Barry Jekowsky,
Guest Conductor

The 2009/2010 season marks Barry Jekowsky’s 23rd as founder and Music Director of the California Symphony. Two seasons ago he completed his 10th and final season as Music Director of The Reno Philharmonic. In May 2005, Readers Digest chose Mr. Jekowsky and the California Symphony as “Best in America,” because of Jekowsky’s innovative programming. USA Today has called Jekowsky “a name to watch.”

In 1997, Jekowsky led the California Symphony to international recognition when he and the orchestra recorded their first compact disc, Lou Harrison: A Portrait, an 80th birthday tribute to the American composer on the Decca/Argo label. The recording has received international critical acclaim including selection as Gramophone magazine’s “Recording of the Month” for August 1998.

Jekowsky has earned a national reputation for his innovative and visionary ideas, including the presentation of a work by an American composer on every California Symphony concert. In 1991, he created the California Symphony’s Young American Composer-in-Residence Program (YACR), which has garnered international attention. In true partnership, the Symphony gives the young composer numerous opportunities to work cooperatively with the orchestra in the creation of world premiere compositions. Award-winning young composers who have passed through the program include Kamran Ince, Chris Theofanidis, Kevin Puts, and Pierre Jalbert. Each of these composers has won the prestigious Rome Prize. From 1994 to 1998, Jekowsky held the post of Associate Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. where his performances were met with enthusiastic critical praise. During his tenure he led the orchestra in Subscription, Family and Young People’s Concerts at the Kennedy Center, summer programs at Wolf Trap, and on a number of successful tours through Maine, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Alabama as part of the orchestra’s American Residencies Program. He also appeared with the NSO on segments for CBS Sunday Morning and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

The winner of a Leopold Stokowski Conducting Prize, Jekowsky has appeared as guest conductor with many ensembles throughout North America and Europe including those at the Tanglewood, Britt and Aspen Music Festivals, the London Philharmonic, the City of London Sinfonia, Manchester’s (UK) Halle Orchestra, and the Detroit, St. Louis, Louisville, Jacksonville, Oregon, Richmond (VA), Pacific, Maryland, Delaware, Akron, Kalamazoo and Oklahoma symphonies.

Jekowsky’s concern for music education and his recognition of the special role an orchestra can play in the community inspired the design and implementation of the California Symphony’s Music-in-the-Schools Program. Considered an authority on prodigiously gifted children, Jekowsky was featured prominently in the critically acclaimed 2004 book, Genius Denied by Jan and Bob Davidson, published by Simon and Schuster.

At the age of eight, Jekowsky entered The Juilliard School where he ultimately earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. He studied conducting with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Masur, Erich Leinsdorf, and Leonard Slatkin and also has an extensive background in jazz and popular music. After serving as principal timpanist of the San Francisco Symphony, Jekowsky left that post in 1995 to concentrate full-time on his conducting career.

In recognition of his leadership role in the local arts community, the Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County honored Maestro Jekowsky in 1996 with its first Arts Recognition Award. He has served on the music panel of the National Endowment of the Arts and the board of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras.