Lima, OH (January 12, 2023) – The Lima Symphony Orchestra will kick of the new year with their popular “Candlelight” concerts at historic area churches and venues. This year, the orchestra presents “Harp by Candlelight” in Lima at Trinity United Methodist Church (301 W Market St, Lima, OH 45801) on Saturday, January 21 at 7:30 PM and in Saint Marys at the newly restored Grand Opera House (119 W Spring St, St Marys, OH 45885) on Sunday, January 22 at 4 PM.
The Lima Symphony is filled with top-notch talent, and when possible, the Symphony highlights players within in its ranks with featured solo appearances or spotlights. Maestro Andrew Crust writes, “The LSO's greatest strength is its musicians. We are so lucky to have world class performers in the Lima Symphony sharing their talent with the entire community, and this January we have the privilege of featuring some of those musicians as soloists, performing some of Classical music's best-loved pieces in two opulent, inspiring, candle-filled venues. You will not want to miss the incredible musicianship of our very own LSO performers!" This year, Lima Symphony members Alix Raspé Gray (harp), Erin Torres (flute), and Carmen Granger (viola) will be center stage on a number of works. Raspé joined the orchestra in 2021 and is currently in her 2nd season as principal harpist. Torres also joined the orchestra in 2021 and is currently in her 2nd season and principal flute, and Granger is in her 4th season as principal violist.
REPERTOIRE:
Arvo Pärt - Fratres for Strings and Percussion
Claude Debussy – Mvt. 3 Finale from Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp
Claude Debussy - Syrinx for solo flute
Claude Debussy - Danse sacrée et danse profane, for Harp and Strings
Gustav Mahler – Mvt. 4 Adagietto from Symphony No. 5
Wolfgang A. Mozart – Mvt. 2 Andantino from Concerto for Harp and Flute K. 299/297c
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Mvt. I Pezzo in forma di sonatina from Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48
TICKETS:
$20 adults/$10 students – all seating general admission
CONCERT UNDERWRITERS:
Lima Pathology
Mercer County Civic Foundation
Raabe Ford
Rudolph Food
Tickets can be purchased online at www.limasymphony.com or by calling the symphony office at 419-222-5701.
The Lima Symphony Orchestra is dedicated to preserving musical excellence as a living part of our community. Serving communities throughout West Central Ohio, the Lima Symphony annually presents five subscription concerts, a family concert, Music by Candlelight concerts and an annual New Year’s Eve Pops concert.
For more information about the Lima Symphony Orchestra or for tickets, please contact the Lima Symphony at 419-222-5701 or www.limasymphony.com.
Alix Raspé Gray
Alix Raspé Gray, professionally known as Alix Raspé, is an award-winning solo and orchestral harpist, chamber musician, educator, and musical entrepreneur.
Raspé currently serves as Adjunct Harp Professor for Phillips Academy Andover, Substitute Harpist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Associate Harpist for Columbus Symphony, and Principal Harpist of the Lima Symphony Orchestra. From 2017-2018, Raspé served as Associate Harpist for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Raspé also currently teaches and coaches at the Chamber Music Connection and Brookside Music School.
Raspé has received numerous awards as a soloist including: the Annapolis Music Festival Maestro Award for Outstanding Soloist at the age of 13, the NYU Excellence in String Performance and Leadership Award, and the NYU Orchestral Excellence Award. In 2015, Raspé was the winner of the NYU String Competition. In 2016, Raspé was awarded First Runner-Up in the New England Conservatory’s Lower Strings Concerto Competition. As an orchestral harpist, Raspé has performed with the New World Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, NY Pops, Symphony of New Hampshire, Symphoria, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Harvard Bach Society, LoftOpera, Park Avenue Symphony, Chelsea Symphony, and QUO.
Raspé has performed with such artists as Michael Bolton, Roger Daltrey of The Who, MAX on Live with Kelly and Ryan, The Late Loft Opera Show with James Corden and iHeartRadio, WOSU Classical and has been featured on the soundtrack of RuPaul’s Drag Races (Season 5), and in the film Reservation Road.
Raspé has attended such prestigious music festivals as: the Tanglewood Music Center (Harp Fellow), the Aspen Music Festival, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute (Harp Fellow), MusicAlp, Saratoga Harp Colony, Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific, and Interlochen. Raspé has performed in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Seiji Ozawa Hall, Symphony Hall, Juilliard’s Paul and Morse Halls, NEC’s Jordan Hall, and Symphony Space.
