Dr. Matthew Mainella is proud to join the Youth Orchestras of Central Virginia as Youth Symphony Conductor. Most recently he served as Music Director of the Utah Medical Orchestra, based at the University of Utah and was Music Director of the Evanston (WY) Civic Orchestra until 2023. During Dr. Mainella’s time with the UMO, the orchestra grew from a small string ensemble to a full orchestra comprised of students, professionals, faculty, and staff from the healthcare community in the Salt Lake Valley.

Throughout his varied career, Dr. Mainella has led professional, college, community, and youth orchestras, wind bands, choirs, and stage productions. He has enjoyed collaborations with many Salt Lake City-based ensembles and artists, including the Salt Lake Symphony, Wasatch Symphony, Skyward Symphony, Taylorsville Symphony, Westminster College Opera, Sinfonia Salt Lake, the University of Utah Lyric Opera Ensemble, and Utah Philharmonic. Dr. Mainella served as Visiting Orchestra Director at Weber State University in 2020, where, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, he led a virtual “Pomp and Circumstance” concert that was played for thousands at WSU’s commencement ceremony. Dr. Mainella has conducted at Brigham Young University, led several world premieres at the University of Utah, and has been featured as guest conductor in the American Guild of Organists’ Western Region convention. He served as Principal Conductor of the University of Utah Campus Symphony, Assistant Conductor of the Valdosta (GA) Symphony Orchestra, and Musical Director of the Peach State Summer Theatre, where he led performances of The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Les Misérables, A Little Night Music, and others.

Dr. Mainella is deeply devoted to music education at all levels and enjoys collaborating with students and community orchestras on a regular basis. He has led orchestra and conducting master classes with the Skyward Symphony (UT) and several Salt Lake Valley youth orchestras. Dr. Mainella was a guest clinician and adjudicator at the 2022 and 2023 Wyoming Music Educators Association’s Southwest District Music Festival, where he was invited to coach numerous large ensembles and solo performers. In the summer of 2023, he taught orchestra, ensemble, and piano classes at the Performing Arts for Curious Kids (PACK) camp in Evanston, WY. While at the University of Utah, he was instrumental in launching the Conducting Master Class Series and led the musicians of the Utah Philharmonia and Campus Symphony on multiple occasions. During his time in Georgia, he conducted and coached middle and high school students of the South Georgia String Project. A passionate and engaging teacher, he has taught music courses at Weber State University, Salt Lake Community College, Valdosta State University, South Georgia State College, and Georgia Military College.

Dr. Mainella earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Utah, the Master of Music Performance degree from Valdosta State University, and the Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Connecticut. During his time at UConn, he produced a full-length studio album featuring original compositions. Wherever he calls “home,” Dr. Mainella enjoys growing his music editing and arranging studio. Recent compositions and arrangements include a setting of Walt Whitman’s Song of the Open Road for choir and orchestra, a new English arrangement of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” for youth orchestra and chorus, youth orchestra arrangements of Greig’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and the “Jupiter” theme from Holst’s The Planets, and an arrangement of “Sunrise” from Strauss’s AlsoSprach Zarathustra for youth orchestra. He also enjoys playing the trumpet and/or piano when the mood strikes. In his fleeting spare time, he loves to cook, camp, and hike with his partner Jess and dog Karma, and chase thunderstorms. His podcast, Conductors’ Brew, combines two of his greatest passions: good coffee and great classical music, and can be found on most streaming services.