Music Director Pamela Martin

Santa Cruz Ballet Theater Music Director since 2014, Pamela Martin is also Principal Guest Conductor with the Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra.  Maestro Martin has many years of experience working with orchestras as well as ballet companies.  She recently concluded a long tenure as Associate Conductor of the Vallejo Symphony.

For four years, she was a staff conductor for Cleveland/San Jose Ballet (now Silicon Valley Ballet), where she conducted productions of "Swan Lake”, “Coppelia”, and “The Nutcracker”.  She has also been a guest conductor for Ballet West in Salt Lake City.  Martin has frequently appeared as a guest conductor for Oakland Ballet, conducting their production of “The Nutcracker” with the Oakland East Bay Symphony.  She appeared in the same capacity with Ron Guidi's “Nutcracker” production with the newly revived Oakland Ballet, as well as the more recent production by Graham Lustig.  She has also conducted the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, Young People's Symphony Orchestra in Berkeley, and Calvary Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir in San Francisco.

Besides her experience as a conductor, Martin is an accomplished pianist, having played for San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Austin, Marin Ballet, and Marin Dance Theatre.  She holds a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Peabody Conservatory.

Maestro Martin and Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre Orchestra take a well-deserved bow.  Pictured below, Pamela Martin with guest artists Melody Mennite and Joseph Walsh and Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre company dancers.

The Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre Orchestra musicians appreciate Maestro Martin's professionalism and humor.  No matter how beautiful the dancers in any given performance, Conductor and Orchestra receive the biggest round of applause.

Rehearsal portraits of Maestro Martin by Jana Marcus and Michael Gerald-Yamasaki