Triumph & Celebration Concert Program

Dear Friends,

What a thrill it is to welcome you to the 53rd season of concerts with the Ashland Symphony Orchestra.  We open a new chapter in ASO history this season as Michael Repper begins his tenure as Music Director and Conductor.   With an enthusiastic new Music Director, a cadre of outstanding musicians, and a discriminating and appreciative audience, we are poised to enjoy a great year of music together.  ASO will present both familiar and new musical offerings that we expect will delight, challenge, inspire, console, stimulate, or refresh you (or perhaps do a combination of those things).

The ASO Board of Directors thanks you for your continuing support of our outstanding orchestra.  We welcome your comments about the ASO and its programs, so please do not hesitate to share your thoughts with any of the Board members.  We look forward to finding ways to make each concert even more rewarding for you.

Enjoy the music.

Michael Hupfer
President, ASO Board of Directors

Dear Ashland Symphony Orchestra Patrons,

It is my great privilege to welcome you to our concerts at the marvelous Robert M. & Janet L. Archer Auditorium. I am incredibly proud to be taking the helm as Ashland’s new Music Director, and to continue to grow this jewel of Ashland County. We are going to make tremendous music together and enjoy a wonderful communal spirit. Our concerts are a place for everyone – come and enjoy, and be sure to introduce yourself! Our musicians and I are incredibly proud to share our work with you, and we hope you enjoy every minute!

Michael Repper
Music Director and Conductor
Ashland Symphony Orchestra

Here’s to NEW beginnings! For this momentous concert season, we welcome Michael Repper as the ASO’s new Music Director and Conductor, a new Fan Club for students in grades 9-12 and college students, pieces that are new to both patrons and musicians, new collaborations, new fundraisers, the ASO’s new Volunteers Coordinator Mark Gorsuch and new House Manager Ivey Buffenmyer, new complimentary children’s tickets, and much more.

We are back together again in the concert hall and I look forward to welcoming returning patrons as well as new audience members.
Come listen to what people are talking about!

Martha Buckner
Executive Director
Ashland Symphony Orchestra

Michael Repper is one of the most sought-after young conductors in the world. With work spanning four continents, Mr. Repper has an international reputation for engaging and exciting audiences of all spectrums, and for promoting new and diverse musical talents. In 2023, he became the youngest American conductor to win a Grammy® Award in Best Orchestral Performance.

Mr. Repper is the Music Director of the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony, Northern Neck Orchestra of Virginia, and the Principal Conductor of Sinfonía por el Perú, the elite youth orchestras and choruses representing one of South America’s most versatile social impact music programs. Recognizing his success at these ensembles, and his growing profile as a guest conductor all over the world, Mr. Repper was awarded a Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

His album with the New York Youth Symphony, which features debut recordings of works by Florence Price, Jessie Montgomery, and Valerie Coleman, achieved widespread critical acclaim, reached #1 on the Billboard Chart, a won a GRAMMY® Award, the first youth orchestra to achieve this milestone.

Mr. Repper has collaborated on large-scale productions of symphonic and theatrical works with the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia Festival, Peabody Institute of Music, and the New School of Music, among others. An avid pianist, he regularly performs as a soloist alongside his orchestras and choruses, and as an orchestral player as well. Most recently, he played in the Chicago Symphony for their performances of Bernstein’s Mass, which was broadcast on PBS Great Performances. ​

​Alongside the standard repertoire, Mr. Repper is especially invested in programming new music and showcasing fresh talent. His ensembles have performed dozens of world premieres and pursued innovative commissions, as well as a variety of Carnegie Hall premieres from established and emerging composers. Mr. Repper was the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Conducting Fellow for two seasons, and he served as the BSO’s New Music Consultant. A trusted ear, Mr. Repper is asked to assist and cover at orchestras nationwide, including the St. Louis Symphony, and for Naxos recordings with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra. His experience with choruses has been recognized with significant positions, including his tenure as the Music Director at the Baltimore Basilica, the first Catholic Cathedral in the United States. Internationally, Mr. Repper has performed with some of the most highly regarded ensembles and in the world’s greatest venues, including the São Paulo Symphony, and at the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona.

His discography includes the aforementioned album of music with the New York Youth Symphony, alongside an album with the Grammy-Nominated Metropolis Ensemble and Grammy-Winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus (“Musical America”), and several with the Peabody Institute as an Assistant Conductor. With the New York Youth Symphony during the Coronavirus pandemic, he was one of the first to pioneer the practice of distanced orchestral performance videos, and he made two performance appearances on CNN, the final one with Platinum-Artist Billy Ray Cyrus.

Mr. Repper complements his work with professional orchestras with a firm commitment to education, and travels worldwide to work with ensembles of young musicians. As Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Maryland, he ushered in a slate of innovative educational programming, such as the Reinecke Youth Chamber Music Scholarship and Fellowship Program. He conducts several masterclasses each year for orchestras from all over the United States on behalf of the New York Philharmonic, and conducts side-by-side and educational concerts with major orchestras, including the Baltimore Symphony and the Colorado Symphony.

Mr. Repper’s most influential conducting mentors are Marin Alsop and the late Gustav Meier. He believes that a conductor’s main role is to connect people and to use performance as a vehicle for positive change. He aims to promote a diverse and inclusive future for the arts, and to pay forward the passion for community that his mentors demonstrated to him.

