Zachary May is the orchestra director for grades 10-12 at White Plains High School in White Plains, NY. He also founded and directs New York State’s first public high school mariachi band, Mariachi Juvenil Los Tigres de WPHS. He has served as president of New York ASTA and taught low string methods at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. Zachary earned a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he studied music education with Louis Bergonzi, cello with Dmitry Kouzov, chamber music with the Pacifica Quartet, and jazz bass with Larry Gray. He earned a Master of Music Education from Central Washington University focused on conducting studies with Nikolas Caoile. He has received the Give a Note Foundation Innovator Award, an Urbana Arts Grant, and the Illinois School of Music’s Daniel J. Perrino award for excellence in music education.
Zachary is a regular presenter at music education conferences on topics including cello technique, string methods, mariachi instruction, and Scandinavian fiddle styles. Zachary is principal cellist of the Taconic Opera orchestra and a former cellist in Orchestra 914 in Westchester County, NY.
