and Ron Aufmann of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Laura is a founding member of the woodwind quintet Wayside Winds, and has been a featured soloist with concert:nova. She loves performing and teaching music, being outside, and animals, especially her two cats.
Bernard Di Gregorio, viola
Bernard Di Gregorio holds the position of Principal Viola of the West Virginia Symphony. He also performs with the Ohio Valley Symphony and the River Cities Symphony and has been the violist of the Montclaire String Quartet.
During the summer months he is the Principal Viola with the New Hampshire Music Festival where he also participates in chamber music programs. Mr. Di Gregorio has also been Principal Viola with the Roanoke (VA) Symphony for over 20 seasons before resigning, has been a member of the Alabama Symphony and also performs occasionally in the viola section of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He has studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and the Longy School of Music where his principal instructor was George Neikrug.
Mr. Di Gregorio has appeared as soloist with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra on occasion and more recently with the Butler Philharmonic Orchestra in Hamilton, OH.
Although very busy as an orchestral/chamber musician and teacher he also performed with several chamber duos including DUO VIANNO, a viola and piano duet, and the DI GREGORIO/ALVES DUO with guitarist Dr. Júlio Ribeiro Alves, giving performances throughout the Ohio Valley and West Virginia areas. Duo Vianno has used concert performances as fund raisers for community programs such as the West Virginia Youth Orchestra and the KUPC Hospitality Dinner to help feed those in need.
As a composer he has had his Symphony for String Orchestra performed by the Seneca Chamber Orchestra in Charleston, WV and Scenes From the Old Country- Four Pictures for Cello and Piano composed for and performed by his wife and cellist, Andrea, at the New Hampshire Music Festival. At the behest of the Montclaire String Quartet has also arranged his Love Letters, Seven Miniatures for Piano for string quartet and was performed by Montclaire.
As well as a busy performer, Mr. Di Gregorio is also an Artist-in-Residence with the West Virginia Symphony/ Kanawha County Schools String Program through which he teaches string classes to beginning string students in grade four through eighth grade ensembles and is active as a coach for the West Virginia Youth Symphony program.
Woodnotes
Concerto for Clar. & Viola Symphony No. 2 Romantic |
William Grant Still
Max Bruch Howard Hanson |