‘Completely heartbroken.’ Nittany Valley Symphony mourns loss of longtime conductor

Michael Jinbo’s first season with the Nittany Valley Symphony was 1990-91, and since then, he held more than three decades worth of rehearsals, concerts and sharing a love of classical music with the Centre County community.

Jinbo, NVS’ music director and conductor, died Monday morning at Maine General Medical Center in Augusta, Maine, after a brain aneurysm. Jinbo, 65, served as the orchestra’s conductor and director for 32 years.

“He and I were partners — he ran everything musical and I ran everything that wasn’t musical,” Roberta Strebel, the symphony’s executive director said Wednesday. “We worked well together and grew fairly close. I’m heartbroken, completely heartbroken over this. He was only 65 years old.”

Jinbo was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor’s in music and from Northwestern University with a master’s in orchestral conducting. Jinbo also served as music director of The Pierre Monteux School and Music Festival in Maine since 1995.

Jinbo was a violinist and conducted orchestras around the globe, including in Canada, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland and more. Jinbo’s last performance was on March 5, 2020 with the NVS, before the symphony postponed all performances due to the COVID pandemic.

“He was brilliant, he was absolutely brilliant,” Strebel said.

Jinbo was surrounded by his family and his husband Joe Klapatch. Jinbo and Klapatch were married last year on Thanksgiving Day after being together for nearly 20 years, symphony member and longtime friend Ellie Lewis said.

Lewis has been a member of the symphony since 1992 and currently sits on its board of directors.

“He certainly left a huge mark on the symphony,” Lewis said. “Over the years he has been able to really establish us a full-size symphony orchestra.”

Jinbo strove for very high standards in the symphony and was often a demanding teacher. He chose pieces other conductors would deem too difficult for a community orchestra, which includes amateurs and professionals alike.

“He was a gracious very bright person who was an exacting musician. Always generous and helpful,” Steven Smith, professor emeritus for Penn State School of Music and frequent piano soloist, said.

In previous years the symphony did all ten of Mahler’s Symphonies, which required an expanded orchestra and incredible dedication from Jinbo and the musicians. Mahler’s symphonies are deemed incredibly rich and complex; the Washington Post describes Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 as presenting “superhuman challenges and is, consequently, rarely performed.”

“Those of us who are amateurs, we were kind of shaking in our shoes, but we managed to get through it. It was a growth experience,” Lewis said. “It was good for us to be stretched.”

With his high expectations, Jinbo had a unique ability to organize and teach musicians of varying levels.

“He was able to get the most out of us,” Lewis said. “I don’t remember attending a rehearsal where I didn’t learn something from him to benefit my play. I think that was one of his hallmarks, his ability to work with all ages and all abilities and get the best out of us all.”

Jeanne Feldman, the symphony’s principal violinist, said Jinbo gave his players opportunities many other community musicians would not have had.

“I am so grateful that I got a chance to play some of the really major orchestral works,” Feldman said. “He was very, very good for us.”

Outside of rehearsals, Jinbo was very thoughtful and had a good sense of humor. He loved brunch at Elk Creek Cafe in Millheim and would often attempt to round up friends to go with him when he was in town.

Jinbo and Klapatch often stayed with members of the symphony when in town for performances or rehearsals. Lewis, who called Jinbo once a week since the orchestra has not met since the start of the pandemic, said she felt like he was another one of her sons.

When Jinbo stayed with Feldman, he would come down every morning and eat breakfast in the family’s kitchen, completing the daily crossword while he waited for his steel-cut oats to cook and teaching her grandchildren origami when they were in town, she said.

Feldman remembers Jinbo organizing a performance for children to learn about the orchestra, featuring a piece that mimicked an animal running around the orchestra pit, with sections of musicians standing up and reacting as the imaginary animal crisscrossed the stage.

“He was a huge force in building the symphony up and challenging us so it’s not going to be easy to continue without him, but we must and we will,” Lewis said.

Memorials in State College and Hancock, Maine, will be planned at a later date, according to his obituary. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Pierre Monteux Memorial Foundation or the Nittany Valley Symphony.