AURORA | Richard Niezen saw firsthand how the power of music could help topple regimes and foment social change.
It was an early lesson for Niezen, who will conduct his final concert as the music director of the Aurora Symphony Orchestra this week. After studying double bass in his native Victoria, British Columbia, Niezen played in orchestras across the globe, including performances in Berlin as the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. He traveled to the Czech Republic in 1995 to study with Frantisek Vajnar, the Head of Conducting at the Prague Academy of Musical Arts, and worked firsthand with Czech musicians who had drawn inspiration from composers like Antonín Dvorák and Bedrich Smetana.
“I got to hear lots of stories about the Czech Republic, and amazing things were happening. I performed with a lot of Czech musicians during the Velvet Revolution … A lot of it was driven by music … It was an extraordinary time to be playing,” Niezen recalled. “It colored my future, my thoughts about what was possible in music and what music could accomplish.”
The lessons stayed with Niezen as he received his master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1995 and as he worked as a faculty member and guest conductor in the Cleveland area. They remained when he moved to Colorado in 2000 to study with Theodore Kuchar and got the job as the director of a fledgling orchestra in Aurora, a group that had started in 1979 as the 15-member Aurora Civic Orchestra.
The Aurora Symphony Orchestra was a community ensemble in its truest sense, a group of amateur musicians who played for the love of the craft and the art form. Though Niezen had studied under master conductors and played with professional ensembles across the world, he saw potential in the small community orchestra.
“For me, there’s always been the desire to perform great music and do it well,” Niezen said. “In the end, if the motivation is there, whether it’s a community orchestra or people are getting paid, it’s the same thing on a certain level. It’s nice that non-professional musicians get a chance to perform. I also feel it’s important for professional musicians get the opportunity to perform.”
For the past decade, Niezen has worked with a constant core of community members to make sure that balance stays strong in the Aurora community. Under Niezen’s leadership, the ensemble has tackled works that run the gamut from the most challenging works of Sergei Prokofiev and Carl Orff to Christmas celebrations featuring pop tunes by John Denver. His departure after the orchestra’s “Arts for a Better Tomorrow” concert slated for 7:30 p.m. on May 19 at the Gateway Center for the Performing Arts represents the end of an era for the ensemble, a decade that saw its repertoire and skill level grow by leaps and bounds.
“Nobody has done as much for the orchestra as he has. He really advanced the thinking of the group,” ASO President and Executive Director Rich Duston said, adding that upcoming performance of a Charles Ives piece reflects the orchestra’s progression in the past decade. “This orchestra wouldn’t have been able to do (Ives) a few years ago, it’s just so difficult. Richard has set a new standard.”
For his part, Niezen is hesitant to attach too much significance or pressure to a single show or performance, pointing instead to the importance of every performance since he took over as director.
“I tend to look at programming as being long-term,” Niezen said. “I’d like to say that every concert, in a way, is a highlight.”
Niezen said his departure has to do with the orchestra’s natural progression, with the changing state of the organization’s financing and the larger shifts in the national economy. After weathering the economic fallout of 2001 and the Great Recession of 2008, Niezen said it’s time for the orchestra to return to its roots.
“I think it’s much easier for the bigger, larger, longer-scale decisions to be made with new musical leadership,” Niezen said. “It was really a decision on my part to step aside and give the orchestra the chance to start where I started 11 years ago.”
Niezen will hold on to the lessons he’s gained from directing the organization for the past 11 years. He’s working on completing his Ph.D. in leadership, research and policy, a specialty that has strong ties to his work with the ASO.
“You learn to honor everybody as an individual,” Niezen said of his time as the orchestra’s director. “You have to look at everybody in the orchestra holistically, and be accepting of where they are … There’s a sense of empathy that becomes much more important.”
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707