Armed with a full resume, assistant professor of violin Gregory Maytan is ready to take on the violin and chamber music section of the Grand Valley State University Department of Music.

“He is our newest faculty member and comes with a great deal of experience and university-level instruction,” said Danny Phipps, the music department chair. “We are confident that he is going to be contributing many years of beautiful music and great expertise to our department and school.”

Maytan, the native-born Swede, graduated from the Royal University of Music in Stockholm, Sweden, with a Bachelor of Science in violin. He also attended Indiana University where he graduated with master and doctorate degrees in violin. For the past four years, Maytan taught at Valparaiso University where he held the position of assistant professor of violin.

“I will be teaching studio violin (at GVSU), which is my specialty,” Maytan said. “I am more focused here unlike at my previous teaching job where I was teaching violin and a lot of classroom subjects.”

Maytan said he always wanted to be a violinist from the age of 10 when he first heard the Chekofsky Concerto.

“It was the one concert I thought was the greatest thing,” he said. “I think the violin is such a beautiful instrument. It could really move people’s hearts.”

Between studying in Sweden and at Indiana University, Maytan became an internationally-respected violinist. He performed with ensembles worldwide, was featured on radio and TV broadcasts in Europe and the U.S. and has participated in the International Chamber Music Festival in Vienna, Austria. Maytan has also produced a CD, “Scandanavia,” which features him playing Scandinavian compositions while Nicole Lee sings. His CD was selected by The Strad Magazine as the top recital CD of April 2009 and was highly praised by Strings Magazine.

“We knew from the beginning that he was a naturally terrific player and after we reviewed his materials and talked to all of his references, we were very interested in meeting him,” Phipps said. “So we had no hesitation at all when we gave him the position and we are pleased that he accepted.”

While at GVSU, Maytan plans to hold several recitals, one of which will be a December showing where he will play alongside fellow colleagues. Students and faculty are encouraged to attend and watch them perform. Maytan’s students will also hold recitals throughout the year to show off all of their hard work.

“I am very impressed with the hard work the students are putting in,” he said. “They seem to be taking the violin seriously. That is very gratifying for a teacher.”

Maytan said he came to GVSU to focus more on his professional career as a teacher of violin as well as a performing career and is looking forward to what lies ahead.

“Gregory is an exceptionally talented performer and teacher of violin,” Phipps said. “We feel very lucky and fortunate that he has joined us here in the music department. He is just an outstanding professional.”

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