Bios

Dr. Martin Province – Conductor

Gilbert Symphony Orchestra/Gilbert Symphony Chorus

For more than fifty years, Martin Province has conducted a wide range of ensembles including orchestras, wind bands, choirs, and chamber ensembles. He moved to Arizona in 2002 to join the faculty at Arizona State University, preceded by positions at Iowa State University, the University of Colorado, and Wake Forest (NC) University. His ensembles have received accolades from and premiered works by such composers as Karel Husa, Michael Torke, Hyo-shin Na, Frank Ticheli, David Maslanka, Charles Young, Roger Cichy, and Daron Hagen. In 1996, he conducted the Denver Concert Band at the National Convention for Community Bands in Phoenix, Arizona, and was guest conductor for the Arizona State University Wind Symphony at the College Band Directors National Association Biennial Convention in Minneapolis in 2003. Prior to his tenure with university ensembles, he served in the public schools of North Carolina and Colorado, teaching chorus, band, and general music to students in elementary, junior, and senior high schools. His first conducting position was as Choir Director for Emmanuel Baptist Chapel (later Pfafftown Baptist Church) in North Carolina, and following his university career, he returned to church music and public school as Music Director at the First United Methodist Church of Gilbert and Director of Orchestras and Jazz Ensembles at Hamilton High School. In addition to establishing the Gilbert Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, he was the Founding Conductor and Music Director of the Scottsdale Philharmonic and has guest conducted throughout the Valley, including concerts with the Tempe and Chandler Symphonies. In 2015, Province was Musical Director for the Copperstar Repertory Company’s production of Les Misérable, winning the “Zony” Award as the year’s best amateur musical. As a clinician and adjudicator, Province has worked with ensembles from more than 25 states and Canadian provinces.

Dr. Province holds Doctoral and Master’s degrees in Conducting from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Wake Forest University. Ancillary conducting teachers include such notables as Frederick Fennell, George Trautwein, A. Clyde Roller, Michael Cherry, H. Robert Reynolds, Donald Hunsberger, and Frank Battisti. He was chosen to participate in the 1992 Conductors' Guild Conducting Symposium held in conjunction with the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the Eastman Wind Ensemble and was one of only four international participants selected for the conducting symposium sponsored by the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Hamamatsu, Japan in 1995.

In performance, Dr. Province has played percussion with the Winston-Salem (NC) Symphony, the Governor's School of NC Symphony, and the Wilkes (NC) Symphony, as well as with the Faculty Chamber Ensemble at the University of Colorado. As a singer, he was a member of the tenor section with the Phoenix Symphony Chorus and sang the role of “Enjolras” in a local production of Les Misérables and “Washball” in a Bicentennial resurrection of The Disappointment, America’s first ballad opera. Currently, he entertains and conducts workshops – singing and accompanying himself on banjo, guitar, autoharp, and other folk instruments – at events in the East Valley and performs as “Peter” in the cover band, Peter, Paul, and Mary Remembered.