A classically trained
violinist, conductor,
composer, producer
and GRAMMY Awardwinning
THE FLORIDA OR 52 CHESTRA | 2017-2018
artist,
Arnie Roth performs
across a wide array
of musical genres.
Roth has performed
with a host of artists,
including Il Divo,
Diana Ross, Jewel,
The Three Tenors,
Josh Groban, Patrick Stewart, and Andrea Bocelli,
among others. He is also a long-time member of
the GRAMMY award-winning group Mannheim
Steamroller. Orchestras that Roth has conducted
include the London Symphony, Hollywood
Bowl Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Royal
Stockholm Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony,
Dallas Symphony, and Sydney Symphony, among
many others. Roth brought critical acclaim to the
Chicagoland Pops Orchestra as music director and
principal conductor, showcasing artists including
Michael Feinstein, Linda Eder, Art Garfunkel, Linda
Ronstadt, Wynonna Judd, and the Beach Boys.
Roth was the music director and conductor of the
national concert tour Dear Friends: music from
FINAL FANTASY. In 2006, he conducted VOICES:
music from FINAL FANTASY in Tokyo with the Tokyo
Philharmonic. He then became the principal
conductor and music director of PLAY! A Video
Game Symphony featuring music from blockbuster
video games such as FINAL FANTASY®, World of
Warcraft®, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind™, Halo and
Battlefield 1942™. As both producer and music
director, Roth premiered Distant Worlds: music from
FINAL FANTASY in December 2007 with the Royal
Stockholm Philharmonic in Sweden. The release of
Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY recorded
by Roth and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic
coincided with the start of the Distant Worlds
2008 world-tour. Distant Worlds continues to
thrill audiences around the world, and it has had
additional successful releases with CDs and the live
performance DVDs.
Benjamin Pila is
the only classical
guitarist ever named
a Presidential
Scholar in the Arts.
Pila has performed
e x t e n s i v e l y
throughout the
United States at
venues including
the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and
Lincoln Center in
New York City, John
F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Herbst
Theater in San Francisco, and Straz Center, Mahaffey
Theater and Ruth Eckerd Hall. Pila is a semi-regular
performer at the 9/11 Memorial Museum, where he
has performed for three U.S. presidents and Pope
Francis and shared the stage with such notables as
James Taylor, Paul Simon, Itzhak Pearlman, and Yo-
Yo Ma. Pila’s debut CD, Commemoration, contains
music he has performed at the museum and is a
tribute to the survivors and victims of 9/11. Pila has
been featured on NBC’s Today Show and NPR’s From
the Top. He was awarded ASCAP’s Best Performance
of a Contemporary Work, is a YoungArts Silver
Award winner, and has won prizes in the Texas
International Guitar Competition and the Yamaha
6-String Theory Guitar Competition. He is a grand
prize winner of the Pacific Guitar Festival, Tampa Bay
Symphony Concerto Competition, and University of
Southern California Guitar Concerto Competition.
He has also performed the world premieres of two
guitar concerti: Michael Gilbertson’s Concerto for
Guitar and Strings (2013) with the San Francisco
Chamber Orchestra and Troy Gifford’s Concertino
(2003) with the Florida Southern College Orchestra.
Pila received his bachelor’s degree from Florida
State University, his master’s degree from The
Juilliard School, and his doctor of musical arts from
the University of Southern California. He currently
lives in Tampa and is a professor of guitar and
humanities at Polk State College.
ARNIE ROTH
Guest Conductor
BENJAMIN PILA
Classical Guitar