Michael Jinbo, who will conduct the Bangor Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, does not rely on a bag of tricks to romance music out of players. He’s a quiet, disciplined man with a gentle style. Without being shy, he is reflective and cerebral. People who know him use the word “teacher” to describe him as a musician.

“He’s a wonderful musician and a wonderful teacher,” said Bob Taylor, the novelist, who is also on the board of the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians in Hancock, where Jinbo is only the third person in the 58-year history of the school to hold the position of music director. “He treats each person as an individual. He reaches in to them and finds out what that person has to bring out. And that’s the perfect definition of a teacher.”

Jinbo, who is the second of five contenders for the BSO position this season, grew up in Hawaii and lives in New York City now. But he has spent many summers in Hancock since 1983, when he was a student. He quickly became assistant to Charles Bruck, director at the time, and was offered the position in 1995 after Bruck died. In addition to his responsbilities at the Monteux school, Jinbo is also music director for the Nittany Valley Symphony, a community orchestra with a six-program season in Pennsylvania.

Because of his association with Maine, Jinbo said the prospect of visiting more frequently holds appeal. But summer in Maine is one thing. A winter gig is quite another. Jinbo does not flinch at the wintery remoteness of his adopted northeastern digs.

“I appreciate Maine now more than ever,” he said last month on a break from rehearsing the BSO. “I live in New York City and what has happened there hasn’t deterred me from wanting to live there. When I am in a place like Maine, I have an appreciation for what it is like to be removed from all that. It’s a comfort to me because it is familiar, and it has been a nice complement to the other part of my life.”

After the rehearsal period, Jinbo left for Mexico City to conduct the Carlos Chavez Symphony Orchestra in a program of “very thorny” Polish compositions. This Sunday’s program features a well-timed lineup of American pieces, including “Rhapsody in Blue,” “Appalachian Spring,” and the Maine premiere of Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra by living American composer Ellen Taafe Zwilich, with guest pianist Jeffrey Biegel.

While he speaks fondly of Maine and hopefully about the job, Jinbo’s interest in the BSO extends beyond his experience with the state, and even beyond what is clearly a serious-minded professionalism.

“I don’t care about career,” he said. “I care about being in a situation in which I am happy and in which I make other people happy. I don’t think in terms of: Is Bangor important enough? I am impressed with the orchestra and the community. I hope that I would be an identifiable part of that community, and that I could start my own little era.”

During his October visit to Bangor, Jinbo met with a handful of community, orchestra and board members. Sandra Leonard, vice president of the symphony board and past president of Friends of the Symphony, talked with Jinbo on several occasions.

“He’s a very community-minded person,” Leonard said. “His sense of this being a community orchestra rather than a professional one is keen in his mind. I’d characterize him as a nurturing person. He loves community diversity and welcomes it on all levels.”

As with others on the board, Leonard knows the BSO has made strides in musicianship in the last two decades and must continue a mission of quality music-making while maintaining a tradition and distinction as the nation’s oldest continuously performing community orchestra.

For Jinbo, the position is a challenge he has been preparing for since early in his career.

“In retrospect, my work has been about teaching, making something better, explaining things to people,” said Jinbo, who is 44. “But I didn’t put the word teaching on it in the beginning.”

Jinbo might say the basis of his interest in conducting was not when he began playing violin in a sixth grade public school program in Honolulu, but later, as a romance languages major at the University of Chicago.

The first sign that he was destined for a leadership position in music was when he shifted first to a music degree with a concentration in violin performance, and then shifted once more, this time to conducting as a graduate student at Northwestern University School of Music. The year he graduated was the first summer he spent at the Monteux school.

Last month, rhythm, color and synchronization were the qualities Jinbo was striving for during his rehearsal with the orchestra. “Let me drive,” he told the musicians. Overall, he said, the experience left him feeling happy about what he found among the musicians.

“The places where they need my guidance were playing rhythmically and playing together,” Jinbo said. “That’s true for all orchestras. I think a conductor is a teacher, no matter what the ability of the orchestra. The Bangor Symphony is an orchestra that wants to do well. There are a lot of strengths, but I also see that there are things to work out and get better at. That makes this a very desirable position.”

Michael Jinbo will conduct the Bangor Symphony Orchestra 3 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Maine Center for the Arts. For tickets, call 942-5555.