Jonathan May

Jonathan May (October 9, 1958 – February 27, 2010) was an American cellist and conductor.

He resided in the Orlando, Florida area and was noted for founding and directing numerous youth orchestras and music programs throughout the region.

One of seven children, May was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin to Walter and Eleanor May, each an accomplished musician and teacher.

At the age of four, the family moved to Fairport, New York where Jonathan would learn to play the cello at a young age.

He was a student of Lynn Richmond and played in the Rochester Youth Symphony.

When Jonathan was in high school, the family moved, to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

He earned a bachelor's degree at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, where his father was chairman of the music department.

During this time, he met his future wife, Maureen Getting, also an accomplished cellist and student of his mother.

Jonathan received his master's degree at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, where he and Maureen would begin a lifelong pursuit of teaching music that would take them across the country.

The May family moved to Central Florida in the early 1990s, where Jonathan would join the faculty of Stetson University in DeLand.

As his reputation as a music teacher in the region grew, he was made Artistic Director of the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra in 1994.

When May assumed artistic control of the 90-piece youth orchestra, it consisted of two orchestras of students representing 45 schools from eight counties in Central Florida; just three years later the orchestra grew to over 200 students and four divisions ranging from beginner to a top-level symphony.

What began as a strings program started by May in 1994 would become the Central Florida Youth Orchestra in 2001, which met at Lake-Sumter Community College in Leesburg; May served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the group of young musicians aged 6–19 spanning beginner, intermediate, and advanced ability.

In just a few years the orchestra would grow to five groups and increasingly become known for its inclusiveness, as no student was denied the opportunity to learn music, as well as May's relentless efforts to raise awareness about the value of an orchestral education to children of the Central Florida community.

As dedicated member of the Central Florida community, May devoted a great deal of his time bringing music to those that might not otherwise have the opportunity.

Like he did in Lake County, May would form an orchestral program in Flagler County where none had existed previously.

In 1997, he would lead the orchestra on a tour of Australia, which culminated in a performance at the Sidney Opera House.

The same year May would also help form and lead the Daytona Beach Youth Orchestra at Daytona Beach Community College, where he was also a professor.

May would continue successfully leading the FSYO until 1998, when a split occurred among orchestra board members over the artistic direction of the orchestra.

May was reportedly forced out of critical artistic choices by FSYO board members who sought to widen their artistic direction and exclude him from the orchestra's audition process.

As May would explain to the Orlando Sentinel: "What this is is a difference of philosophy. One is a strong musical director with a supporting board; the other is a weak musical director and a strong board calling the shots."

Not content with assuming the role of a weak musical director, May would form a competing orchestra with former FSYO board members and supporters.

Though this period marked a fractious time for the youth orchestra movement in Central Florida, with some patrons claiming there were not enough students, venues, or funding to support another youth orchestra in the Orlando area, May remained undaunted and would answer these concerns with his familiar humor and a prophetic movie quote: "If you build it, they will come."

May founded the Florida Young Artists Orchestra in 1998 in Orlando.

May's leadership helped oversee its growth into five separate orchestras composed of about 200 students (ages 6–22) from several Central Florida counties.

He was also the founder and director of the strings program at Park Maitland School in Maitland, Florida and Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park, Florida, where he was also the composition teacher.

Beginning in 2001 as a small strings program of a dozen musicians known as the Flagler Symphonic Society, with the help of Flagler County school system the program grew in 2005 into the Flagler Youth Orchestra of Palm Coast, Florida.

May served as Artistic Director of the after-school music-education program, which was available free of charge to all Flagler County public, private and home-schooled students.

May would lead 125 students in the first year and the program would quickly grow to become the largest performing arts program in Flagler County, with routine enrollment of 300 or more students every year.

May's reputation for inclusiveness and excellence in music education would continue to grow each year and with each new orchestra and music program he founded.

Under his guidance, and as part of his desire to provide students with the most comprehensive orchestra experience, May's orchestras often performed with professional guest soloists and in venues across the globe, including in Australia, England, Scotland, throughout Austria, in major Italian venues in Milan, Fiesole, and at the Academy of Music at Santa Cecelia.

May also worked with professional orchestras in Colorado, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Florida and returned to Prague as guest conductor of that city's Symphony Orchestra.

On Sunday, June 15, 2008 (Father's Day), May would take 110 student musicians from all his orchestras to perform on the most revered stage in music, the Isaac Stern Auditorium / Ronald O. Perelman Stage of Carnegie Hall in New York City, as part of the venue's Ensemble Spotlight Series.

Members from the Central Florida Youth Orchestra, Daytona Beach Youth Orchestra, Flagler Youth Orchestra, and Florida Young Artists Orchestra would combine to form the Florida Festival Youth Orchestra.

May appeared with the orchestra on the CBS Early Show and the trip culminated with orchestra performing before a large, enthusiastic crowd in Carnegie Hall.

May conducted the orchestra as they performed three works commissioned especially for the event: The Phoenix Rising by Stella Sung, Alligator Songs by May's brother, composer Daniel May, and The Ponce De Leon Suite by Robert Kerr.

The orchestra would receive several standing ovations throughout the program.

Always conscious of the difficulties of funding the arts but never doubting the need to do so, May and his orchestras sought to raise money for their trip by doing what they did best and holding performances for the community, as he told the press: "Selling cookies is not what we do. If people wonder why this is a worthy cause, they can come and listen."

On February 26, 2010 Jonathan Paul May suffered a sudden brain bleed and died at 2:45pm the next afternoon, February 27, 2010, age 51.

His public memorial at Northland Church in Longwood, Florida was attended by over 1,700 admirers, friends, students and colleagues.