Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/315858
JUNE/JULY 2013 MACON MAGAZINE I 27 by matt miller Photography by danny gilleland Since moving to Macon from Portland, Ore., six years ago, drummer Steve Moretti and violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti have come a long way toward accomplishing a lofty goal. "We're trying to make new music history in Macon," the two-time Grammy-nominated percussionist said. It was Amy Schwartz Moretti's appointment as the director and Caroline Paul King Violin Chair at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings in Mercer's Townsend School of Music that brought the music power couple to Georgia. But it is often their power as a duo -- both personally and musically -- that have made them a force on the Macon music scene. That was apparent when the Morettis, along with their longtime musical collaborator Matt Catingub, a Grammy- award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger, and students from the McDuffie center performed a well-received concert at the Cox Capitol Theater. The concert blended jazz, pop and classical music in contemporary arrangements meant to strike a chord with both young and older audiences. When they're not performing or teaching in Middle Georgia, the pair continues to lead busy lives touring around the country and world while raising two young sons. They stopped long enough to talk to Macon Magazine about their lives, careers and plans for the future: MM: (to Amy) Robert McDuffie selected you as the director of the McDuffie Center for Strings program. How did that come about? Can you talk about your relationship with him? AMY SCHWARTZ MORETTI: I have known Bobby McDuffie for quite some time. Before I came to Macon, we had played together in Florida and in Oregon when I was there with the Oregon Symphony. He contacted me about this dream he had of starting a school here, and he needed a director and violin teacher; someone to come and live in Macon full time and run the program. We came to visit and loved the city; loved the landscape here, and we were very excited about the possibilities at the center for strings. I'm just so happy that this opportunity came to me. MM: And you two were together then? STEVE MORETTI: Yeah. We have been together for 12 years. MM: And how did you meet? S: We actually met in Florida. I was playing with Toni Tennille (of the duo Captain and Tennille), and that's how we met. We had a weekend gig with the Florida Orchestra (of which Schwartz Moretti was then concertmaster). Then we just traveled to see each other. MM: So shortly after you moved to Macon, Amy, Steve came down too? ASM: We moved down together. SM: We said 'let's do this,' and we packed up and drove across the country. MACON'S MORETTIS MAKING BEAUTIFUL MUSIC TOGETHER All that Jazz On Oct. 26, Steve Moretti and his longtime collaborator, Grammy- award-winning musician and arranger Matt Catingub, will preside over the first concert of the Macon Pops at the Macon City Auditorium. The 40-piece orchestra will feature many of the top musicians in Georgia, along with guest artists from around the country. "Matt and I want to bring what we do on the road all of the time to Macon," Moretti said. "Why not bring that kind of quality to Macon?" In keeping with a contemporary spin on pops music that will feature country music and hip hop along with more traditional favorites, the concerts will also feature a dance floor, open bar and special menus designed by chefs from local restaurants. "We're going to make it the thing to do in town," Moretti said. In addition to the fall debut concert, the orchestra will also perform a holiday concert on Dec. 7 and also perform on March 1, 2014, in a concert featuring a special musical guest. Moretti and Catingub have tentatively planned a press conference to take place this summer in anticipation of the Macon Pops Orchestra's opening season.