“Being Jewish means making a difference in the world, so every child should have music,” says Barry Jekowsky, who started playing piano when he was 5.
Jekowsky, who conducts of the Walnut Creek-based California Symphony and the Reno Philharmonic, began his own career as a musician in childhood. He won a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music when he was 9, and at 14 was a percussionist for the Broadway production of “Man of La Mancha” that starred Richard Kiley. Two years later, he was a drummer in Tony Bennett’s orchestra.
Nurturing his talent in pop, jazz and classical, he also studied under legendary composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein, won the Leopold Stokowski Conducting Prize, and was the associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., from 1994-1998. In addition, he toured with jazz great Maynard Ferguson and subbed with the rock group The B52s.
But his most rewarding work is devoted to young people, a passion cultivated as part of his Jewish heritage.
“Giving back to my profession and helping to make the world a better place is very important to me,” says the 52-year-old conductor, who lives in Tiburon with his wife and their three children. “It’s part of our DNA and is what being Jewish is — having a heart for more than yourself.”
Aside from his responsibilities as musical director of two symphonies, Jekowsky is actively involved in the Davidson Institute of Talent Development, the only foundation in the world for profoundly gifted children. He also mentors scores of children in the California Symphony’s Young American Composer-in-Residence Program, which he says is the only one of its kind in the world.
“The composer’s program opens up the orchestra as a laboratory, and gives the young composer a comfortable environment in which to experiment,” says said Jekowsky, who grew up in Brooklyn and went to the symphony and theater with his paternal grandmother.
He noted that two of the last three grand prize winners in a composing contest that attracts 1,500 applicants, and is run by such musical authorities as Gramophone magazine and the London Symphony Orchestra, have been from the California Symphony’s Young Composer’s Program.
Because of guidance he received from Bernstein and conductor, James Wimer, Jekowsky says mentoring is important to him. Wimer committed one full day a week for several years, charging $15 a session, in what Jekowsky describes as “musical tzedakah.”
“Bernstein’s Jewishness gave him his musical heart and soul because Jews understand that art is another part of our search for enlightenment and spirituality,” said Jekowsky, who also conducted the musical score for George Lucas’ blockbuster “The Return of the Jedi.” “And Wimer was my musical model and helped me see that giving back for the satisfaction of doing it, not having everything for yourself, is so important.”
But Jekowsky cautioned today’s parents, who are often driven by their own notions of success, to ease up on their musically inclined children.
“Too many parents do a great disservice if they expect their kids to be a prodigious talent like Mozart,” said Jekowsky, whose Reno Philharmonic recently performed an all-Jewish program — Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and Bernstein’s score from the movie “On the Waterfront.” “The more achievement kids have, the more they’ll want to do it. People lose sight of the fact that music should be fun.”
Music has always been fun for Jekowsky. “Music is a passion and it’s all I ever wanted to do. I can’t imagine my life without music,” he said. “I cannot explain what it’s like to conduct, say, a Mahler symphony and have 100 people creating the voice that’s in my heart. It’s the ultimate in communication. And it’s not an ego thing; it’s like a meditation and more.”
Classical music’s ability to soothe is even more vital, Jekowsky reasoned, in these turbulent times. “I am very cognizant that a concert, with everything going on in the world today, is a refuge,” he said. “It’s not just entertainment anymore. Music can fill a void like nothing else can.”
Ultimately, Jekowsky is grateful for a supportive family that understands why he travels so much and spends many days in meetings with marketing directors, advertising agencies, graphic artists, publishers, editors, writers, and potential large donors, as well as rehearsing with various symphonies, orchestras and philharmonics.
Amid all his business and musical responsibilities, Jekowsky also makes time to take his two sons to Giants games, and recently scored points as a hip father and maestro when he conducted the soundtrack for Sony Interactive’s brand new video game, “Grand Turismo 4.”