Now in his 13th season as Music Director and Conductor of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Maestro Stuart Malina has earned a reputation for orchestra building and multi-faceted versatility. In a wide variety of concerts, from masterworks and grand opera to pops, Maestro Malina’s ease on the podium, engaging personality, and insightful interpretations have thrilled audiences and helped to break down the barriers between performer and listener wherever he has worked. Maestro Malina was previously Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony (1996-2003), and Associate Conductor of the Charleston Symphony (1993-97).
During the 2012-13 season Maestro Malina assumes the position of Principal Guest and Coffee Series Conductor with the Florida Orchestra in Tampa Bay, leading eight concerts, including the opening Masterworks weekend, holiday pops and the orchestra’s highly acclaimed and popular Coffee Series. This position continues an association with that orchestra which started in September of 2011. This upcoming season, he will also direct concerts at Indiana University's Conservatory of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in February 2007, conducting the New York Pops in an all-Gershwin tribute that included Rhapsody in Blue, which he conducted from the keyboard, and returned to Carnegie and the Pops in October 2007. He has recently performed with the symphony orchestras of Hong Kong, New Mexico, and the Sarasota Music Festival. Maestro Malina has had multiple engagements with the Indianapolis Symphony, the Chautauqua Institution, and the Eastern Music Festival. In 2006, he debuted with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and in 2007 with the Naples Philharmonic, after which he was reengaged for concerts in 2008 and 2009. He led the Shippensburg Festival Orchestra for three seasons, the second time performing with violinist Joshua Bell for a broadcast on public television. He has also appeared with the Detroit Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s (NY), Kansas City Symphony, Youngstown Symphony, AIMS Festival Orchestra (Graz, Austria), North Carolina Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra and the Queens Symphony.
On the opera podium Maestro Malina’s recent engagements include two runs of Porgy and Bess at Opera Delaware, Piedmont Opera (Massenet’s Manon) and Greensboro Opera (Il barbiere di Siviglia). He has also conducted many operas in concert, including La Bohème, Tosca and several Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. He will lead performances of La Traviata this March with the HSO.
An accomplished pianist, Maestro Malina has impressive credits as soloist and chamber musician. In Harrisburg, he has had annual performances with Market Square Concerts, as well as the highly successful Stuart and Friends concerts with members of the HSO. He has performed concertos in Harrisburg, Greensboro, Charleston, New York and Chautauqua, most often conducting from the keyboard.
As a composer and arranger, Maestro Malina has created dozens of orchestral works, ranging from entire pops shows to works for symphony orchestra. His most recent composition, Brahms Fan Fare received its world premiere by the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra in May of 2011.
Maestro Malina’s activities also extend to Broadway. In June 2003, he won the TONY award for orchestration with Billy Joel for the musical Movin’ Out, which Malina helped create with director/choreographer Twyla Tharp. Maestro Malina has also served as Associate Conductor of the National touring company of West Side Story and as conductor of the Charleston production of Porgy and Bess with performances throughout the United States, Canada, and at the Israel Festival in Caesarea. In 1995, in a strange turn of events, Malina appeared on stage, acting opposite Broadway legend Zoe Caldwell in Terrence McNally’s Tony-winning drama Master Class for its run at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
In 2009,Pennsylvania Public Television awarded Maestro Malina with the Joanne Rogers Award for contribution to the artistic life of Pennsylvania, and in 2010, he was given the Jump Street Spectrum Award for excellence in the arts. Last year, he was honored by Lebanon Valley College with its Founders Day Award and by Theater Harrisburg with its prestigious Arts Award.
Maestro Malina holds degrees from Harvard University, the Yale School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller.