Making Music

The new palm tree planted in Sergey Bogza’s front yard is symbolic to the 39-year-old Panama City Symphony maestro.

Bogza was born in Russia but came to the United States when he was 9 years old. He’s lived, studied, and worked in cities across the country, from Portland, Oregon to central Minnesota.

After moving to Panama City in 2022 for the music director position with the Panama City Symphony, Bogza decided it was time to plant roots.

The fact that Bogza is here at all is somewhat of a miracle. Born to a Russian father and a Ukrainian mother, Bogza is one of 10 kids in his family. Sometime after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Bogza’s father, a welder, applied to come to the U.S. as a religious refugee. The family settled in Oregon where an aunt, who had already settled there, could serve as their sponsor family. He still has family in Ukraine; some they have not heard from since the war with Russia began.

In Russia, Bogza had his first exposure to music. He enjoyed music lessons in school, his dad played the guitar, and his mom loved to sing. With no television or radio in their home, the family would play music and sing almost daily.

“It was either read books, do homework, socialize with your neighbors, get in trouble, or make music,” Bogza recalls.

Music was an easy choice for him.

Three years after coming to the U.S., Bogza’s mother signed him and his sister up for piano lessons.

“After the first piano lesson, I knew this was it,” he says. “I knew this was what I was going to do.”

He discovered genres of pop, jazz, and even ’70s and ’80s rock music.

“My mom wouldn’t let me listen to it, so I had to sneak away to the radio,” he recalls.

Photo by Mike Fender

He joined his middle school band and started playing the trumpet. By age 16, he started a youth orchestra at his school. He learned arranging and composing in part by watching his high school band director conduct and in part by a lot of trial and error.

“I had a variety of talent,” he says, “so, I had to write individual parts to make them feel comfortable and give everybody a chance to belong in the group.”

That early exposure to music led Bogza to the formal education that’s got him where he is today. He started with an undergraduate degree in music education from Portland State University but was quickly hungry for more. He soon achieved a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from Central Washington University and then a doctorate degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Minnesota.

Today, Bogza remains passionate about music education. In many schools, music classes don’t exist, and young students often haven’t yet experienced live music. Bogza hopes to help fill that gap.

The Panama City Symphony offers outreach and education programs. Last season, the symphony hosted 22 chamber performances that brought music to local elementary schools. Some of the audiences had more than 300 kids attending. And a mentorship program invites skilled high school musicians to play with the orchestra throughout the year.

Bogza has even invited students and adults on stage to play with the professionals on occasion.

“I’ve always wanted that experience, but it was one of those sort of forbidden things,” Bogza says. “So, when I got to be in this position I thought, ‘It’s a fun family concert; why not have this experience?’”

Bogza hopes the first unified performance will happen with their Christmas program this winter. And a new Emerging Artists Competition will showcase skilled high school and college student performers from the local and national level.

“People love to sing,” he says. “There is a lot of good buzz about what is being planned.”

Bogza is almost certain some of those kids will be taking violin or piano lessons in the future. And some might move up into the mentorship programs the symphony offers. One day, he dreams, there may be a successful symphony performer who got their start in one of the elementary concerts.

Photo by Mike Fender

“Art takes a while to change one’s heart,” he says. “And that’s how I hope to serve. I hope these concerts touch a lot of people.”

Symphony board president Dr. Marlene East credits Bogza with elevating the cultural arts to an entirely new level in Panama City.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have someone of his caliber,” she says.

Bogza’s job, as he sees it, is to plant the seeds.

“Arts are growing in this region,” he says. “And the soil is fertile for beautiful things to happen. My role is to invest in it, to plant the seeds, and water them. When it comes to art and seeing the reward, one has to be patient.”

Going forward, the symphony board plans to offer Bogza a five-year contract, according to Dr. East. They also gave him a special gift at the end of the 2024-2025 season to show their appreciation.

“We wanted to really show him how much we value him and that we value his future here,” East says. “He wants to plant roots here.”

So, the board bought him a palm tree for his front yard.   

CHECK IT OUT

Panama City Symphony’s 2025-2026 season runs from September 20, 2025 through April, 11, 2026 with 10 performances scheduled. For concert and ticket information, go to PanamaCitySymphony.org.