Benjamin Rous, Music Director & Conductor, Charlottesville Symphony

Benjamin Rous has served as Music Director of the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia and Associate Professor of Music at UVA since 2017. He previously spent eight years as Resident Conductor of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, leading Classics, Pops, and ballet performances. An accomplished instrumentalist, he has performed on violin, viola, and keyboard, and served as guest Principal Second Violin with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Claudio Abbado and Daniel Harding, including a teaching residency with El Sistema in Caracas. At Harvard, he was a section leader and soloist with the Baroque Chamber Orchestra and a longtime member of the Arcturus Chamber Ensemble. Rous earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting at the University of Michigan, where he also studied harpsichord and pursued dance. He has collaborated with Charlottesville Ballet since 2020 and is excited to return as conductor for The Nutcracker this year.

THE NUTCRACKER ORCHESTRA | December 13, 14, 20, & 21

Peggy Haas Howell, Music Director, Cantate Children’s and Youth Choir (The Nutcracker in Lynchburg)

Peggy graduated from Susquehanna University with a Bachelor of Arts in Church Music degree, and from Union Theological Seminary, New York City, with a Master of Sacred Music degree. She also attended the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Hamburg, Germany. Peggy has been the director of Cantate since 2009 and they have performed with Opera on the James, the Lynchburg Symphony, the Lynchburg College Choral Union, the Jefferson Choral Society, the University of Virginia Chamber Singers, the Charlottesville Ballet, and St. John’s Choir. Peggy founded and directed the Jefferson Youth Chorale from 2003-2012. She was the Director of Chorale, the Concert Choir of Randolph Macon Woman’s College from 1996-2000. Peggy is also an Organist and Choirmaster at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lynchburg. She is well-known as an organ recitalist in the United States and Europe, and has played concerts in England, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, and Poland. She is also Vice President and Councillor for Competitions and New Music of the American Guild of Organists.

THE NUTCRACKER CHOIR | December 14 & 15

Peggy Haas Howell, Director
Elizabeth Wilkinson, Assistant Director & Accompanist    

The Choir:

Victoria Redfearn Cave, Artistic Director, Mosaic Children’s Choir (The Nutcracker in Charlottesville)

Victoria graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education with a piano concentration, and received her Masters in Education Leadership from Mary Baldwin University. She is an Orff-Schulwerk certified teacher and received an Advanced Certificate in Music and Dance pedagogy from the Orff Institute, a division of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. For over 30 years, Victoria has been teaching music, movement and choral studies to children. She has taught primarily in independent schools in Washington, DC and Charlottesville, VA but has also been a choral director at the Levine School of Music and the Kennedy Center’s Washington National Opera. She is a national and international presenter, teacher trainer, and published author. Currently, she is the Founder and Artistic Director of Mosaic Children’s Choir, Director of Performing Arts for the Field School, a middle school for boys, and Director of the Virginia Consort’s High School Youth Chorale.

THE NUTCRACKER CHOIR | December 21 & 22

Victoria Redfearn Cave, Artistic Director

The Choir:

Our Mission

To elevate the art of dance through wellness, performance, education, and community outreach.

About the Ballet

Charlottesville Ballet is a professional ballet company, academy, and nonprofit organization founded by Sara Clayborne and Emily Hartka in 2007. The organization has three parts:

PROFESSIONAL COMPANY

Charlottesville Ballet has no rigid physical aesthetic for its dancers and all body types are celebrated. The company includes dancers from across the United States and abroad and is the Resident Dance Company in Lynchburg’s Academy Center of the Arts.

ACADEMY

Charlottesville Ballet Academy (CBA) is a nonprofit center for dance education serving ages 1.5 through adult in all dance genres.

CB MOVES COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Our FREE programming designed to serve underrepresented populations including seniors, disabled individuals, and those facing economic challenges. Classes are currently offered for ages 1-100 through the following programs:

• Chance To Dance (C2D) serves students in grades K-5 in local public elementary schools. Each year, students are selected to receive lifetime scholarships to continue their dance training at CBA.
• Movement For Parkinson’s weekly class for participants with movement disorders and their care partners; currently serving ages 50-100.
• Silver Swans offers ballet classes for seniors age 50+ in partnership with The Center at Belvedere. 
• Adaptive Dance classes for students with Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, or any other developmental or intellectual disabilities to explore the joy of dance. 
• Once Upon A Ballet and other free programming for schools, libraries, and communities across Virginia. 

An integral part of the Ballet’s mission is to increase access and inclusion in dance. Classical ballet has historically catered to a specific body type and level of physical ability — we aim to change that stereotype and believe that dance is for everyBODY.  

COME DANCE WITH US!

We launched a new scholarship initiative in July 2024, and we are still accepting applications! See more at www.CharlottesvilleBallet.org/KLDF