Saturday, March 22, 2025 – 7:00 PM

Chamber Music Masterpieces

Matthew Salvaggio, conductor

Location: Rocky River Presbyterian Church, 21750 Detroit Rd., Rocky River

Program:

Richard Strauss: Serenade, Op. 7 

Antonín Dvořák: Serenade for Wind Instruments, Op. 44

Jennifer Higdon: Quiet Art, version for string octet

Igor Stravinsky: Concerto in E-flat, “Dumbarton Oaks”

This concert is generously sponsored by Rocky River Presbyterian Church as part of their Artist Concert Series.

Saturday, June 7, 2025 – 7:00 PM

Rising from Ashes: A Celebration of Artistic and Cultural Journeys

Matthew Salvaggio, conductor
Van Parker, horn

Location: Federated Church, 76 Bell St., Chagrin Falls

Program:

Malek Jandali: Phoenix in Exile

Carlos Simon: This Land

Ruth Gipps: Horn Concerto

Van Parker, horn

Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”

Van Parker enjoys a dynamic career as a highly sought-after orchestral and chamber musician, soloist, recording artist, new music collaborator, and music educator. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, they have been featured as a recitalist throughout the Great Lakes region and perform frequently with the Akron, Ashland, Firelands, Lima, Mansfield, and Youngstown Symphonies, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and Cleveland Opera Theater.

Van is an advocate for the works of living composers and has participated in premieres of works by Eric Whitacre, Lewis Nielsen, John Wineglass, and Deborah Phelps, from whom he commissioned the piece Cui Bono, a duet for horn and violin. They are also a frequent performer on historical instruments as a member of Orchestra19, an ensemble dedicated to period performance of 19th century music, and as a member of the Evelyn Dunbar Early Music Festival they have performed Niccolo Piccini’s 18th century opera, La Buona Figliuola. This performance marked the opera’s first fully-staged presentation in the United States using period instruments, pitch, and tuning. Van has toured internationally with Ensemble du Monde and is a member of New York’s Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra. They are also principal horn with the Charleston, SC-based Colour of Music Festival Orchestra, a unique ensemble showcasing the talents of black musicians from around the world.

Currently, Van is on faculty at the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood, Ohio and serves as a brass coach for the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony and Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra, in addition to being an assistant director of the All-Ohio State Fair Band. They received their M.M. from the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, their B.M. from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.

Previous Performances

Saturday, November 2, 2024 – 7:00 PM

Reflections and Revelations

Matthew Salvaggio, conductor
Ken Johnston, violin

Location: Disciples Christian Church, 3663 Mayfield Rd., Cleveland Heights

Program:

Katahj Copley: Equinox

Anna Clyne: This Moment

Charles Auguste de Bériot: Scene de Ballet

Ken Johnston, violin

Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 3

Ken Johnston is active both as a performer and a teacher of the violin. In addition to his performing as Concertmaster of the Erie Philharmonic, he holds the same chair with the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra of Cleveland. He has played with the Akron, Canton, Youngstown, and Cleveland Pops Orchestras of Ohio, as well as the Virginia Symphony and the Wheeling Symphony of West Virginia. Donald Rosenberg of The Plain Dealer remarked that Johnston “triumphed whenever he touched bow to strings.”

He has taught violin students at Ohio State University, and has served on the faculty of Mercyhurst College, where he taught both violin and viola to undergraduate music students and conducted ensemble performances such as Mozart’s Opera, The Magic Flute.  In addition, he has been a faculty member of the Luzerne Chamber Music Festival, where he performed as a member of the Luzerne Chamber Players.

A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he received both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Violin Performance, Johnston studied with Professor David Updegraff and served as Mr. Updegraff’s Teaching Assistant.