Jos Delgado-Guevara is the first PGSO conductor to live in this city since Wallace Leung in 2002.
It used to be standard practice for the Prince George Symphony Orchestra director to live full-time in the same city as the symphony, but the practice stopped in order that the conductor of the day be located in a place that could offer other jobs. The PGSO can't afford to pay exclusive wages.
Delgado-Guevara, though, has other music positions in the city, so he doesn't need to be in Vancouver or Toronto to find augmentary jobs.
Saturday night is his first mainstage concert as the orchestra's conductor after years as the concertmaster (the principal violin player and official lead musician). He took over at the baton after the departure of Kevin Zakresky, the popular and appreciated former conductor who was born and raised in Prince George. However, Zakresky's career meant he had to live in the Lower Mainland. That was not in keeping with the board directive of the PGSO to focus on the local, in order to maximize operational efficiencies.
"The best part for me, so far, is the relationship with the musicians, as colleagues," he said. "We have the musicians to make this concert great. Erika Skowron will do a solo on the English horn that is going to melt you. I'm really looking forward to moments like that. I love being part of the orchestra in this new way."
It's just part of the new way of doing PGSO business. This year also has a new rehearsal schedule that Delgado-Guevara is already liking better than the old way.
"I can tell them 'here's the part you have to have worked up by next week' and it is in their hands. It isn't jammed into a flurry or rehearsals the last few days before the show," he said, describing the old way.
"The professional core of the orchestra, this is their profession, they are trained and prepared and totally capable of doing it the old way, but for the community players (who round out the orchestra ranks) it is a real imposition. It asks a lot of them."
Another new factor for Delgado-Guevara is having to look beyond his own part in the score.
Instead of having to know every last nuanced detail of the string section, he has to study the structure of all parts in the music and learn the psychology of the different orchestra sections. He relishes this challenge.
"I also have to go through a process to learn the skill of conducting," he said.
"I've used certain gestures expecting a reaction from the players and instead I got them looking at me like 'what the heck is that supposed to mean, what do you want us to do when you make your hand do that?' so I have to work on that," he said.
Delgado-Guevara was leading the proceedings at September's Pops In The Park concert, the official kickoff of the PGSO season each year, but Saturday will be his debut at Vanier Hall.
The concert is called Faur & Sibelius and Delgado-Guevara said it will contain elements of that lovely melancholy feeling when summer transitions to fall as is happening now. There will also sounds of celebration within these pieces. Bartok will also have a piece interjected with the namesake composers Faur and Sibelius.
"The late Romantic and early Modern periods join hands to honour the rich heritage of a simpler time, a simpler way of life: lively and wholesome, dignified and convivial," Delgado-Guevara said.
Showtime is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available now at Studio 2880 or at the door while supplies last.
Nov. 14 is the next concert in the PGSO's mainstage series. That concert is entitled The Mysterious Mountain.
