By Sean Avery
Columbia Gorge News
ODELL — For over 20 years, conductor Mark Steighner has graciously led the Gorge Sinfonietta, a principal ensemble within the Columbia Gorge Orchestra Association (CGOA). That storied tenure reached its final chapter at Wy’East Middle School on June 21, where flittering piano melodies, booming horns, and elegant strings rounded out CGOA’s epic 2025-2026 season finale, “Piano Summit.”
As he steps into retirement, the CGOA co-founder and former Hood River Valley High School (HRVHS) Musical Director will pass the baton to the longtime leader of the Clackamas Community College Wind Ensemble, Lars Campbell.
Growing up in Southern California, Steighner first fell in love with music playing in his elementary school band, unlocking a seemingly endless world of art to explore. He went on to study music composition at UC Santa Barbara, initially eyeing to pursue composing or criticism.
After securing his degree, however, Steighner opted to become a teacher — a natural fit considering his parents both worked as educators — and a promising route to pursue music without the stressors of composing, which is a notoriously difficult, even risky, profession to break into as a full-time commitment.
After teaching in California for a year, Steighner relocated to the Gorge in 1979, serving a brief stint at Wy’East Middle School before assuming a position at HRVHS, where he’d become a faculty staple for over 30 years, teaching instrumental and choral music, while also directing and writing plays.
Steighner looks back at this three-decade stint with fond memories; his talented cohorts achieved consistent success, winning numerous state championships, premiering dozens of commissioned works, and even touring overseas. “It was a really active and busy time,” he said. “We did a great job and had a lot of fun exploring music together.”
In 2004, the original conductor and founder of the Gorge Sinfonietta, Dorothy McCormick, passed away, prompting Steighner’s takeover and subsequent expansion into the nonprofit arts organization we know today, CGOA, alongside co-founder Faith Ackerman.
Looking to diversify the organization’s musical output and capitalize on his many strengths and interests, Steigner added the Voci Community Choir in 2006. After retiring from teaching in 2015, he introduced the Jazz Collective and Stages musical theater program, partly “because there was a need in the community for both of those things,” he said. “It was a natural evolution.”
For years, up until the pandemic struck, Steighner directed each of CGOA’s ensembles, highlighted by numerous appearances by big-name guest artists, including Storm Large, David Wilcox, and Sam Baker.
Though he has too many memories to mention, Steighner is particularly fond of premiering concerts containing film and video game music; since the early 2000s, he has also worked in the video game industry as a journalist, reviewer, and editor for various online publications.
When it comes to motivations, the core tenets that have kept him in the business decade after decade, helming multiple ensembles at a time, Steighner lists curiosity, education, and community.
“There’s an endless amount of interesting music to explore,” he said. “Keeping up with a fraction of it, learning about what’s been discovered in the past several hundred years, has always been a passion.”
Steighner revels in each chance to educate audiences and fellow musicians about music theory, the cultures in which it’s developed, and what individual composers are aiming to achieve through their work.
The composer credits the Gorge community for its constant and overwhelming support, including the HRVHS administration, CGOA audiences, and the numerous donors, sponsors, and volunteers working behind the scenes to support his work. “They value what CGOA does — all the different ensembles and types of music,” Steighner explained. “I think they recognize how unique it is in providing all these different experiences.”
Last weekend’s performance, “Piano Summit,” was selected as a grand finale to CGOA’s season, more than a last hurrah for Steighner. He wanted to include piano soloists Mitchell Jett Specner and Kathryn Apland, each a recognizable face returning to the CGOA stage.
Their demanding performances, 19th-century romantic pieces, earned standing ovations from the crowd, before Steighner and company launched into an excerpt from Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony #3, Movement 6” — a particularly personal selection for the composer, which he said, “perhaps represents [him] more than any other piece of music.”
His last bow, though emotional, had been a gradual goodbye years in the making. Steighner has been divesting different responsibilities with CGOA since the pandemic, including those in non-musical departments like marketing, and has made an effort to avoid placing too much weight on his shoulders for the final concert.
“The Sinfonietta is the last element that I’m stepping away from; I think I’m ready for that,” Steighner said, mentioning pride and excitement as his overriding emotions. “I’m thankful for all the musicians that have been a part of it.”
Between Executive Director Deya Shapiro, a fantastic board, and talented ensembles, Steighner has no worries about CGOA’s continued success, and hopes his successor Campbell feels free to take the Sinfonietta in any direction he wishes.
In honor of Steighner, the Steighner Artists’ Fund makes it possible to bring extraordinary artistic experiences to CGOA. Visit gorgecf.org to donate.
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