Ohio’s New Albany Symphony Orchestra, located in Franklin County northeast of Columbus, has announced the appointment of LUIS BIAVA as its first music director. HEATHER GARNER, who founded the New Albany Symphony in 2008, has been named executive director of the orchestra, which begins its second season on October 18. Biava has studied conducting with his father (also named Luis Biava), a professor of conducting at Temple University and conductor-in-residence at the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as at Interlochen Center for the Arts; at the University of Michigan; in the National Conducting Institute with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra; at Tanglewood Music Center; at the Pierre Monteux School in Maine; and at Aspen Music Festival and School. A resident of Clintonville, Ohio, Biava has conducted such orchestras as the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Westerville (Ohio) Symphony, Opera Columbus Chorus, the Akron Youth Symphony, and the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia. Biava is also principal cello in the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, where he holds the Battelle Chair. Garner, a violist, has performed for thirteen seasons in the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and in the Lancaster (Ohio) Festival Orchestra, where she is assistant principal viola. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in viola performance from Ohio University and Ohio State University, respectively. While studying at OSU she was administrator for the Ohio State Pre-College Strings Program, which has a faculty of approximately fifteen.
July 31, 2009
