OSO Staff

MATTHEW WARDELL (b. 1983)  is a conductor and teacher known for his quick wit, endearing presence in both pops and classical settings, and his incredible ability to bring joy and presence to any audience. His professional career as Music Director and Conductor of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra began in 2009. When Matthew was appointed Music Director of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra the Ocala Star Banner declared that, “Wardell brings an impressive resume of musical and conducting training … Maybe more important than his musical credentials is Wardell’s youthful enthusiasm and unabashed zest … Wardell is not only a daring and dynamic choice as the Ocala Symphony Orchestra’s new conductor, but a smart one.” On the stage, he has publicly performed nearly 400 works in over 250 live performances including core orchestral works from all periods, concerti for voice and nearly every instrument, extensive pops offerings, film and multi-media works, and the purposeful inclusion of underrepresented composers and pieces. From the pit, Maestro Wardell has led 16 staged productions of large-scale opera, musical theatre, and ballet works including La Boheme, Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin, Cosi fan tutte, Sunday in the Park with George, Carmina Burana, A Little Night Music, and Sweeney Todd. Matthew once conducted 2 performances of Puccini’s Tosca with only one day’s notice. The performances were hailed as “first-rate” and “inspiring.” His ability to step in at the last moment was described as a “magnificent feat … when the stakes were high, Mr. Wardell came through brilliantly and proved his mettle.”

In addition to his success on the podium and in the orchestra pit, Matthew has been responsible for more than $7 million in private fundraising, over $3 million in grant acquisitions from the local to national level, and the creation and successive expansion of the Reilly Arts Center, a 30,000 square foot Ocala, FL performing arts facility that houses a 700-seat mainstage theatre, the NOMA black box, and the Ocala Symphony Community Music Conservatory.

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Wardell received his Bachelor of Music cum laude (2007) at the University of North Florida working under Charlotte Mabrey. Wardell continued his education by earning Masters of Music (2010) and Doctor of Musical Arts (2022) degrees at the University of Florida under his mentor, Dr. Raymond Chobaz. Matthew spent five summers at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians in Hancock, Maine studying with renowned conducting teacher Michael Jinbo. Wardell has been fortunate to have been recognized as both an Osher and Quimby Family Foundation scholar. He is very proud to be part of the school’s long heritage of forming clear and dutiful conductors and considers Hancock a second home. In addition, Matthew has attended and participated in master classes with Keith Lockhart of the Boston Pops and BBC Orchestra, Thomas Cockrell of the University of Arizona, and studied with conductor and composer Peter WesenAuer in Salzburg, Austria.

Matthew is a champion of all kinds of orchestral music. He enjoys programming and conducting core repertoire arm and arm with pops and new music believing that good music is just that – good music. He is a member of the College Orchestra Directors Association and the American Symphony Orchestra League. He serves or has served on the boards of the Arts in Health Ocala / Marion, the Ocala Municipal Arts Commission (OMAC), and Young Professionals of Ocala (YPO). In addition to his musical pursuits, Wardell is passionate about being involved in the communities he makes music in. In 2015 was elected to Ocala’s City Council – a position he proudly held for 6 years. Wardell currently serves as the Interim Director of Orchestral Activities at Mount Holyoke College. He enjoys traveling, the good company of friends, and attending Jacksonville Jaguars’ games. Matthew and his wife, Pamela Calero, have one dog, Buckley, who is probably up to no good at this very moment.

Raymond Chobaz, Professor of Music and Conductor Laureate of the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra

Raymond will conduct “Vive la France!” in January, 2025.

Raymond Chobaz holds the Provost’s UF Term Professorship and is music director and conductor of the University of Florida Symphony Orchestra and conductor of Dance Alive National Ballet. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and mathematics summa cum laude, and a Master of Arts degree in music theory. As an International Rotary Scholar at the University of Utah, he received both a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting and a Ph.D. in music composition under Vladimir Ussachevsky. Post-doctoral studies allowed him to assist and work with Herbert Blomstedt in San Francisco, Kyrill Kondrashin in Amsterdam, Raphael Kubelik in Lucerne, Erich Leinsdorf in New York, Witold Rowicki in Vienna, Georg Tintner in Prague, and Pierre Boulez in Basel and Paris.

Chobaz is the recipient of numerous federal grants, scholarships, awards, and first prizes in both composition and conducting, which include the Leroy Robertson, Intercollegiate Bicentennial Composition Competition, Utah Composers Guild, Paul Sacher Stiftung, Martha Baird Rockefeller, Blomstedt International Conducting Award for Orchestral Performance and Symphonic Literature, the Beethoven Festival in Marienbad, and Czech National Opera and Radio Prague International Conducting Competition. As the top winner, he was invited to conduct all major symphony orchestras and opera companies in the Czech Republic and appointed conductor-in-residence of the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, the Marienbad International Music Festival with the West Bohemian National Orchestra, and the annual International Composition Workshop with the Olomouc Symphony Orchestra.

