SLO Symphony starts the season with an audition

Early in his career, orchestral conductor Andrew Sewell journeyed to England to see one of his idols in action.

As he watched Sir Simon Rattle rehearse the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, he was struck by “how matter-of-fact he was,” Sewell recalled.

“I aspired to be that kind of conductor — one who could get the job done, be efficient … and inspire the orchestra to bigger and better things,” said Sewell, one of five finalists vying to replace Michael Nowak as music director of the San Luis Obispo Symphony.

On Saturday, he’ll lead the San Luis Obispo Symphony in the first concert of the Classics in the Cohan series as the orchestra kicks off its 2016-17 season. The other four contenders will each pick up the baton later in the series.

The program, partially selected by Sewell, features two crowd-pleasers: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor and the overture from Giachino Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.” In addition, violinist Giora Schmidt will join the orchestra to perform Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole in D minor.

“Beethoven’s fifth symphony is a really great staple,” explained Sewell, in his 17th season as music director of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. “It’s got its moments when it can make an orchestra fall on its face or come alive. It’s certainly a piece that demands your absolute concentration and attention.”

Rossi’s operatic overture, in contrast, requires a lighter touch, he said.

Both works should serve as important tests for Sewell as he auditions to conduct the San Luis Obispo Symphony full time.

Search for conductor

The symphony has been searching for a permanent replacement for Nowak, who had led the orchestra for 31 years, since the beginning of 2016. (He now serves as artistic director of Orchestra Novo.)

This May, the symphony named its top candidates for conductor, picked by a 10-person search committee: Sewell, David Handel, Rei Hotoda, José-Luis Novo and Nan Washburn.

Each finalist will spend three weeks on the Central Coast, leading the orchestra in five rehearsals and a Classics in the Cohan performance, according to attorney and symphony board member David Hamilton, who chaired the search committee.

Although they’ll meet with symphony board members, musicians, educators and staff, the candidates’ interactions with the public will be limited to post-concert receptions, Hamilton said. The finalists will also have breakfast with local community leaders.

Hamilton said his committee hopes to make a recommendation before the end of May 2017.

Sewell, who grew up 60 miles north of Wellington on New Zealand’s North Island, said he got the conducting bug as a child. He began playing piano in a brass band at age 8, made his youth orchestra debut as a violinist at 13 and started conducting at 16.

Conducting “just captured my imagination,” the self-described extrovert said. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to organize all these people?’ ”

After stints with Auckland’s Mercury Opera and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Sewell headed overseas in search of further training. He ended up at the University of Michigan, where he earned a master of music degree.

Sewell’s “baptism by fire,” as he put it, came when he served as a guest conductor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for a rehearsal of ‘The Nutcracker.’ ” The young conductor worked hard to project confidence as he stepped into the orchestra pit.

“(Musicians) can tell within five minutes, even when you’re walking on (stage), if you’re going to be any good,” he said. “They go, ‘Well, what do you know? I’ve been doing this for 25 years. What are you going to tell me? Anything new?’ ”

“You get thrown into the deep end, you’ve got to swim,” Sewell said. Fortunately, he added, “I did OK.”

In addition to leading the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Sewell served as resident conductor of Ohio’s Toledo Symphony and music director of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra in Kansas and the Mansfield Symphony in Ohio.

“We often talk about ‘How do we get music across the footlights? How do we connect with the audience?’ ” Sewell said.

For Sewell, that answer entails offering events that bring music lovers out of the concert hall, such as outdoor shows and pre-performance dinners, and expanding the repertoire beyond the “warhorses” of classical music.

“Back in Mozart’s day it was popular music,” Sewell explained. “He started doing these operas that made his audience laugh and cheer. … He brought (the art form) down to earth to a human level and an emotional level. That’s what we need to try to get it (back) to.”

Sewell advocates opening and closing a concert season with time-honored classics, while offering more challenging material in the middle.

“You want (concertgoers) to finish the season up by going, ‘Oh man, I loved it. I’m just going to rush back and buy my subscription to the next year,’ ” he said.

The symphony hopes audience members have a similar response to Sewell — or one of his rivals.

This story was originally published October 6, 2016 at 11:02 AM with the headline "SLO Symphony starts the season with an audition."