Career
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. He would continue to lead the orchestra 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 some FSYO board members that sought to override his 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.
In 2001, May would found the Central Florida Youth Orchestra in Leesburg, serving as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor. The orchestra was founded with four separate orchestras tailored to a variety of ages (5-22) and musical abilities and so that all students can grow musically at their own pace.
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. In 2001, he became involved in the Flagler Symphonic Society, which led to the formation in 2005 of the Flagler Youth Orchestra in Palm Coast, Florida. He 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. Under May's leadership the orchestra grew to serve over 250 student musicians each season. 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, May’s orchestras performed across the globe, including England, Scotland, Australia, throughout Austria, and in major Italian venues in Milan, Fiesole, and at the Academy of Music at Santa Cecelia. He 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.
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. He had four children, Emily (b. 1987), Elliot (b. 1988), Allison (b. 1990), and Nathan (b. 1994), and was married to Maureen May, a cellist with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bach Festival, as well as a teacher of strings at Millennium Middle School and Trinity Preparatory School. The last piece May ever conducted was Dona nobis pacem (Grant Us Peace) with the students at Park Maitland.
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