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Michael Carney, M.M.

Choral Director Michael Carney has been a passionate and dedicated performer, director, and music educator for more than 25 years. He has degrees in vocal music education from Baldwin Wallace University, where he studied with Stuart Raleigh and Charlie Smith among others, and in choral conducting from Kent State University, where he studied with C. M. Shearer. He spent the first part of his career developing award-winning high school choral programs, and now directs the student choral ensembles of Lorain County Community College. Since 2016, Michael has served as Music Director for Good Company, A Vocal Ensemble – a select community chorus based on Cleveland’s west side – and founded that group’s Contemporary Composers Series, bringing prominent choral composers to Cleveland for mini-residencies with Good Company and providing meaningful outreach for local music students. Michael is also the Director of Music for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cleveland, where he directs four ensembles and performs regularly as a vocalist and pianist/organist for services and other special events. Michael lives in Lakewood with his wife Lucy, and they enjoy traveling, making music together, and spending time with their two adult children.  

Sam Rotberg, D.M.A.
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.
Andrew Perkins, M.S.A.
Andrew began studying piano at the age of 6 and clarinet at age 8. As a clarinetist and bass clarinetist, he has performed with numerous classical groups across Northeast Ohio, including the Medina Symphony, Cuyahoga Falls Community Band, Parma Symphony, Symphony West, the Video Game Symphony, and the Cinematic Symphony Orchestra. Andrew founded the Serenity Chamber Players in 2017 to provide free classical and sacred music performances of rare and reimagined repertoire. The ensemble has had the opportunity to perform concerts across Ohio and in other states, including Maryland, West Virginia, and Michigan. Andrew also serves as the music and choir director for his church in Broadview Heights, Ohio.

Andrew received his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Akron, and holds a Masters Degree in Accounting from the University of Connecticut. He is an active Certified Public Accountant in the state of Ohio, and currently serves as the treasurer for his church. Andrew lives in Parma with his wife Hannah, and his three boys. In addition to his passion for music, Andrew is an avid fan of professional darts and rugby, as well as all Cleveland sports.
Kristopher Morron, M.F.A.
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.”
Andrew Keller, PH.D.

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 and other great soundtracks that inspired him to start learning piano, which eventually led to dreams of becoming a film composer. Before long, Andrew was writing deeply dramatic compositions that were clearly influenced by the memorable melodies, lush orchestration, and intense emotional imagery of film music 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.

As the CSO Music Director, Andrew has created a host of exclusive arrangements for the Cinematic Symphony Orchestra, including the “Avengers, Assemble!”  suite from Avengers: Endgame and the 20-minute Catch You On the Flip Side suite from Apollo 13.