Andrew Keller, Ph.D.
Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Music Director
Andrew started the Cinematic Symphony orchestra with in December 2023, and has since served as the founding music director, as well as the CEO of the organization.
A lifelong musician, Andrew owes his entire professional career to film and video game music, as it was the iconic soundtrack to Titanic that helped inspire him to start learning piano, just so he could play all of his favorite movie tunes. Before long, Andrew was writing deeply dramatic compositions that were clearly influenced by the catchy melodies, lush orchestration, and intense emotional imagery of film and video game music.
Since then, Andrew has been privileged to serve as a Professor of Music at Kent State University, where he received his Doctor of Philosophy in Music Theory and Composition in 2019.
Andrew is now beyond thrilled to be bringing his passion and expertise to the Cinematic Symphony Orchestra, in turn fulfilling a longtime childhood dream to help celebrate and advance this incredibly underappreciated artform.
Kristopher Morron, M.F.A.
Conductor
Kristopher Morron brings much to the table at the CSO, including deep roots in Northeast Ohio and 15 years of teaching and conducting.
A trombonist, he has been a member of an eclectic range of Cleveland-based groups and involved in numerous national tours and recordings. He began teaching band and orchestra in 2004 and in 2015 served as graduate conductor of the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony. He holds degrees from Bowling Green State University and Case Western Reserve University.
Morron also has been active as a composer and arranger, often writing for the very groups of which he has been a member. He also contributed original music to the web series “Ringer$” and the animated short, “Astral Shift,” and created arrangements for a concert marking the 20th anniversary of the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
Sam Rotberg, D.M.A.
Concertmaster
Dr. Barton Samuel Rotberg enjoys a fulfilling career as a performer and instructor of violin, string pedagogy and chamber music. ClevelandClassical.com described his performance as, “The violinist’s timbre in the first movement was simply stunning,” and “Rotberg’s full violin sound lent charm and beauty.”
Rotberg has been a featured soloist with numerous orchestras including the Erie Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh Philharmonic, Amherst Chamber Orchestra and Warren Philharmonic in concerti of Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn and other repertoire staples. He has been a member of the Illinois Philharmonic, Ann Arbor Symphony and Flint Symphony orchestras and has served for three seasons as concertmaster of the Southwest Symphony Orchestra in Illinois. He currently serves as concertmaster for the Ashland Symphony Orchestra. As violinist of the Davanti Trio, an endowed ensemble under the auspices of the Flint Symphony Orchestra, Rotberg became a prizewinner in the Chamber Music Foundation of New England Ensembles Competition. The trio gave performances in the U.S., Canada and France. Rotberg’s chamber music performances have been heard on WQLN FM Erie radio and WCLV FM Cleveland.
In addition to teaching at the BW Conservatory of Performing Arts, Rotberg is a faculty member at the BW Community Arts School, Conservatory Summer Institute and Oberlin College’s Community Music School. He has given guest masterclasses and performances at venues such as Interlochen Arts Academy, Longy School of Music and University of Windsor.
Anna O’Connell, D.M.A.
Choir Director
Anna O’Connell has been sought after for her soprano voice all over Cleveland, performing in the Cleveland Chamber Choir, Quire Cleveland, Trinity Chamber Singers, Affekt Ensemble and lately, Alchemy Baroque. She has been a soloist at the Church of the Covenant since she arrived in Cleveland in the fall of 2018. In spring 2021, she performed as a featured musician in the program “The Harper’s Voice” with Apollo’s Fire, presenting music from Ireland and the British Isles. This past summer, she received the Barbara Thornton Memorial Scholarship from Early Music America, which permitted her to study medieval music with vocal, harp, and dance specialists in Europe. She will soon be graduating with a doctorate in Historical Performance Practice from Case Western Reserve University, where she has focused on self-accompaniment as a singer with various harps, from medieval and renaissance to modern folk instruments. O’Connell has studied voice with Ellen Hargis and Dina Kuznetsova, and historical harps with Maxine Eilander.
