Biographies

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Biographies

Stephen P. Toro

Music Director and Conductor

Stephen Toro is the Director of Instrumental Music at Moses Brown School in Providence, where he teaches instrumental music to students in grades 4 through 12, as well as supervising the School’s instrumental music and private lesson programs.

The instrumental music program at Moses Brown School has grown, under his leadership, from an enrollment of 6 students when he first began in 1995, to involvement of 40% of the total student body. His Wind and Jazz Ensembles have received superior “A” ratings at music festivals in Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, Canada, Virginia and Rhode Island.

The ensembles have also performed at EPCOT Center in Disney World, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and most recently, by invitation they were the first instrumental ensemble from Rhode Island to perform at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center.

Stephen wrote an article which was published in the Winter 2006 issue of “The Rimer,” the official publication of the Rhode Island Music Educators Association, describing that “Magical Evening to Remember.” His students enjoyed a series of workshops with Edward Ellington III, grandson of the great jazz composer and performer Duke Ellington. Edward brought his Ellington Legacy Band to Moses Brown School to teach and perform with the Middle and Upper School Jazz Ensembles, which culminated in a joint concert with Moses Brown’s three jazz ensembles and the Ellington band. Stephen has been nominated for Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

Stephen is in his third year on the Executive Board of the Rhode Island Music Educators Association. He has been co-manager of the All-State Festival for the past three years, and he serves as the co-adjudication chair for both the All-State auditions and the Solo and Ensemble Festival. Stephen is the chairperson of the RIMEA Junior Division Jazz Ensemble, which he hosts at Moses Brown School. This coming summer he will be one of 3 conductors with the New England Ambassadors of Music on their 7-European countries tour.

He is currently the Music Director and Conductor of the Ocean State Summer Pops Orchestra, and he helped to found in the original Orchestra in 1993. OSSPO performs throughout the state during the summer months, and has recently issued its second recording.

Stephen received his education from the New England Conservatory of Music, and the University of Rhode Island. He studied clarinet with Gino Cioffi, principal clarinetist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Peter Hadcock, also of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Russo of the New York City Opera, and Andre Lizotte of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops Orchestra. During the summer months he continues his own musical education by participating in the New England Band Directors Institute at Plymouth State University, New Hampshire. He has studied conducting in professional development workshops led by Jack Stamp, Anthony Maiello, Allan McMurray, Peter Boonshaft, Michael Haithcock, Thomas Duffy, Malcolm W. Rowell, Jr., H. Robert Reynolds, Frank Ticheli, and Mallory Thompson.

Hagop Anmahian

Concertmaster

Hagop Anmahian, a native of Bourgas, Bulgaria, began to play the violin at the age of six. He studied privately throughout his early years, and with the exception of his two years of service with the Bulgarian Army, has been a professional musician for over fifty years.

After completing his service with the Army, he pursued studies at the State Academy of Music in Sophia, Bulgaria, where he received a Master of Music in Instrumental Performance and Teaching. For over twenty years he taught violin to students in Sophia, and also toured his native country extensively while performing with both the Bourgas Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bourgas Opera Orchestra.

Hagop was raised in the Armenian Evangelical faith, and has regularly participated in church-related activities throughout his life. In 1980, he was dismissed from his teaching position in Sophia, Bulgaria for refusing to adhere to the communist government’s official policy of Atheism, and view that religion was a corrupting influence on youth.

In the late 1980’s Hagop and his family moved to Dresden, East Germany, where he performed with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and served as the Concertmaster of the Dresden State Opera Orchestra. He has performed in concert halls throughout Europe, including tours in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Turkey.

In 1995 Hagop moved to the Unites States, where he and his wife took up residence in Rhode Island. In the year 2000, his wife passed away after a long-term illness resulting from the exposure to radiation from the reactor accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Hagop currently teaches private lessons, and is regularly engaged as a soloist, and with ensembles throughout New England. He has performed with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, the Fall River Symphony Orchestra, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, the Rhode Island College Orchestra, and various other university orchestras. He currently serves as the Concertmaster of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Community Orchestra, the Warwick Symphony Orchestra, and the Ocean State Summer Pops Orchestra. He has performed in Copley Square in Boston, Belcourt Castle, Rose Cliff Mansion, as well as numerous hospitals, schools, and churches throughout the region.

He is a member of American Federation of Musicians, and became a Citizen of the United States of America on April 03, 2006.