Maureen May

Maureen May (née Getting; born September 22, 1962) is an American cellist and conductor. She resides in the Orlando, Florida area and is a noted cellist in the region and co-founder and artistic director of the Metropolitan Area Youth Symphony.

Life and career

Maureen May was born in Sanborn, Iowa to Daryle and Marian Getting, the youngest of six children. As a young student, Maureen studied cello with Mary Eleanor May, whose son Jonathan May was also a cellist in a musical household. Though often in direct competition, Maureen and Jonathan would become inseparable and were married in 1983.

The Mays moved to Colorado, where Maureen graduated with a degree in Cello Performance from Colorado State University. In Colorado, the Mays founded the Canyon Youth Orchestra and adopted a lifelong philosophy of community involvement through music. After the birth of their first two children, Emily (b. 1987) and Elliot (b. 1988), the Mays moved to Tennessee, where Maureen started the Cumberland String Project—the program introduced strings and music education to an area that otherwise had no music education in the schools or community.