The Reno Philharmonic picks its new conductor. And the winner is. . .

By Forrest Hartman
forrest@rgj.com

The Reno Philharmonic has hired Laura Jackson as its new music director and conductor, and executive director Tim Young says she was the favorite not only of the search committee but of orchestra musicians and the public. She is also the first woman to hold the orchestra’s top artistic post.

“I feel ecstatic,” Jackson said. “I really do. It’s often hard to sleep because I have so many ideas percolating in my head. Every piece I hear now, every piece I listen to, I think, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to do this.’ “

Young said the orchestra’s search committee found each of the five finalists impressive, but it was Jackson who made the biggest impression.

“Laura was the clear favorite because of her extraordinary ability to communicate and make music,” he said. “It’s been really fun to develop next season’s program and begin to learn how she likes to work. I think that her selections are terrific, and it will be a great season both for the orchestra and the audience.”

For her part, Jackson said she felt an immediate connection with Philharmonic musicians.

“Whenever you work with an orchestra, there’s always a chemistry element, and you never know what that’s going to be,” she said. “With this orchestra, I felt an immediate chemistry. I really, genuinely mean that. I sort of fell in love. I felt that they were very willing to play with their entire soul. They put everything they had into it.”

Jackson studied conducting at the University of Michigan, and she has guest conducted around the world. Her credits include performances with the Philippines Philharmonic Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Boca Raton Symphonia. In 2007, she completed a three-year appointment as assistant conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The Reno job is her only permanent appointment at this time.

Jackson lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., with her husband and children, but she said she plans to be in Reno frequently.

“It’s going to be a very, very workable balance,” she said. “I have always traveled, so this is not going to be any sort of a strain. … Basically, I feel like I’m going to be able to be out there (in Reno) enough to make it a home of mine and that I’m also going to be able to maintain a rich presence here with my family.”

Jackson said the Philharmonic is yet to finalize its 2009-2010 season, but she has been working on it and can make a few promises.

“I want to bring back some Mozart,” she said. “They haven’t done Mozart in a number of years, so they’re going to see some of that sprinkled in.”

Also, she said, her first concert as the orchestra’s music director will be an all-Gershwin program.

“I love doing Gershwin,” she said. “I’ve done a fair amount of it, and it’s just some of the best stuff.”

Jackson also said she plans on trying new things with the group’s annual pops concert, and she is working on a concert that will pair the orchestra’s professional players with children in the company’s youth orchestra.

Her overall musical vision, she said, incorporates a mix of great works from the past, forgotten classics and works by contemporary composers.

“I love the sorts of things they’ve been doing,” she said. “I want to bring in some composers that they haven’t seen much of. … I want to sprinkle that in here and there and make them part of the Reno Philharmonic canon.”

As for being the first woman to serve as music director, she said that’s an honor, but it isn’t her primary concern.

“Frankly, for me, it’s all about the responsibility of the music director,” she said. “I know whatever gender I happened to be, I would bring everything I have, everything I could summon, to the task of making it a really fabulous new era.”