By Camas Frank
One of the things Michael Nowak misses most about his old job as music director of the San Luis Obispo Symphony is working with the educational programs grooming the next generation of classically trained artists.
It should be no surprise then that when Nowak and 60 of the symphony’s 76 musicians got together for a one-time charity concert June 28, proceeds of the $25 per ticket admission went to the Vocal Arts Ensemble’s Youth Strings Scholarship.
The San Luis Obispo Vocal Arts Ensemble presented the concert at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts.
Titled the New Hope Symphony’s “Concert for Harmony,” the artists hoped to convey new beginnings in the wake of Nowak’s acrimonious dismissal by the SLO Symphony’s Board of Directors and the subsequent descent among the rank and file musicians.
“We’re like a family,” Nowak said, “We’ll always be a family. After the concert we’re all going to take a break and rest. It’s been an emotionally taxing experience. The whole [music] community has been heavily invested for all these years.”
While Nowak and friends in the symphony may have felt like grieving the passing of an era, June was a bad month for those who appreciate modern classical music as well. James Horner, a composer best known for his work on Titanic and a slew of other films died in a plane crash 60 miles north of Santa Barbara.
“I worked with James many times over 30 years,” said Nowak. “He was a very talented and kind human being.”
With a foot in both the film world and the Central Coast, it’s fitting that a “New Hope” is the secondary theme for the Concert for Harmony. After all, the Symphony will continue with a New Year concert planned at the end of the year, and the public will again see Nowak’s work when the next Star Wars film premiers around the same time.
For now, he’s planning taking a slow train to Oregon on a wilderness vacation.
“It’s time to refocus, for everyone,” said Nowak. “In the end, the culture as a whole is losing community orchestras. We did the very best of all other the others our size for the time we had.”
The San Luis Obispo Symphony was contacted for this story but did not respond as of press time.
