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In Memoriam
Dr. Arnold J. Sattler
1931-2010
EVENTS
LOVE SONGS
Eric Ashcraft
March 13th
If music be the food of love, the Ohio
Valley Symphony is setting up a smorgasbord.
The orchestra welcomes tenor Eric Ashcraft for "Love
Songs," the fourth program in its 20th anniversary
celebration. The concert is at 8 p.m. March 13 in the historic
Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre in downtown
Gallipolis. The OVS, conducted by music director Ray Fowler, and
Ashcraft will take audience members on a tuneful tour of the
sunny Mediterranean featuring the most tasty musical morsels of
France,
Italy and
Spain. The selections range from the most famous opera
arias to classic popular songs to rarely heard orchestral
miniatures by great operatic composers.
The concert is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Arnold J. Sattler
and is sponsored by the Gallia County Medical Society.
For Fowler, the orchestra's music director since its first
concert, the program was a labor of love. "It took me nearly a
year to put this program together," he said. "I'm really looking
forward to it." He's also looking forward to working with
Ashcraft, who, Fowler said, has an incredible voice. "If he's
singing the way he was singing two years ago, I'll just melt."
Reviewers agree, calling Ashcraft's singing "rich, supple and
powerful."
Short instrumental pieces balance groups of songs and arias on
the program. Chabrier's "Espana" will give the evening a festive
start. Other orchestral selections will include the lyrical "Meditation"
from Massenet's "Thais"; intermezzos from Mascagni's "Cavalleria
Rusticana" (made more famous thanks to its use in "Raging
Bull" and "The Godfather, Part III") and Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci";
preludes to
Bizet's "Carmen" and Verdi's "Rigoletto"; and Puccini's
touching "I Crisanthemi" (Chrysanthemums) for strings alone.
Click here to learn more...
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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF MUSICAL
EXCELLENCE
By Thomas Consolo
There were plenty of reasons to be skeptical of the Ohio
Valley Symphony's prospects at its first performance. The only heat in the
auditorium, from portable gas heaters, had been turned off before the concert
because of their noise. The audience and performers huddled in their coats on
the folding chairs borrowed from the city's funeral homes. Besides lacking seats
and heat, the century-old hall -- until that night closed for a quarter century
-- still needed extensive structural, mechanical and artistic renovation before
it could be put back into regular service.
Then there was the challenge of building and basing a professional orchestra in
a small city like Gallipolis.
Click to
continue . . .
THE OHIO VALLEY SYMPHONY
The Ohio Valley Symphony, the only
professional orchestra in the Ohio River Valley encompassing Gallipolis,
Ohio and Point Pleasant, West Virginia, is the resident ensemble of the
1895 Ariel Dater Hall. In 2005, benefactor Ann Carson Dater purchased
and donated the building to provide a permanent home for the symphony, the youth orchestra and the performing
arts. Designed around the Ariel Theatre's magnificent acoustics, the OVS,
under the direction of Maestro Ray Fowler, performs a wide variety of music
selected to satisfy every musical appetite.
In 2008 The OVS helped dedicate the new state of the art
Lillian and Paul Wedge Auditorium located at the Point Pleasant Junior/Senior
High School Complex.
OHIO VALLEY SYMPHONY FEATURED ON
www.hometownstation.net
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more.
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OVS musicians hail from six states and play with
a number of other prestigious orchestras such as the Columbus,
Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, West Virginia, Roanoke, Toledo and
Pro Musica Symphonies.
.jpg) Some of the musicians are freelancers who play in
more than one ensemble; many also teach at various institutions such as Ohio University, Marshall University, Ohio State University, Cincinnati
Conservatory, West Virginia University, Shenandoah Conservatory and
Capitol University.
Click to Continue .
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EVENTS TIMELINE
A brief timeline of major Ohio Valley Symphony events:
— April 1, 1989: After volunteers remove truckloads
of debris and accumulated bird droppings from the Ariel Theater, Ray Fowler
conducts first Ohio Valley Symphony concert. The hall has no heat, bathrooms or
water.
— June 9, 1990: Grand Re-Opening Concert. Ariel is
semi-restored, with work frantically being done right up until show time. The
audience waited in the lobby as the seats were bolted in place.
— December 1998: Ann Carson Dater sets up an
endowment fund, financially securing the OVS's future.
— July 2005: Dater purchases the Ariel to be the permanent home of the OVS. Her
support funds a face lift, new windows, new marquee, painting walls and
refinishing floors in second-floor ballroom, banquet room and parlors. A new
music-inspired sculpture is installed in banquet room.
— April 22, 2006: Grand Re-Dedication of the
Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre as a permanent home for OVS.
Commercial CD, titled "Celebrate the Gift," is made of the performance.
-- Oct. 4, 2008: As part of a weekend of arts
events that culminate with a dedication ceremony, the OVS performs in the new
Lillian and Paul Wedge Auditorium at the new Point Pleasant Junior/Senior High
School.
-- July 4, 2009: Summer Elizabeth Concert. The OVS
offers its first outdoor show, a free concert on the Ohio River attended by
thousands capping the annual River Recreation Festival in Gallipolis.
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