The California Symphony is truly fortunate to have the gifted violinist Roy Malan as concertmaster. "Besides being one of the greates living violinists, Roy is in the company of a select few extraordinarily gifted concertmasters that I have worked with or observed in action," says Maestro Barry Jekowsky. "Roy is one of the most important assets of the California Symphony and we are indeed lucky to have him as a colleague."

A key part of the concertmaster's role is to create a sense of community and to make sure all the musicians feel important and a part of the orchestra as a whole. Roy has an eloquent and gracious presence that helps bring all the musicians together.

The concertmaster must have extensive knowledge of repertoire and styles, so that he can mark bowings (not only the direction of "up" and "down," but also phrasing and style) to convey what the composer or conductor wiches. Often during rehearsals, the concertmaster will demonstrate a particular kind of bow stroke or musical effect to ensure that all the violins play the same passage the same way.

"Roy has an incredibule intuitive ability to create bowings that blend with the Maestro's interpretation of a piece," explains librarian Laurien Jones. "He is a master of style."

Malan hails from South Africa, where he began violin study at the age of three. He went on to study in London at the Royal Academy of Music with Yehudi Menuhin and then came to the United States to study at Juilliard and the Curtis Institute, where he was a student of Ivan Galamian and Efrem Zimbalist.

In addition to his position with the California Symphony, Malan is concertmaster and solo violinist for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. He is also founder and director of the Telluride Chamber Music Festival in Colorado and serves on the faculty of U.C. Santa Cruz. Malan has recorded widely and his solo tours have taken him throughout the U.S. and Europe, as well as to Latin America, Asia, and Australia. The author of a biography on the late Efrem Zimbalist, Malan was honored in 1982 by Zimbalist;s dedication of a specially orchestrated version of his Phantasy on Rimsky Korsakov's Coq d'Or. He was further honored by the bequest of the great Russion violinist's collection of favorite bows.

"I've always found the most rewarding function of a concertmaster is to be a liasion between the conductor's wish and the orchestral results," explains Malan. "But this function can quickly turn into very hard and frustrating work, especially when a conductor - even if a good musician - has trouble verbalizing what is desired. My great pleasure with the California Symphony, and the reason I accepted the position, is that Barry is not only a fabulous musician but also the clearest and most communicative conductor for whom I have played. He takes the 'work' out of my job!"