Music Director and Conductor of the Fine Arts Chamber Orchestra in the Netherlands, Melvin Margolis founded this organization in 1985. Under his direction, the orchestra’s performances have been recorded and broadcast throughout Europe. As a Dutch critic noted after hearing a concert, “Margolis has created an excellent ensemble. A beautiful balance and harmony of sound, along with a fine sense of balance were the keynotes of this gripping and fresh performance."

As Music Director and Conductor of the Dutch National Operetta Company (Hoofdstad Operette) in Amsterdam, Maestro Margolis conducted over 150 performances each season in every major opera house and theatre in Holland and Belgium. The international cast was supported by a full-time professional orchestra and chorus. In 1982, Mr. Margolis conducted the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra in a recording of the Mozart Piano Concerto KV 271 with pianist Bert vd. Brink, first prizewinner of the 1981 International Competition for Blind and Partially Sighted Musicians.

Born and trained in America, Mr. Margolis has spent the last thirty four years conducting and teaching in Holland. Guest engagements have included conducting the Zeister Philharmonisch Orkest with Jeroen de Groot as violin soloist, the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, the ‘Vara Matinee” concert series, The Holland Festival production of Klaus Huber’s “Erniedrigt-Geknechtet-Verlassen-Verachtet”, the Canadian Opera Touring Company, and the Marin College Symphony Orchestra. During the 1993/94 season Mr. Margolis guest conducted the Brasov State Philharmonic “Gheorghe Dima”, the Constanta State Philharmonic and the “Banatul” State Philharmonic in Romania, and the Kielce Philharmonic in Poland, with Krzystof Jakowicz as violin soloist. He returned to Romania in early 1995 to conduct the Constanta State Philharmonic with piano soloist Andrei Deleanu, and the Ploeisti State Philharmonic, where the soloist was the famed violinist, Daniel Podlovski. In 1996 he led the “Banatul” State Philharmonic in Romania and returned to the U.S. to conduct the Albany Symphony Orchestra in Georgia. Of that concert, critic James Marquis remarked, “Mr. Margolis achieved a deftness of precision and expressive detail of which he and the orchestra should be proud.” In 1997 Mr. Margolis guest conducted the Siberian Philharmonic in Tomsk and the State Philharmonic of Sibiu in Romania. He returned to lead two more concerts in Tomsk in late 1997, and returned to the Ploeisti State Philharmonic in 1998 to once again collaborate with violinist Daniel Podlovski. In 1999 he returned to Romania to lead the orchestras of Timisoara and Botosani. In 2000 he guest conducted the Opole Philharmonic in Poland and lead the Camerata Antonio Lucio on tour through the U.S. In the same year he assumed the additional post of Music Director of the Wagenings Orkest ‘Sonante’ in Holland. In 2004 Mr. Margolis helped to found and conduct the ESTA Conferentie Consort, a group formed to perform at the 2004 ESTA International Convention in Rotterdam. In 2006 Mr. Margolis conducted the Constanze Orkest in the first of three evenings of The Mozart Piano Olympiade, with soloists Eildert Beeftink, Marcel Worms and Louise van de Sande Bakhuyzen.

As a violist, Mr. Margolis has performed as a soloist with the Zeister Philharmonic Orchestra, soloist and member of the Rheinisches Kammerorchester-Köln, and was a member of the Canadian Opera Touring Company and the Utrechts Symfonie Orkest.

Mr. Margolis holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Wisconsin, attended graduate school at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and participated in summer courses at Tanglewood and the Blossom Musical Festival. He served as Professor of Music at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, Faculteit Muziek (Utrechts Conservatorium) from 1978 until 2001, where he conducted the Conservatory Orchestra and various chamber ensembles. His latest recording is of L‘Allegria by the Dutch composer Hans Kox, written for the soprano Marilyn Tyler.