Martin Majkut has served as music director of the Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestra since 2010. Under his leadership, the orchestra has grown to more than 80 musicians and the Symphony’s educational offerings have significantly expanded to include four different programs. We sat down to chat after a rehearsal late one afternoon.

EH: When did you get interested in music?

MM: I started playing piano when I was just shy of 6. I had many other interests, and my parents never forced me to practice. But I did well. After eighth grade, I went to the conservatory; they took me into both piano and conducting classes.

I started studying conducting when I was 14. You learn a lot of repertoire that way, but I did not fully comprehend what conducting entails until much later. After the conservatory, I went to the university, and concentrated on conducting. It became my life. Continue reading Majkut works to inspire symphony musicians →

Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestra Music Director Martin Majkut is currently conducting Brava! Opera Theater’s production of “Orpheus and Eurydice,” to be performed March 3-6 at the Camelot Theatre in Talent. We met after a rehearsal one afternoon to discuss the challenge of opera.

MM: From a technical point of view, opera is a challenge for a conductor. The challenge is tracking everyone’s movement and making sure that they are in sync together. In opera, you have the orchestra: they’re in their seats. Then you have the singers and the chorus: all in movement, and they don’t hear the orchestra very well.

When you stand on the stage, and the orchestra is down in the pit, you sometimes hear very little. Say: you run up some stairs, you’re breathing heavily, you hear some sounds from a distance, and you’re basically singing more or less to a vacuum. You don’t get that beautiful symphonic support that the audience gets. So you really rely on the conductor to cue you, to lead you. Continue reading Brava! director says opera is alive and well →