Anthony Marotta
Anthony Marotta accepted the position of Executive Director of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra in April 2022 after serving four years with the Washington, DC-based Boulanger Initiative as both General Manager of Finance and Director of Development. Combining his artistic and administrative skills, he advanced The Boulanger Initiative’s mission of promoting music composed by women through performances, education, and commissions. Prior to his time in Washington, he served for many years as Director of Operations and Artistic Administration and as a Board Member and Executive Committee Member for Greenville Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina.
An accomplished and active performing musician, he was the Principal Clarinet of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra for twenty-four years. A position he left in 2022. His other orchestral positions include Principal Clarinet of the Augusta Symphony Orchestra, Associate Principal Clarinet of the Filarmonica de Queretaro (Mexico), Principal Clarinet of the Long Bay Symphony Orchestra, and clarinetist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
An avid chamber music performer, Marotta was the Artistic and Executive Director of the Carolina Chamber Players from 1996 to 2000 and was also a member of the Ventus Wind Quintet, which toured throughout Mexico. He performed extensively with the internationally acclaimed Miro Quartet, including performances of Brahms’ quintet for clarinet and strings and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. He has performed Mozart’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings with famed cellist Lynn Harrel. Additionally, he served as the Creative Director and host of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra’s “Spotlight” chamber music series from 2005 to 2010.
During his tenure with the Greenville Symphony, Marotta facilitated the commissions of two original works: Zero to Sixty (2007) by Rome Prize winner Mark Kilstofte, to celebrate the orchestra’s sixtieth anniversary and Concerto for Bass Viol and Orchestra (2005) by critically acclaimed composer John Harbison. Under his leadership with Carolina Chamber Players, the organization commissioned three original works by South Carolina composer, Gordon “Dick” Goodwin.
As a soloist, Marotta has performed concertos with several orchestras throughout the country, including nine separate engagements with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra -most notably his 2005 performance of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto which the orchestra included in a commemorative recording to celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday.
As a music educator, Marotta has served on the faculties of Furman University, Clemson University, the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities, Benedict College, Claflin University, and Camp Encore/Coda in Sweden, Maine.
In a brief sojourn outside of music, Marotta was asked in 2010 to be a Founding Partner in charge of recruiting and marketing for the startup healthcare IT consulting firm Blue Cirrus Consulting, a position he held for five years. Blue Cirrus Consulting, now a national leader in telehealth was named by Becker’s Hospital Review as a “top telehealth company to know” for four consecutive years.
Marotta is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, where he studied with Richard MacDowell. He received a Bachelor’s Degree from Northwestern University as one of the last students of the famous clarinetist Robert Marcellus and earned his Master’s Degree from the University of South Carolina where he studied with Doug Graham. He received years of training in chamber music with members of the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival in Cleveland, OH, in Chicago with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and in Los Angeles, CA with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His other primary teachers include Mark Nuccio (Houston Symphony) and Louis Baez (San Francisco Symphony).
