Conductor/Composer Mark DeForest Orton Jr. passed away on October 17th, 2022 at the age of 93. Mark was born in St. Paul, MN to Mark Orton and Margaret Kalman Orton and spent his first decade there. He took an early interest in music which was fostered by his grandfather Charles Kalman, the director of The Minnesota Symphony and a prominent arts philanthropist. At 5 years old, Mark would ‘conduct’ nightly in front of the family Victrola. Through his grandfather, he was introduced to the celebrated conductor Eugene Ormandy, who, after hearing of Mark’s hobby, had a miniature conductor’s podium, music stand, and baton made especially for him. Ormandy would later become one of his mentors.

Mark went on to study music at Colorado College (with David Kraehenbuehl and Willi Appel) and at Julliard (with Vincent Persichetti and Robert Hufstader) where he earned a masters degree in choral conducting. In his early career in New York City, he was associate conductor under Robert Shaw with The Shaw Chorale and later conducted both The Summit Chorale and The Collegiate Chorale, with which he recorded several records for RCA. He worked with many notable 20th C. composers including Paul Hindemith, Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc.

In 1965, Mark met his wife Diane Breslow, who at the time was working with the Collegiate Chorale. They married and moved from NYC to Long Island where Mark took up a teaching position at S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook. He directed the BAFFA orchestra and chorus and also taught private lessons in conducting, piano and voice. At the same time, he began what would be a 35-year residency as music director of the Setauket Presbyterian Church. He built a remarkable musical community there, the evidence of which could be seen in each year’s Easter and Christmas concerts when he would cram a chamber orchestra and a full choir into the small balcony to perform full requiems and masses. During the course of his career, Mark also wrote and arranged hundreds of compositions for choir, both liturgical and secular.

Career aside, Mark was a family man through and through. He was a devoted husband and father and coached little league baseball and soccer, chaperoned ski trips, and was himself an avid swimmer and borderline polar bear – swimming miles in the Long Island Sound in a questionable stars and stripes speedo well into October. Born between the wars, he was a gentleman of the old school, known for his graciousness and old world style. That said, he was quite comfortable pushing fashion boundaries, sporting dashikis, Russian bomber hats, and sombreros alongside his conductor’s tux. Secrets of his longevity include time with his grandkids, playing Bach fugues on the piano, regular servings of crème brulée, and martinis dry enough to double as paint thinner.

In later life, Mark and Diane left Long Island and settled near their daughter Xani in Hood River, Oregon. Despite decreasing mobility in his later years, Mark remained a regular at both Freshies Bagels and 10-Speed Coffee, and could often be found chatting it up at the bar at Divot’s restaurant.

He is survived by his 6 children: Jenifer Calandri, Melissa Morris, Dickson Cunningham, Mark Orton III, Alexandra Petros, and Michael Orton, along with 10 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren, a host of nieces and nephews, and roughly 1/3rd of the feral cat population back on Long Island.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Hood River Schools Music Program:

https://hrcef.org/contributeprograms-new/

Checks should be made out to: HRCEF

And sent to:

HRCEF
1011 Eugene St
Hood River, OR 97031

Memo: In memory of Mark Orton