Classic•al Rock! 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

Praised by the Baltimore Sun for his “confidence and expressive nuance,” 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. Mr. Repper is a recipient of both the 2020 and 2021 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Awards, which were given in recognition of his work with the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall, Northern Neck Orchestra of Virginia, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, and other ensembles worldwide. An ardent supporter, advocate, and educator of young people, Mr. Repper’s mission is to use music as a vehicle for positive change within our communities. Michael is the Chief Conductor of the Central Ensembles of Sinfonía por el Perú in Lima, one of the world’s most versatile social impact music organizations, as well as the Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony, which performs at Carnegie Hall. He has also been the Music Director of the Northern Neck Orchestra of Virginia since 2015.

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 served as New Music Consultant to the Baltimore Symphony. 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 a debut with the São Paulo Symphony in 2016, and at the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona in 2019.

Mr. Repper’s recent album with the New York Youth Symphony, on AVIE Records, features world premiere recordings of works by Florence Price, Jessie Montgomery, and Valerie Coleman. The album has peaked at #1 on the Billboard Charts and plays on the radio all over the world.

As an educator, Mr. Repper has traveled to Europe and South America to work with young ensembles. 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, providing $1000 scholarships and performance opportunities for students in the Mid-Atlantic. He conducts several masterclasses each year for orchestras from all over the United States on behalf of the New York Philharmonic.

Catch news of his full season of upcoming concerts at Carnegie Hall and worldwide at www.mikerepper.com.

Welcome to Classic•al Rock! No matter if you have been attending Ashland Symphony Orchestra concerts for years, or if this is your first time, we are so glad that you’re here, and look forward to playing for you. This will be a fun concert; I hope you are ready to dance and sing!

The genesis of this concert was driven by two main factors. The first was inspiration that I got from a concert that I participated in about seven years ago with a chamber orchestra called the Concert Artists of Baltimore. We were approached by the Baltimore Rock Opera Society, a group of extremely creative and energetic performers who wrote and performed four original rock operas every year. I’ll be clear: this was not a group of quiet individuals, nor was their music. When they played rock and roll, they played ROCK. AND. ROLL. They used four electric guitars only if they were unable to find a fifth (or more), and their music was intense. But, they suggested doing a mashup concert where we would play some of their music, they would play some of our music, and we could bring people together through wonderful energetic performance.

Thanks to the general forward-thinking nature of the Concert Artists of Baltimore, we were happy to take the offer. And though we knew it was a bit of an experiment, it paid enormous dividends. It was one of the most exciting concerts that I have ever participated in…in fact at one point there was a mosh pit of dancers who were “rocking out” to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony! It was unlike anything I had ever seen. In fact, the concert was so successful, that we had several reprise performances in future years at various festivals around Baltimore. It brought people together to enjoy performance, people who might not otherwise be going to the same concerts.

And that point, bringing people together, is really the second factor that drove the creation of today’s concert. My belief is that music can be a vehicle for positive change, and positive change is in turn driven by collaboration and by bringing people together. One of the first things I noticed about Ashland, Ohio, is how tight-knit the community is, and also how active the local music scene is! There seems to be always a live band playing at either South Street or Uniontown, and various other places, and I thought it would be very fun to do a “mashup” concert, similar to the one in Baltimore, where we invited tremendous local artists to perform with us!

Enter Tom’s Kitchen Table, one of the region’s most popular “hometown” bands, who loved the idea of doing a mashup! And while this concert might feature fewer electric guitars than the Baltimore Rock Opera Society, it won’t lack in energy and excitement. We are going to play music ranging from recent original music by Tom’s Kitchen Table (they were so kind as to let me add orchestra parts to their tunes!), music by the Beatles and Queen, and even Beethoven too! It may be unlike any concert you’ve been to (and in a way, I hope it is original to you!).

The arrangement of Bohemian Rhapsody that we’ll play today holds a special place in my heart because it was arranged by my very good friend Nick Hersh. Nick and I were students at Stanford together, and he wrote this arrangement as a fun project while he was in graduate school in Indiana. They filmed the performance in Bloomington for fun, and wouldn’t you know it, the video quickly amassed over ten million views on Youtube! You never know what’s going to go viral on the Internet, and this music certainly deserves it! Most exciting is that Freddie Mercury is, in this case, performed by a solo viola (how great that he gave the solo to the viola, not the violin!) and we are thrilled to feature the ASO’s own Principal Violist, Eva Mondragón.

We’re going to have a great time tonight – thanks for coming and enjoy!

The Ashland Symphony Orchestra thanks

Our ushers and volunteers
Philip McNaull, Technical Director
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 Masetro 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