Dr. Mark Perlman – Conductor, Philosopher, Author
Mark Perlman is Music Director and Conductor of the Willamette Falls Symphony and the Tualatin Valley Symphony (both in Oregon), as well as founder and Music Director of the Oregon Mahler Festival. Dr. Perlman has conducted orchestras across the U.S., as well as internationally in the U.K., Denmark, Russia, Romania and Bulgaria. He was featured on Romanian television for his September 11, 2006 concert in honor of victims of terrorism. The annual Oregon Mahler Festival has completed nine summer seasons, with performances of all the Mahler symphonies except No. 8 (planned for 2027).
He was a finalist in the 2021 Ionel Perlea International Conducting Competition in Romania. He also was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2011 International Conducting Workshop and Competition in Macon, Georgia. In April 2017 he was awarded Special Commendation in the London Classical Soloists Conducting Competition. He was also a finalist for The American Prize in both 2011 and 2020, both times in two different categories - Orchestral Conducting and Programming.
He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where his father, David Perlman, was Principal Bass with the Cleveland Orchestra and his mother was a talented amateur violinist and singer. He studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio State University, earned a doctorate at the University of Arizona. His conducting mentor at Arizona was Dr. Leonard Pearlman, and he has also studied with Jorma Panula, Markus Lehtinen, Murry Sidlin, Alexander Polishchuck, Diane Wittry, Daniel Lewis, Don Thulean, and John Farrer. He also studied in 2005 at the International Academy of Advanced Conducting in St. Petersburg, Russia, with noted conducting pedagogues Petr Gribanov, Leonid Kochmar, Sian Edwards, Adrian Gnam, and Oleg Proskurnya.
Dr. Perlman taught for 23 years as Professor of Philosophy at Western Oregon University (now Emeritus Professor), and now teaches at Mt. Hood Community College. He has written philosophy books and articles on various philosophical subjects, including mind, biology, law, and music (including “Music and Healing the Sorrow of Death”, The Oregon Musician, Issue 11, August 2015 and “Authentic Performance of Music: From Bach and Handel to Elvis, Ray Charles, and the Blues Brothers” International Journal of the Arts, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2007.)