In recognition of his national and international accomplishments, Chobaz has received grants for Advanced Research in Music Performance from the International Research and Exchanges Board in Washington, D.C., US Department of Education, US Information Agency, US Department of State, US Army, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, and International Symphonic Workshops, Canada. Additionally, he has received various grants from the Florida Department of Cultural Affairs, which included the official representation of the State of Florida with Dance Alive National Ballet at the International Ballet Festival in Havana, Cuba, Florida Sea Grant, a special Research Leave by the Office of the Provost to work with Prof. Richard Ernst, Nobel Prize Laureate, at the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, and most recently, both a Distinguished Alumnus and Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Utah. This past fall, Dr. Chobaz has also been asked to take over the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra in Orlando.

During his tenure at the University of Florida, Chobaz has founded the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra and provided many new experiences for his students with internationally known artists, first-time ballet and opera productions, television and radio broadcasts, children’s and pops concerts, multi-media and interdisciplinary collaborations with painters, poets, writers, dancers, and ethnic ensembles, commissions and first performances that earned the orchestra an ASCAP Nissim Award for innovative programing.

Featured in “Rhythmic Tides” this February on the organ.

Joshua L. Mazur, Conductor, enjoys a budding career as a singer, conductor, and educator. Most recently featured in the tenor roles of Don Jose (Valdosta State University Guest Artist) and The Phantom (Ocala Symphony Orchestra) he was seen previously in principal baritone roles such as Silvio (Imperial Symphony Orchestra) and Gianni Schicchi (Florida Southern College Opera Theater). He has sung on masterclasses for such artists as Stella Zambalis, Mark Thomsen, Thomas Potter, Victoria Livengood, and Jennifer Larmore. He won the TBNATS “Most Promising Male Singer” award three consecutive years and was the Florida state winner of the NATS Artist Award in 2014.

Abigail Mistretta has recently been appointed as one of the Assistant Conductors of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra (OSO) under Maestro Matthew Wardell for the 2022-2023 season. Born in Ohio but raised along the Florida Gulf Coast, she considers herself a Florida native. Abigail eventually moved east to Gainesville where she studied at the University of Florida. She received her Master of Music degree in Instrumental Conducting with a concentration in Clarinet Performance in the spring of 2022. There she studied under the mentors of Dr. David Waybright, Dr. Raymond Chobaz, Professor Jay Watkins, Dr. Chip Birkner, and Clarinet Professor, Mitchell Estrin. While completing her graduate degree, she served as a teaching assistant with the University of Florida (UF) Clarinet Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, and Gator Marching Band. She has had multiple appearances as a guest conductor with the UF Symphony Orchestra, Wind Symphony, Chamber Winds, and Symphonic Band. With these ensembles she rehearsed and performed a wide variety of musical literature by composers such as Leonard Bernstein and John Williams. She also has extensive experience performing chamber music such as Serenade No. 44 in D minor by Antonin Dvorak, Octet by Igor Stravinsky, and an arrangement of W.A. Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro for chamber winds. Abigail, also, actively served as the Conductor and Assistant Music Director for the Clarinet Ensemble under Professor Estrin. Abigail received her Bachelor of Instrumental Music Education, summa cum laude, in May of 2020 from the University of Florida. During her time there, she performed on both Bb and bass clarinet in the Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, University Symphony Orchestra, and in the Clarinet Ensemble. In the summer of 2019, she had the opportunity to travel to France with the Wind Symphony as the principal bass clarinetist; there the group performed in the Festival des Anches d’Azur in La Croix-Valmer, a festival dedicated to bringing international ensembles together to make music along the Bay of Saint-Tropez.

In addition to her assignment with the OSO, Abigail has recently accepted the position of Associate Band Director of Freedom High School located in Orlando, where she works with Dr. Michael Antmann. Her duties consist of directing the Symphonic Band, and co-instructing the marching band and jazz ensembles. Prior to working in Orlando, Abigail has also worked with students at both the intermediate and collegiate level in the Florida Panhandle, Central Florida, and North Carolina. She is also an active performer, serving as the clarinetist in the OSO’s Wind Quintet and freelancing in both wind ensembles and orchestras around central Florida. Abigail has a passion for the orchestral genre, and the power generated by the symphony orchestra. Exposure to performing orchestral literature in college ignited an interest that was followed by opportunities to study with Dr. Raymond Chobaz and Dr. Matthew Wardell. She has always admired the work and sound of the OSO, and is thrilled to be joining the orchestra. Abigail is looking forward to working with Maestro Wardell and Maestro Mazur, bringing forth a wonderful season of music.

Kathryn Poore has been teaching private violin and viola lessons since 1998, and has been playing viola in professional orchestras since graduating high school in 2001 as a core member and sub. She is currently the Personnel Manager and Principal Violist of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra. She has a Master of Music in Viola Performance from the University of Georgia, and a Bachelor of Music Performance, magna cum laude, from Columbus State University. Kathryn has also attended the prestigious Aspen Music Festival and School, 2003. As an instructor, Kathryn teaches each student as an individual. Everyone learns differently, and Kathryn really enjoys structuring lessons to best meet the needs of the individual. In addition to The Music Den, Kathryn also teaches lessons at Stetson University’s Community School of Music.