UM Music Professor to Direct Top California High School Musicians

By Erin Garrett

University of Mississippi

The California Orchestra Directors Association has invited Selim Giray, associate professor of music and director of orchestral studies at the University of Mississippi, to conduct the top-tier California All-State High School String Orchestra next year.

The invitation coincides with the California All-State Music Education Conference in Sacramento, which is slated for Jan. 31 to Feb. 4, 2024.

“I was completely surprised when the California Orchestra Directors Association, who sponsors the event, reached out to me,” Giray said. “I did not apply for the opportunity, so I am extremely honored that they selected me.”

The organization was pleased to extend an invitation to Giray to conduct, said Tiffany Ou-Ponticelli, president of CODA. 

“Dr. Giray’s contributions to string education are highly valued, and we look forward to having him come work with our California all-state students,” Ou-Ponticelli said.

Giray has extensive experience conducting high school orchestras. He has conducted honors orchestras in Kansas and Missouri and served as orchestra director at Cypress Creek High School in Kissimmee, Florida.

Students in all-state orchestras are typically selected to participate after receiving superior ratings in a regional event and auditioning.

“This is such a great honor for these high school students, and that honor is then kept with them through their entire lives and their professional careers,” he said. “It’s a momentous event.

“Generally speaking, the repertoire that they get to perform at an all-state orchestra is usually well above and beyond what they would normally get to play with their high schools, and in some cases, even youth symphonies because these are really the highest-caliber students.”

CODA gives special attention to inclusive repertoires. Conductors are asked to consider programming music and composers that reflect the “abundance of cultural diversity” that is representative of students across the state of California. 

Giray’s approved repertoire includes works from composers Quinn Mason, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Samuel Barber and Josef Suk.

Giray has served as director of orchestral studies at Ole Miss since 2015. In this role, he directs and conducts the Lafayette-Oxford-University Symphony Orchestra and teaches courses on conducting and applied violin and viola.

He also conducts the Memphis Youth Symphony Program‘s string orchestra. He has recently served as cover conductor for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Ballet Memphis ballets “The Nutcracker” and “Cinderella.”

While Giray values all his conducting experience, he is looking forward to working with high school students again, he said.

“Getting to work with that age group, versus college and professional musicians, provides a different energy and excitement,” he said. 

“I think that’s what I’m most looking forward to. It brings you back to your youth, I guess – the unknown of what the future holds. Everything you play, everything you learn is something completely new.”