MANSFIELD — The Mansfield Symphony Orchestra welcomes Octavio Más-Arocas, the second of the three candidates for Music Director of the Mansfield Symphony, to the stage on March 25 at 8 p.m. for Mansfield Symphony Masterworks: Strife and Victory!
The concert will feature Rimsky-Korsakov’s Procession of the Nobles, Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Mansfield Symphony cellist Eric Graf, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. in E Minor.
Each of the three Masterworks concerts on the 2016-2017 OhioHealth Symphony Series feature one of the three finalists for the currently vacant music director position. The vacancy generated over 100 applicants from all over the world. The field was narrowed to three by the Symphony’s search committee consisting of staff, musicians, board members, and community members.
Following the concert, Roby, Foster, Miller and Earick Insurance will sponsor a meet-and-greet reception with Maestro Más-Arocas along with soloists and musicians from the orchestra in the lobby of the Renaissance Theatre.
Tickets are $10 for students and start at $15 for adults. The show is presented as a part of the OhioHealth Symphony Series with additional support from the Ohio Arts Council and the Sterkel Fund. Tickets can be purchased at the Renaissance Box Office, via phone at 419-522-2726 and online any time at MansfieldTickets.com.
About Eric Graf
Eric Graf is in his fourth season as principal cellist of the Mansfield Symphony. He is a newly appointed assistant principal cellist with the Wheeling Symphony, a section player in the Lexington Philharmonic, and has performed in numerous orchestras in Ohio and the Midwest.
As founding member of the Aceso Quartet, he traveled to Denmark for a chamber music residency at the Hvide Sande Masterclass. His most recent chamber music performances were at the Lancaster Festival in southeastern Ohio, Lake George Music Festival in upstate New York, and both the Bluewater Chamber Players and Cain Park Summer Chamber Music Series in Cleveland.
Graf has performed as soloist with the Oskaloosa Music Festival, Long Prairie Chamber Orchestra, Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra, and Miami Summer Music Festival.
Having completed his long-term Suzuki teacher training, Graf has a deep understanding of the Suzuki method as well as more traditional methods. An avid teacher of all levels, he currently performs and teaches in the Cleveland, Ohio area.
Graf holds a Master of Music in Cello Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Dr. Melissa Kraut. He also holds a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, having studied with Ms. Tanya Remenikova.
About Octavio Más-Arocas
Octavio Más-Arocas is a versatile and dynamic conductor whose achievements demonstrate his talent and musicianship.
An award-winner conductor, Mr. Más-Arocas won the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize at the Aspen Music Festival, the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Award, given by Kurt Masur, is the recipient of the Thelma A. Robinson Award from the Conductors Guild, a Prize Winner of the Third European Conductors Competition, and a winner of the National Youth Orchestra of Spain Conductors Competition.
In 2012, Mr. Más-Arocas was selected by the League of American Orchestra to conduct the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in a showcase event during the League’s National Conference in Dallas.
Chosen by Kurt Masur, Mr. Más-Arocas was awarded the prestigious Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Scholarship. Consequently, he worked as Maestro Masur’s assistant with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Helsinki Radio Orchestra, and made his German conducting debut with the Leipziger Symphonieorchester. The offer came after Mr. Más- Arocas’ New York debut concert sharing the podium with Maestro Masur and the Manhattan School of Music Symphony.
Mr. Más-Arocas served as Principal Conductor of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra in Wisconsin. He is currently the Director of Orchestral Studies and Associate Professor of Conducting at the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music.
He has held the positions of Director of Orchestral Studies and Opera Conductor at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Director of Orchestras at the Interlochen Arts Academy, Resident Conductor of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and Assistant conductor of the National Repertory Orchestra.
In 2013, simultaneously to his work with the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Más-Arocas was the Resident Conductor of the Unicamp Symphony Orchestra in Campinas, Brazil, where he also was a Visiting Professor of conducting at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
Mr. Más-Arocas spends part of his summers and winters in the Grand Traverse area, where he has develop a relationship guest conducting the Traverse City Orchestra and continues his association as guest conductor at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. In addition, last season he worked with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra as cover conductor.
In the last few years Mr. Más-Arocas has conducted orchestra across North and South America and Europe, including: the Leipziger Symphonieorchester in Germany, the Orquestra Sinfônica da Unicamp in Brazil, the Green Bay, Traverse City, Fort Worth, Spokane, Toledo, Phoenix, Memphis, Kansas City, and San Antonio Symphonies, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Manhattan School of Music Symphony, the orchestras of Viana do Castelo and Artave in Portugal, the Interlochen Philharmonic, the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Philharmonic, the Rosario Symphony in Argentina, Kharkov Symphony in Ukraine, the National Youth Orchestras of Portugal and Spain, the Pescara Symphony in Italy, the Amsterdam Brass in the Netherlands, and the Ciudad Alcala de Henares Symphony.
In addition, Mr. Más-Arocas has served as assistant conductor at the Madrid Royal Opera House.
Mr. Más-Arocas was assistant conductor of the National Repertory Orchestra, which he conducted in subscription, family, and pops concerts. As the Resident Conductor at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival he conducted the Festival, Symphony, and Cumberland Orchestras. Other festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the Festival Internacional Carlos Gomes in Campinas, Brazil, the Interlochen Music Festival, and the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music.
His ability to work, inspire, and transform young talents has lead him to be a frequent guest conductor with prominent music education organizations and ensembles around the world. He has worked with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra, the national youth orchestras of Portugal and Spain, has conducted All-State Honor Orchestras, and has been in residence with university orchestras in Chicago, Portugal, and Brazil. Mr. Más-Arocas has lead tours with the National Youth Orchestra “Templarios” of Portugal and the Interlochen Symphony, and toured Argentina with the Silleda Wind Symphony.
Mr. Más-Arocas is an alumnus of the prestigious American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, where he studied with David Zinman. His main mentors include Kurt Masur, Harold Farberman, and Emily Freeman Brown.
