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Born To Conduct Mainella The New Artistic Director Of Rockbridge Symphony
Matthew Mainella, who recently became the artistic director of the Rockbridge Symphony, may be a new resident of Virginia, but he is no stranger to the Blue Ridge mountains and Shenandoah Valley. “I used to drive down the 81 corridor every summer when going back and forth between my parents’ home in Connecticut and Valdosta, Ga., for graduate school.”
An Eagle Scout, Mainella “loved to camp at little campgrounds along the way. I’ve always loved this area.” Mainella’s partner, Jess— a research and strategy consultant who works remotely — has grandparents living in Daleville, “so moving here was an easy decision. All of our family is now within a day’s driving distance, and we love the mountains here. We found a home in Lynchburg but hope to spend this next year finding the right place to purchase closer to the stretch of I-81 between Staunton and Salem.” Matt, Jess and their dog, Karma, spend their free time hiking and gardening. Matt — a culinary enthusiast — loves to grow tomatoes and herbs, “anything that enhances a meal,” he said, and Jess focuses more on medicinal plants and vegetables.
The son of a musician father and university librarian mother, Mainella’s parents like to recount that his first music lesson was on the same day he came home from the hospital. “My dad put my newborn index finger down on middle C.” From his father, he learned keyboard theory. “I like to approach a score by first playing it on the piano. It helps me imagine how it will sound played by an orchestra, and then I can make informed decisions about how best to rehearse and perform it.”
Mainella’s early teachers served as a source of inspiration for his pursuit of conducting in higher education. His high school band teacher was especially demanding, even unforgiving. “He expected a lot out of us. Sometimes — I felt — too much. But it came from a good place, and we excelled as an ensemble, though it seemed to me our collective focus came more out of fear than out of a love for making music. I thought, ‘there must be a kinder, more nurturing way.’ I wanted to be someone that inspires others to create out of love, rather than fear.”
As an undergraduate at the University of Connecticut, Mainella majored in music theory. “I realized that if I wanted to study music education, I needed to fully understand music theory first, so I switched majors.” He was able to take graduate courses in music theory “which thrilled me,” he added. In his senior year, Mainella took a conducting course and during the final exam in which he had to conduct a piece for his peers, “I had an a-ha moment. I fell in love with the whole process, and I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. It’s an incredibly complex process that boils down to wordless communication. I was hooked, and it was a thrill unlike anything I had ever experienced. Something in my body recognized that conducting was a good fit for me.”
After graduation, Mainella served as an assistant conductor for the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra while earning his master’s degree. “It’s a job of paying your dues – an assistant doesn’t conduct that much, if at all. Your job is to carefully listen during rehearsal and follow the score, making detailed notes of any mistakes or improvements. It’s excellent training.” After earning his master’s at Valdosta and working as a music librarian, Mainella realized that he would need a terminal degree to further his musical career, which he did at the University of Utah.
In Utah, Mainella earned his doctorate in musical arts in orchestral conducting. He also became a founding member and the first conductor of the Utah Medical Orchestra in Salt Lake City. Started in 2021, the UMO began as a small group of student musicians which later organized under the anesthesiology department at University of Utah. They gained more traction but needed a conductor. “At first they were essentially a pickup group of musicians,” Mainella explained, “I was asked if I could step in as a volunteer conductor. At first, I was hesitant, but it quickly became apparent that it was a great match.” Mainella said, “The success of the UMO exploded – the only requirement was that all musicians had some connection to the medical field, whether working in offices, maintenance, facilities, technicians, nurses, doctors, and beyond.” Mainella furthered, “There was clearly a need for people to exercise their talents in music. Before UMO, people were hungry for a chance to play, and for most of them, there was no outlet, nowhere to go.” Mainella reflected, “The UMO is the healthcare community coming together to provide a healthy, community-oriented pursuit of music. I’m very pleased that they’re still going strong. It’s a great feeling to take something from the ground up and see it survive and thrive past me.”
Mainella’s two new positions in Virginia bridge his talents for cultivating musical communities: in addition to his role with the Rockbridge Symphony, he is also the Youth Symphony Conductor at the Youth Orchestras of Central Virginia in Charlottesville. The biggest challenge in leading community orchestras is “coming up with compelling concerts that tell a story and appeal to a broader audience and to the musicians.” Mainella added, “What is very playable for, say, a cellist, might be very difficult and challenging for someone across the orchestra. Striking the right balance and being mindful of varying skill levels is a dance.”
Pressed to list favorite composers, Mainella confessed, “If I had to listen to one composer the rest of my life, it would be Gustav Mahler, but Bach would be a close second.” He added, “Bach was the original Metallica – musicians of his caliber were often considered too outlandish or too weird.” He mused, “Some people say that an orchestra is like a living museum – that’s true to a degree, but we’ll never hear music exactly the same way. Instruments vary from when a piece was actually composed, and there are so many other countless nuances each time a song is performed—it is never exactly the same. That’s the magic of the performing arts.”
“I like to approach a score by first playing it on the piano. It helps me imagine how it will sound played by an orchestra, and then I can make informed decisions about how best to rehearse and perform it.”
