Meet the Orchestra
Orchestra Sul Ponticello has provided concerts in Decatur since 2014. The orchestra members are professionals and semiprofessionals from Decatur and surrounding areas. When appropriate, more advanced members of the Decatur Youth Symphony play with Orchestra Sul Ponticello. Today’s young players are tomorrows adult members of the orchestra.
Andrew Creech, Flute; Jacob Frank, Viola and Viljar Weimann, violin
Regina Rainey, Flute and Lara Lay, Oboe
CHARTER PLAYERS of the orchestra include from L to R, Jacob Frank, Concert Master; Mark Huff, Bass; Gretchen Perry, Violin; Viljar Weimann (Conductor and Violin); Miika Weimann, Cello; Gordon James, Horn; Mandy Irwin, Clarinet; Kevin Grainger, Bassoon; Lara Lay, Oboe and English Horn
Jacob Frank, Concertmaster
Jacob Frank began his study of the violin at the age of 10. He has studied the violin with instructors Alberto Jaffe, Viljar Weimann, and Achim Gerber. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Church Music from Bob Jones University.
Mr. Frank has been a guest clinician at various workshops in the area, most notably as guest conductor for the ASTA Honors Festival in Tuscaloosa and the UNA Honors Festival in Florence, as well as part of the string faculty of the Tennessee Valley Music Festival in Huntsville. During most days, he stays busy teaching privately, conducting various orchestras, providing music for local weddings and parties, and performing with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. Jacob has been the concertmaster of the Decatur Orchestra Sul Ponticello since its inception, and has been a guest soloist with it on a number of occasions.
Besides playing and teaching violin, Mr. Frank thoroughly enjoys conducting. He is currently the conductor and Artistic Director of the Decatur Youth Symphony Orchestra, and many of its advanced players often perform alongside the members of the Decatur Orchestra Sul Ponticello. As Artistic Director of the DYS, he is thrilled to be helping kids flourish as musicians. In his spare time, Jacob enjoys spending time with his family; his wife Kelly, and children Lily, Levi, Asher, Ava, Ezra, Ella, Shiloh and Simeon.
principal cellist
Ariana Arcu began her musical studies in violoncello at the age of 7 in Cluj, Romania. Dr. Arcu has earned the Bachelor’s degree in cello performance from National University of Music Bucharest, Romania, and the Master and Doctoral degrees in cello performance, from the University of Alabama, U.S.A. Her teachers include Marin Cazacu, Carlton McCreery, Radu Aldulescu, Roland Pidoux and Valentin Arcu. She has appeared in numerous solo and chamber music recitals, and was featured as a soloist with orchestras in Romania and the United States of America. She has won awards at national competitions, including first prize at Constanta National Competition in 1994, and second prizes at Ploiesti and Timisoara national competitions, in 1992 and 1993. In 2000 she was invited to be a guest-recording artist on The Scorpions’ album Acoustica, and has concertized with them in South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and throughout Europe.
Currently she holds the Assistant Principal Cello position in Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, and is a member of the faculty at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Since 2010 she has been part of the Arrhythmia string quartet along members of the Alabama Symphony. The quartet collaborated with the Grammy artist Raul Jaurena in several concerts in Europe and U.S.A., and recorded together the album The Five Senses, in 2014.
In addition to being a cellist, Dr. Arcu is also a soprano. Her debut role was Cherubino in 2015 Ars Nova’s production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, followed by Mimi in Puccini’sLa Boheme, in February 2017, and Violetta in the concert version of Verdi’s La Traviata with Orchestra Sul Ponticello of Decatur, in March 2018. Other engagements include a voice and cello recital at the United Nations in March 2017, for La Soirée de la Francophonie, an event organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York. Currently she is studying with acclaimed mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose, while her previous teachers include Ginger Beazley and Jennifer Cowgill. story online can make all the difference.
principal bassist
Mark Huff was born in Ohio and has his Bachelors in Music from Miami University of Ohio, his Masters Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and DMA from University of Alabama.
Dr. Huff is a member of the Huntsville Symphony and teaches bass at the University of Alabama Huntsville, Alabama A & M University, and at Huntsville Strings.
Dr. Huff has been a choir director for multiple churches and a congressional candidate for northern Alabama. He remains active in church and in politics as well as music.