AURORA | Traveling across state lines is a weekly fact of life for Norman Gamboa.
It’s not that the guy doesn’t want to set down roots in Colorado and, more specifically, Aurora. Gamboa made the city his official home last year after taking a job as the new music director of the Aurora Symphony Orchestra. Aurora appealed to Gamboa, a native of Costa Rica, for its diversity, culture and size. He sees the city as the perfect place to settle down.
“I love the area,” Gamboa said on the phone during one of his regular trips to Wyoming. “It’s huge. It’s spread out widely, so we’re trying to target the community as best as we can.”
That’s all the more challenging, considering that Gamboa has creative responsibilities outside of Colorado. In addition to his duties with the ASO, Gamboa leads ensembles in Gillette, Wyo., and Sonoma County, Calif. He also regularly works as a guest conductor for orchestras across the world, including an ensemble in Costa Rica.
Such a hectic travel schedule isn’t rare for a classical musician. Still, it makes for a busy pace of life for someone looking to lead a community orchestra in new directions.
“Of the three orchestras I currently conduct, the Aurora Symphony Orchestra is the one that meets every week for rehearsals,” Gamboa said, adding that the other orchestras run a block rehearsal schedule. “That allows me to piece together a travel schedule.”
That usually means carting between different cities and states and trying to find a tricky sense of balance. But as demanding as that effort can be, Gamboa is finding ways to make Aurora his home and the ASO his main focus. That is already having an impact on the makeup and mission of the community orchestra, from a more diverse menu of music to efforts to tap in to a new audience.
The ASO’s upcoming pops and children’s concerts, for example, represents a more focused approach to attracting the audience. The theme of the shows slated for Valentine’s Day weekend is spelled out in the title “Wondrous Machines.” The program includes the second movement of Beethoven’s eighth symphony, often referred to as “the metronome.” The second movement from Haydn’s Symphony 101 better known as “the clock” will be a part of the show, as will “The Typewriter” by American composer Leroy Anderson and Gian Carlo Meno’s comic opera “The Telephone.”
“We’re trying to make a melting pot of different kinds of repertoires that will attract people to the concerts,” Gamboa said. “We’re trying to embrace as many different styles as we can.”
That’s a big task for the members of the ASO, a volunteer organization that hardly boasts the same kind of budget and reach as the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. The ASO started in the 1970s as a group of casual musicians.
“Way back, when the orchestra began, it was much more of a social group,” said Sylvia Bowen, who’s been the orchestra’s principal flutist for 13 years. She also chaired the search committee that chose Gamboa over four other finalists from across the country. “Having an orchestra was a reason for people to get together and play some music.”
The quality and discipline of the orchestra improved under longtime music director Richard Niezen, Bowen said, and Gamboa is poised to continue that trend. It was one of the reasons that Bowen and the rest of the search committee saw Gamboa as the perfect fit.
The orchestra is a volunteer organization made up of musicians who play for the love of their craft. It’s an orchestra that plays in high school auditoriums, churches and other venues that are available. It’s an orchestra that functions on a small budget, an arts outfit that doesn’t benefit from any civic funding. Those elements are a shift from some of the other ensembles Gamboa has led in the past.
But he’s steadily getting used to the unique demands and dynamics of the ASO. Gamboa is there for every weekly Wednesday rehearsal, and he’s looking for ways to build a bigger network in his new home. Gamboa has been at the podium with his baton for the orchestra’s two shows of the 2013-14 season, and he’s working hard to get the word out about the ASO’s upcoming pops/children’s concert. He’s interested in finding new stages for the ensemble, and he’s determined to draw new audiences for the three remaining shows of the season.
“I want to reach out to the different parts of Aurora; I’m trying to find a venue that’s willing to work with our needs,” Gamboa said.
The Aurora Symphony Orchestra’s pops/children’s concerts
Will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 15 and 3 p.m. on Feb. 16 at Highpoint Church, 6450 S. Southlands Parkway in Aurora.
Tickets for the Feb. 15 concert are $15 general admission and $12 for seniors/students/military.
The performance on Feb. 16 is free.
Information: https://aurorasymphony.org.