“Tonight signifies Friday, May 8.
It’s not just about standing up there and waving the stick, Wesley Schulz notes.
Watch a conductor lead an orchestra, and you might believe this is the ultimate ego trip, one person controlling a stage full of musicians with a flick of the hand.
But in the case of Schulz, a conductor who has led ensembles from Texas to Maine to Seattle, this is about transmitting passion.
Schulz, the eighth of eight candidates for music director of the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, will demonstrate this in two concerts: tonight in Port Angeles and Saturday night in Sequim.
He’ll lead the Chamber Orchestra in a contrasting program of three Scott Joplin rags, one serenade each from Dvorak and Strauss and a Francis Poulenc trio the piano soloist calls “one crazy ride.”
“It’s about sharing the music, about connecting with people,” said Schulz, whose credits include music director of the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra and Bainbridge Island Youth Orchestra. He’s also the newly appointed conducting fellow at the Seattle Symphony, where he’s working with music director Ludovic Morlot.
When asked how Port Angeles might fit in, Schulz likened the conductor’s career path to a puzzle. You go where the work is, and you adjust things as necessary.
Since arriving in Seattle about four years ago, Schulz has looked across the water toward the Olympic Mountains. But he’d never been to Port Angeles until last Saturday, when he came to rehearse with the chamber ensemble.
Fortunately, Saturday was a sun-splashed day. And when Schulz returned for rehearsal No. 2 on Tuesday, the rain stopped and blue sky appeared as he entered Clallam County.
Schulz, 32, has seen all kinds of weather: He grew up in Omaha, Neb., studying the cello first and later becoming a percussionist. He earned his bachelor’s in percussion performance and music education at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., and a master’s in orchestral conducting at the University of Texas at Austin.
Since joining the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra in 2011, Schulz has collaborated with the musicians to commission and give two world premieres, bring in soloists such as Christopher Guzman and Emma McGrath, and performed sold-out concerts of Verdi’s Requiem. He has also sought to connect with young people through side-by-side performances and a young artists’ competition.
Classical music is no museum, Schulz says. Come to a concert and see it come alive in the hands of the players. Try picking one person out of the orchestra; watch and listen to how he or she interacts with the rest.
This weekend, “you’ll easily be carried away by the music,” he says, adding that in the Poulenc Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano, patrons will see three musicians pouring out their hearts. They’re oboist Anne Krabill, bassoonist Dave Krabill and pianist Kristin Quigley Brye, the one who calls this piece a crazy ride.
It’s “full of rich harmonies, and intentional ‘wrong’ notes . . . good fun,” Brye says.
Then there’s Richard Strauss’ Serenade for 13 Winds, “a joy to play,” adds Anne Krabill.
“He was a teenager when he wrote it,” and had yet to develop into the Strauss of tone poems and big works.
Both Krabills have been through the nine-month search for the Port Angeles Symphony’s next conductor. There have been local candidates and others from across the country, leading the symphony and chamber orchestras after just a few rehearsals.
“It is really challenging for a conductor to come in with so little time,” says Anne.
“Some do better than others at connecting with the orchestra and conveying his or her specific style,” she said, adding that “some were a little more comfortable than others.
“We are looking forward to the announcement,” to come from the symphony board of directors by May’s end.
