Martin Majkut adds a third conducting gig, takes baton for Oregon Coast Music Festival
By Jim Flint
Popular orchestra conductor Martin Majkut has added another gig to his already busy schedule.
Majkut, the music director of the Rogue Valley Symphony and the Queens Symphony Orchestra in New York, has been appointed the new music director of the Oregon Coast Music Association’s festival orchestra.
The Oregon Coast Music Festival has grown from a Coos Bay performance of music by Haydn in 1978 to a two-week annual summer event, with other musical activities scheduled year-round.
The summer festival draws thousands to its jazz and pops concerts at several South Coast venues, culminating in the weeklong orchestral component of classical music at the end of July.
Taking notice of RVS’s trajectory under Majkut’s tenure the last 15 years, the Oregon Coast festival reached out to him.
Guest conducted last year
“I was invited to guest conduct last summer,” Majkut said. “Along with the appreciative audience, I found a wonderful orchestra that was honed to perfection by the retiring maestro, James Paul. It is quite an honor to succeed such an illustrious conductor.”
The festival orchestra performs at the Marshfield High School Auditorium in Coos Bay.
“It’s acoustically marvelous,” Majkut said of the venue. “Also, the space allows for a full complement of strings, which is no small deal.”
During his visits to the area, Majkut found a board of directors composed of enthusiastic supporters with a passion for sharing the gift of music on the South Coast and a desire to expand the organization’s reach.
“This is where I want to be helpful,” he said. “The festival has an important role in enriching cultural scenes in the Coos Bay and Bandon areas. This is where I see the potential to enlarge the footprint.”
An equally important goal for Majkut is to help the festival orchestra draw increasingly broader audiences, “by offering thrilling repertoire and attractive soloists,” he said.
With both RVS and the festival operating in rural settings, the festival board found Majkut’s experience highly relevant. Running an arts organization in such settings presents challenges different from those in a big city.
A good fit
Majkut says the OCMF fits well with his schedule.
“The performances happen when the RVS is in a summer break. I will be able to navigate around my duties in New York as well,” he said.
Majkut will be looking into synergies between RVS and the festival and the opportunities they may present.
“I see several areas where I believe the two organizations may find it to their mutual benefit to collaborate.”
He also plans to investigate opportunities to build bridges between the coastal schools and the festival. One of the possibilities he cites would be having gifted youngsters join the seasoned pros in the orchestra for select performances, either by invitation or through student competitions.
“It is all about making the organization relevant to its community,” he said. “That is our mantra at the RVS, and that is what we are going to energetically pursue at the Oregon Coast festival as well.”
Large string section
Last year’s festival orchestra numbered 77, including 46 in the string section. Many of the musicians return year after year, from throughout Oregon and California as well as from Florida, Kansas, Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Iowa and elsewhere.
The festival presents a variety of concerts in Coos Bay, North Bend, Bandon, Shore Acres and Charleston. The association performs a “KinderKonzert” in local schools and provides scholarships and instruments to promising young South Coast musicians.
Rogue Valley Symphony performs in three cities — in Ashland at the SOU Music Recital Hall, in Medford at the Craterian Theater, and in Grants Pass at the high school’s Performing Arts Center. It recently added a holiday pops concert at the Angus Bowmer Theatre in Ashland with the cooperation of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Majkut was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (Now Slovakia) and earned a Ph.D. in conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts there.
While studying he worked with the Slovak Philharmonic, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak State Philharmonic and the Slovak Sinfonietta. He also studied at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and at the Wiener Meisterkurse in Vienna, Austria.
Majkut came to the U.S. as a Fulbright scholar in 2003 and earned his second doctorate from the University of Arizona. He has served as guest conductor for a wide range of chamber and symphony orchestras and operas across the continent and in Europe.
The RVS has grown threefold under Majkut’s leadership and received national recognition for its ambitious programming.
Freelance writer Jim Flint’s “Curtain Call” column about people in the performing arts appears on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. Email him at jimflint.ashland@yahoo.com.
