Donovan Polk

dpolk@kidznotes.org

2026-2027 Class:

Maestros Orchestra

Donovan Polk is a Durham, NC-based conductor, educator, composer, and multi-instrumentalist whose warmth and musical curiosity breathe life into every ensemble he leads. As a proud son of the Bull City, he brings a deep sense of community to the podium and the classroom alike.

Polk now serves as Conductor of the Maestros Youth Orchestra with Kidznotes, Inc. — a natural continuation of a relationship that began on the Durham Symphony Orchestra stage, where he led a celebrated collaborative performance of Moncayo's Huapango with Kidznotes musicians. That partnership followed two seasons as the DSO's Conducting Fellow, a tenure that began with his appointment as the ensemble's inaugural Fellow in 2024–2025 and included the orchestral world premiere of Bill Robinson's Symphony No. 3: Protest Poems (Mvts. II–III).

Polk holds a Master of Music in Wind Conducting from the University of New Mexico, where he served as Graduate Band Assistant with the UNM Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music with an Emphasis in Composition from Morehouse College, where he was a member of the House of Funk Marching Band drumline — featured in the nationally televised Super Bowl LIII Dodge commercial.

A dedicated educator, Polk assists at Durham Academy across middle and upper school instrumental and vocal ensembles and serves as Director of the BUMP Beginning Concert Band, nurturing young musicians ages 6–18 across the Triangle. His scholarly voice has reached the national stage through a presentation at the Society of Music Theory's 42nd Annual Meeting on Diversity in Music Theory Pedagogy.

As a composer, his choral work Hope is the thing with feathers — commissioned by Durham Academy's 7–8 Vocal Ensemble — received its world premiere in May 2023. His ongoing growth as an orchestral conductor was on full display at the 2025 Conductors Retreat at Medomak, where he studied and conducted major works by Beethoven, Elgar, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, and Florence Price with Kenneth Kiesler.

Donovan is thrilled to bring his passion for mentorship and community into this new chapter with Kidznotes, an organization whose mission of transforming young lives through music mirrors his own values as an educator and artist. For him, the podium has always been a place of connection — a space where young musicians discover not just technical skill, but confidence, discipline, and joy. He looks forward to helping shape the next generation of musicians and music lovers in the Triangle, continuing a lifelong commitment to making music a force for community and change.