COLERIDGE-TAYLOR, Samuel: Symphonic Variations on an African Air (1906)

Orchestration: Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, English Horn, 2 Clarinets, Bassoon, 4 Horns, 2 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion, Strings

Length: 20 minutes

During his lifetime, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was regarded as one of England’s most preeminent composers. Though he died very young (at only 37 years old), the celebration of his life spanned the Atlantic, with fanfare concerts everywhere from London to Boston and beyond. In the decades that followed, his music largely fell out of the public eye, and was extremely seldom performed (a symptom, or evidence, of systemic problems that prevented the success of Black composers in the industry). As a result, a significant amount of his music is not published today.

His Symphonic Variations are based on the African American folk song “I’m Troubled in Mind.”

I’m troubled
I’m troubled
I’m troubled in mind
If Jesus don’t help me
I surely will die

Like an ordinary theme and variations, the main theme is presented simply at the beginning of the piece, in this case by the trombones, tuba, and French horns. Listeners should take note of the opening theme, as it follows through the rest of the piece in different variations.

These variations might be made harmonically, rhythmically, or in tempo (speed). Coleridge-Taylor deliberately does not mark the start and end of each variation, and does not number them. In so doing, the borders between each variation are not as clear cut as they might be in, for example, Brahms’ Haydn Variations or even in Elgar’s Enigma Variations. The result is a wonderful, flowing musical piece that does not stagnate, and is constantly offering something new to the listener.

RACHMANINOFF, Sergei: Symphony no. 2 in E Minor (1906-1907)

Orchestration: Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, English Horn, 2 Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion, Strings

Length: 55 minutes

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s (1873-1943) second symphony may be one of music’s greatest comeback stories. The horrendous reception of his first symphony (one review suggested it could have been written by conservatory students in Hell) led Rachmaninoff into a deep depression, during which he didn’t compose. The enthusiastic success of his second symphony is among other triumphs which mark his return to composition.

In the piece, Rachmaninoff confidently masters the symphonic form, and does so with emotional extremes. The main theme of the first movement is initially played by low brooding strings, but the winds and upper strings quickly transform it into lush romanticism.

The second movement scherzo is dominated by the “Dies Irae” (“Day of Wrath”) theme from the Roman Catholic Requiem. Though counterbalanced with lyrical string melodies, Dies Irae returns often. Twice, Rachmaninoff achieves a particularly gritty sound when the strings play on the wood of their bows.

The third movement features arguably the most famous clarinet solo in the canon. The theme even inspired Eric Carmen’s “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again” (1975), which was later covered by John Travolta and Frank Sinatra.

In the finale, Rachmaninoff demands intense energy. The relentless tarantella-meets-march quality drives the movement to the coda, which is capped with the composer’s signature ending. The orchestra might be shouting, “Rach-man-i-noff!”

The Ashland Symphony Orchestra thanks

Our ushers and volunteers
Philip McNaull, Technical Director
Aidan Campbell, Assistant Technical Director
Seth Morrison, Stage Manager
Luke Warkall, Assistant Stage Manager
Ivey Buffenmyer, House Manager
Mark Gorsuch, Volunteers Coordinator

Ashland City Schools for its continued support of the arts
Roger Price, Professional Voice Actor & Announcer, www.RogerzVoice.com

Please silence all electronic devices.
No flash photography or audio/visual recording permitted.
No food or drink permitted in the Robert M. & Janet L. Archer Auditorium.

Thank you for your cooperation.

In 1997, Bob and Jan Archer established the first donor fund through the Ashland County Community Foundation to benefit the Ashland Symphony Orchestra. The ASO then partnered with the ACCF in 1999 and created the “Ashland Symphony Orchestra Fund in Memorium of James E. Thomas”. Since then, three new agency funds and fourteen additional donor advised or designated funds have been established! The Ashland County Community Foundation can assist you in creating a fund to benefit the Ashland Symphony Orchestra now or as part of your estate plan. For more information, call the Foundation at 419-281-4733.

Donations may be made to existing endowments at any time. Contact the Foundation for more information www.ashlandforgood.org.

*To contribute to these funds, please send donation to Ashland Symphony Orchestra, 401 College Ave., Ashland, OH 44805.

The Ashland Symphony Orchestra is thankful for the following funds:

Robert M. & Janet L. Archer Fund est. 1997

Ashland Symphony Orchestra Fund in Memorium of James E. Thomas est. 1999*

ASO Podium Endowment Fund in Honor of Maestro Arie Lipsky est. 2018*

ASO Harold Weller Music Education Endowment Fund est. 2019*
gift from Nick & Edna Weller Charities: Harold & Betsy Weller and Thomas Weller

ASO Rev. John H. Landrum Memorial Endowed Chair for Flute 2 est. 2020*
gift from Marybelle H. Landrum

Ashland Symphony Orchestra est. 2000

Mary M. Case Memorial Fund est. 2005

Ann K. Guthrie Fund est. 2009

Arie Lipsky Honorary Endowment Fund est. 2010

Kopp Family Fund est. 2011

Dr. Alvin W. Garrett Fund est. 2017

William and Marlene Rose Fund est. 2017

J. Robert and Ruth L. Tipton Fund est. 2017

Dr. JoAnn Ford Watson Fund est. 2017

Dr. Beverly Bixler Fund est. 2018

Billy Harris Charitable Fund est. 2018

Lawrence and Catherine Hiner Endowed Chair for Percussion of the ASO Fund est. 2020

John R. Donelson for the benefit of the ASO est. 2021

Elizabeth Pastor Fund for the benefit of the ASO est. 2021

F. Dean and Joan Bartosic Family Fund for the benefit of the ASO est. 2023