Administration

James Paul, Artistic Director
James Paul is widely acclaimed as one of North America's most distinguished conductors. Mr. Paul currently holds permanent posts as music director and conductor of the Oregon Festival of American Music and music director of the Oregon Coast Music Festival. After six seasons as principal guest conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival, he is taking over as artistic director of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in 2006 - the festival's 50th anniversary season.
 
Highlights of Mr. Paul's 2005-06 season include engagements with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, and San Diego Chamber Orchestra. In the fall of 2006 he is scheduled to conduct the Indianapolis and Honolulu Symphony Orchestras.
 
Mr. Paul's illustrious career has included guest appearances with some of the world's finest orchestras.  His London Symphony Orchestra debut at the Barbican resulted in immediate reengagement. His guest appearance with the Cleveland Orchestra was broadcast over National Public Radio. He made his Paris debut with the Orchestre Symphonique Français. He has appeared with nearly every major North American orchestra, including the National Symphony in Washington D.C., the orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, San Antonio, Oakland, Honolulu, and the National Symphony of Mexico. He has also conducted the West Australian Symphony (Perth), Tampere Philharmonic (Finland), Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow, and Orchestre Colonne (Paris).
 
Mr. Paul has recently appeared in return engagements with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Columbus (OH) Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Florida Orchestra, the Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester (NTO) of Vienna, and the Singapore Symphony. In recent years he has also appeared in return engagements with the Chicago and Phoenix symphonies; debut performances with the Shanghai Symphony, Mexico's Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philha! rmonic, Symphony Nova Scotia (Halifax), Vancouver Symphony, Omaha Symphony and the National Orchestra of Costa Rica.
 
During his tenure as music director and conductor of the Baton Rouge Symphony, James Paul brought the orchestra to national acclaim. The Symphony shared the 1983 American Symphony Orchestra League award for most innovative programming with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and was also the only regional orchestra featured on National Public Radio's Music in America series. In 1984, James Paul founded the Baton Rouge Symphony Chorus. In 1988, during the Baton Rouge Symphony's 40th anniversary season, Mr. ! Paul led the orchestra in a triumphant performance at New York's Carnegie Hall. At the conclusion of his final concerts in February 1998, he was named Conductor Emeritus, the only conductor so honored by the orchestra in its 50-year history.
 
Mr. Paul has served as conducting fellow with the St. Louis Symphony, associate conductor of the Kansas City Philharmonic and Milwaukee Symphony, principal guest conductor of the New Orleans Philharmonic; and as artistic advisor to the Tulsa Philharmonic.
 
Mr. Paul is noted for his critically acclaimed performances of orchestral-choral works such as Vaughn Williams' Sea Symphony, Mendelssohn's Elijah, and Britten's Spring Symphony. In 1997, Mr. Paul recorded Paul Paray's Joan of Arc Mass and First Symphony with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus for Reference Recordings, which received a Grammy nomination for "Best Choral Performance."
 
A native of Forest Grove, Oregon, Mr. Paul studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Among his many awards is the Serge Koussevitsky Memorial Conducting Prize presented by Erich Leinsdorf at the 1967 Tanglewood Music Festival.

Mark A. Savage, Managing Director
Mark was born and raised in Massachusetts, playing the viola in various groups culminating with his membership in the Senior Orchestra of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra that toured in Israel. After high school, Mark earned a Bachelor of Music degree form the Hartt College of Music in Connecticut, while performing in over 12 different professional orchestras. He also participated in the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.  Upon completion of his undergraduate work, he entered the Manhattan School of Music in New York, continuing his studies with Raphael Bronstein and completing study towards a Master of Music Performance Degree.

Mark began his professional career as a member of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, serving as Principal Violist and founding member of the Arkansas Symphony String Quartet, as well as playing with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and various local orchestras in the Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi area.

After Mark earned an Associate Degree in Computer Science from State Technical Institute in Memphis, he began his orchestra management career with the Memphis Symphony as its Director of Operations. After a 6 year tenure, Mark accepted the Operations Manager’s position with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, where he was responsible for the successful 1997 European Tour, an acclaimed recording project, and in managing the summer concert series productions. Mark began his involvement as Managing Director with the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in January of 2004.

Mark shares his life with violinist wife Susan, a family including 4 grand children, and two Cocker Spaniels. He currently performs with the Memphis (TN) and Huntsville (AL) symphonies.  A military history buff, he enjoys reading about various periods in history, particularly the American Civil War, building wooden square rigged sailing ship models, and working on the Savage's newly purchased home.

Martha McCrory, Director Emerita
Martha McCrory, longtime leader of SSMF (formerly SSMC), has enjoyed a career which has revolved around music. She has been a teacher, professional musician and administrator. From scratch she built our Summer Music Festival into a highly ranked summer training program and concert series of international proportions. Over the years, thousands of students and music lovers have been inspired by this remarkable lady.

Ms. McCrory has degrees from the University of Michigan and the Eastman School of Music with an Artist's Diploma from the latter. A cellist, she has played both in professional symphony orchestras and in the recording studios of Nashville. Her keen interest in young people studying music during the summer has long been her passion. In her retirement years, this same dedication continues. In addition, she is an inveterate globe-trotter.