Raspé graduated Pi Kappa Lambda from New England Conservatory with her master’s degree in Harp Performance where she studied with Jessica Zhou. Raspé received her Bachelor of Music from New York University with a minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies where she studied with Bridget Kibbey. Prior to attending NYU, Raspé attended the Juilliard Pre-College where she studied with June Han.
Raspé currently resides in New Hampshire with her husband, Erik, and their miniature Australian Shepherds, Ollie and Indie.
Carmen Granger
Carmen Granger is an orchestral musician and educator throughout the Midwest and has performed with many symphonies and opera companies in Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas, Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. She is currently Principal Violist of the Lima Symphony Orchestra and has sat as principal viola of Western Piedmont Symphony, Carolina Philharmonic, Fayetteville Symphony, and assistant principal of Greensboro Symphony and Durham Symphony. An advocate for new music, Granger is currently the violist in New Downbeat – an all-female, new music ensemble in Cincinnati.
In recent years, Granger has played at the Durham Performing Arts Center as a guest with the MGP Live tour of The Legend of Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses (2017) as well as Distant Worlds: The Music from Final Fantasy (2018) and the National Music Festival (2019/2021). Granger obtained her bachelor’s degree in Viola Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her master’s degree in Viola Performance from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She is currently an employee at Antonio Violina and Ukuleles in Cincinnati, and in her free time, enjoys playing disc golf, baking, and playing with her two cats; Yuffie and Clementine.
Erin Torres
Highly regarded as an educator, clinician, soloist, new music specialist, and chamber and orchestral musician, flutist Dr. Erin Helgeson Torres has performed and taught throughout the United States and abroad in the United Kingdom, France, Austria, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, China, and Canada. She is currently Visiting Professor of Music at Ohio Northern University where she teaches in the flute studio and various musicology courses. She is Artist Faculty of the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan and is the founder of the Mid-Ohio Flute Intensive, entering its sixth season.
Torres is honored to be in her second year as Principal Flutist with the Lima Symphony Orchestra. She also serves as Second Flutist/Piccoloist with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Flutist of the Worthington Chamber Orchestra and Queen City Opera, and Solo Flutist with the Columbus Ohio Discovery Ensemble), a contemporary music ensemble. She performs regularly in various area orchestras including the West Virginia, Louisville, Central Ohio, Springfield, and Westerville Symphonies and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, she performs in the flute/saxophone duet Tower Duo with her husband, Dr. Michael Torres. Their debut album, CROSSWIND, under the Ravello label for Parma Recordings, was released in January 2019.
Active as a soloist, Torres most recently completed a performance tour through the Balkans as a solo artist on the Derek Han Tribute Concert Series, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy. She performed as concerto soloist with the North Macedonia Philharmonic Orchestra in Skopje, North Macedonia, and Pristina, Kosovo, and with the Symphonic Orchestra of the National Theater of Opera and Ballet in Tirana, Albania in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of U.S. - Albania diplomatic relations. Earlier in the summer of 2022, she performed as a guest soloist with the Lima Area Concert Band and is slated to visit China for the third time in the near future, this time with her ensemble, Tower Duo.
Torres conducted her dissertation research in Dijon, France and holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, The Ohio State University, and Stetson University. She lives in Columbus, Ohio with her saxophonist husband, Michael, and their rescue ex-racer greyhound, Arwen.
Trinity United Methodist Church
The TUMC parish was founded in 1829. Throughout the 19th and early 20th century TUMC has various locations throughout downtown Lima and moved to its current location at the corner of Market and West Streets in 1909. The current building, completed in 1912, was built in a Tudor Gothic style. Over the decades the church has been remodeled several times to accommodate the growing congregation and addition of services, most recently restoring the prominent stained-glass windows in 2016.
Grand Opera House Saint Marys
The historic opera house in Saint Marys first opened in November of 1895. Considered to be one of the finest old theaters that still exists in the United States, the theater was still used for movies and live stage acts until around 2015. Recently, the Opera House has undergone major renovations to bring it back to its former glory. The LSO is excited to perform in one of the first concerts since the new renovations have taken place.