Cameron May, Music Director Designate
Cameron May is Music Director of Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia and conductor of the SPSCC Symphony Orchestra at South Puget Sound Community College. Cameron received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He continues to maintain his violin playing through his positions as Assistant Principal Second Violin with the Olympia Symphony Orchestra and Principal Second Violin with the Lake Chelan Bach Fest Orchestra. When not conducting, teaching, or playing violin, Cameron can be found reading on his back porch, walking in the woods, or going out of his way to chase after Amtrak trains.
Lajos Balogh, Founder, Music Director Emeritus
Lajos Balogh is the Founder of Portland Festival Symphony and was Music Director and Conductor for 36 years. He was born in Hungary and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, as well as in Munich and Hamburg. In Germany he appeared as a soloist with the Munich, Nuremberg and Gottingen Symphonies.
Lajos has been an active member in Oregon’s classical orchestra community. He spent many years as Principal Second Violin with the Oregon Symphony and is a former member of both the Portland Opera Orchestra and the North Coast Chamber Orchestra. He was the founding Music Director and longtime Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony and is the conductor of the Marylhurst Symphony Orchestra. Balogh has served on the faculties of Marylhurst College, Portland State University and Lewis and Clark College.
Read more about Lajos: From Immigrant to Local Hero
