About Starlight Symphony Orchestra
The Starlight Symphony Orchestra is a nonprofit orchestra comprised of all volunteer musicians of wildly varying ages who reside in a variety of nearby hill country communities. The Starlight Symphony concerts are always free and open to the public.
The orchestra members enjoy performing both classical and pop music and rehearse diligently to present exceptional concerts. A solo competition for students is held each year, inviting top students to perform and compete for music scholarships. The Starlight Symphony also works in conjunction with hill country school districts to augment their music curriculums with mentoring programs and music appreciation programs in each school.
The Starlight Symphony Orchestra is a non-profit organization supported by donations
Our History
The Starlight Symphony Orchestra began in early 2002 as an idea of Wimberley resident and clarinetist Dick Kinas. A long time member of The Wimberley Players theater organization, Kinas was considering expanding the Wimberley Players dream of building a new playhouse to include creating a performing arts center for the surrounding community. He figured an orchestra would be a good way to head down that path of expansion, and soon, he was talking with Jenny Benedict, Pat Surguy, and Jeri Ross, who had all also been thinking about establishing a string orchestra in the Central Texas area.
After enlisting the aid of Dan Stephens, the Minister of Music at Wimberley’s First Baptist Church, to serve as the Music Director and Conductor, these stalwart organizers submitted a proposal to the Wimberley Players board to form a music committee that would act separately from the Wimberley Players in directing the activities of the soon-to-be-formed Starlight Symphony Orchestra. This standing committee would operate under the umbrella of the Wimberley Players, making the orchestra an affiliated nonprofit group and a future resident of the planned performing arts center—the Wimberley Playhouse.
The Starlight Symphony Orchestra made its debut on April 28, 2003, in a special performance for the students of Scudder Elementary School in Wimberley High School’s Lone Star Theater. In the enthusiastically received interactive program, the orchestra played excerpts from the orchestral repertoire, and then members of the orchestra gave students a close-up look at their instruments, explaining the instruments’ histories and demonstrating their sounds.
The first formal programs for the public were then presented in Wimberley on May 1, 2003 with a program repeat in Dripping Springs on May 16 in the United Methodist Church. Works included Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, Mozart’s Eine Kleine Natchtmusik, R. Vaughan Williams’ English Folk Songs Suite, and others.
Although the dream of a performing arts center in conjunction with the Wimberley Playhouse was not to be realized, the Starlight Symphony Orchestra and the Wimberley Players continue to mutually support one another, and upon occasion, members of each group perform together on the same stage. The rest, as they say, is history—the Starlight Symphony Orchestra’s short but proud history.
Our Mission & Vision
Starlight Symphony Orchestra’s mission is to provide Central Texas communities with free entertainment by high-quality musicians, to provide opportunities for the upcoming generations of musicians by giving them the experience of performing with an orchestra and to provide local musicians with a venue to showcase their talents and passion.
SSO’s vision is to continue to perform free concerts each year, to continue providing opportunities for local youth to compete for scholarships and performance opportunities, to entertain and educate our Hays County neighbors, to provide opportunities for musicians of all ages to perform in an orchestra, to collaborate (when possible) with other musicians, musical groups, and nonprofits and to increase donations and underwriting to fulfill these visions. Like Berthold Auerbach (19th century poet), we believe that music washes away the dust of everyday lives; and is an integral component to a vibrant, well-rounded community.
We identify, understand, and invite a multitude of voices, views, and values into our organizational process and artistic outputs.
Dr. David Oertel
Music Director
David Oertel is Music Director and Conductor of the Starlight Symphony Orchestra and the Austin Philharmonic both located in central Texas. He has directed a variety of ensembles including theatre and opera orchestras and choruses, community bands and orchestras as well as small ensembles, jazz ensembles and silent film orchestras. Oertel has also guest conducted orchestras in Houston, TX, Greensboro, NC, Austin, TX, St. Petersburg, Russia and Zlin, Czech Republic. Oertel has taught at High Point University (NC), North Carolina A&T University and University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Oertel was Music Director of the Lee County Orchestra in North Carolina for thirteen seasons and was celebrated with that orchestras 25th Anniversary season in October 2013.
Oertel has won or been a finalist for several years of The American Prize:
- 2020-2021 Contest – Winner 2nd place for the 2019-2020 season
- 2019-2020 Contest – Winner 3rd place for the 2017-2018 season
- 2018-2019 Contest – Winner 1st place for the 2016-2017 season
- 2017-2018 Contest – Semi-Finalist for the 2015-2016 season
- 2016-2017 Contest – Finalist for the 2014-2015 season
He is also a co-author for the 6th edition of the standard reference book, Daniels’ Orchestral Music due in 2022, and is co-author of Choral-Orchestral Repertoire: A Conductor’s Guide, Omnibus Edition (2019).
Oertel holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as well as a Masters degree in Applied Performance from the University of Houston. His undergraduate degree, in Music Education, is from the University of North Texas. Oertel has served as conductor and music director for over 30 musical theatre and opera productions including Don Giovanni, Street Scene, Sweeney Todd, Chicago, West Side Story, Grease, Jesus Christ Superstar, Bat Boy, and Seussical the Musical.
Oertel has studied with many conducting luminaries including Robert Linder, David Daniels, Max Rudolf, Kirk Trevor, Samuel Jones, Hans Graf, Niklaus Wyss, Adrian Gnam, Franz Krager, Serge Zehnacher and David Holley.
Player Roster
Concertmaster: Jacob Simmons
*Denotes Principal
Violin I
*Jacob Simmons
Jenny Cha
Noriko Evans
Erin Heiser
Matthew Hemenway
Violin II
* Pat Surguy
Veronica Espinosa
Nancy Gary
Ruth Warrick
Liz Watts
Viola
*David Jarrott
Jonathan Davis
Kristle Gomez
Addie Kell
Mari MacAskill
Plilip Roberts
Susan Thurber
Cello
* Todd Sloan
Shauna Herzog
Alex Nghiem
Alyssa Solazzo
Bass
* Andrew Rogers
Flute
*Amanda Noble
Lisa Gross
Lacy Reid
Oboe
* Faith Cuminato
Joanna Millinor
English Horn
Faith Cuminato
Clarinet
* Ruth Ann Tanton
Gustavo Diaz
Bass Clarinet
Karen Walters
Sharon Kojzarek
Bassoon
Dyanne Cortez
Contra Bassoon
French Horn
Christian Busch*
Mark Horne
John Prickett
Michelle Winn
Trumpet
* Randy Heaton
Eric Bittner
Trombone
*Joe Dollard
Neal Mallard
Jonathan Mudge
Tuba
* Chris Higbie
Percussion
*Adam Miller
Dan Stephens
Jim Trussell
Evan Wayne
Keyboard/Piano/Celesta
*Sheila Lamb
Board of Directors
Faith Cuminato – President
Vacant – Vice President
Liz Watts – Secretary
Ariana Pettigrew – Treasurer
Jacob Simmons – Concertmaster
Vacant – Facilities Coordinator
Suzanne Warmack – Advertising Placement Coordinator
Kristle Gomez – At Large
David Jarrott – At Large
Dr. David Oertel – Conductor and Music Director
Key Volunteers
Pat Surguy – Music Librarian
Todd Sloan – Young Artist Coordinator
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