Meet Wes Kenney | Music Director and Conductor, Fort Collins Symphony

We had the good fortune of connecting with Wes Kenney and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Wes, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
As an orchestral conductor, the public part (on the podium in front of the audience) is a very small part of the job. The planning and preparation are years in the making. There is a set protocol for auditioning members into a professional orchestra. There are programs to plan (often 3-5 years in advance.) There are budgets, rehearsal schedules, instrumentation that impact the number of players to consider. And of course the preparation of the pieces chosen both from studying the scores and rehearsing the ensemble. All of this takes place before we take the stage.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a conductor you learn that you have control over the sound of your ensemble, but you actually make no sound. It is empathic communication and it is a long road to discover what gestures are effective in communicating to your ensemble balances, character, tempo, phrases, and other parameters that helps create a composer’s intentions.

When asked the question, “What does it take to be a conductor?” there simply is no one answer. My road to becoming the Music Director of the Fort Collins Symphony for 21 seasons was no different in its path than any other musician who wants to direct an orchestra. In other words, it was my own journey and unique to me. It required perseverance for the disappointments are many and at times it is easy to want to quit. Excellent skills, talent, and knowledge are certainly required, but there is also an element of luck or being in the right place at the right time. As an example, I won “Musical Director of the Year” from Los Angeles Weekly Magazine while still in college for a production of No, No, Nanette I conducted. Getting to do that production was the providence of standing in a school office when a phone call came in looking for someone to do the musical direction. Sure I had to be able to effectively conduct the show, but it would not have happened without being in that office at that moment!

My musical studies began with the trombone in elementary school in Los Angeles. I played in my elementary school orchestra. While in middle school I began to take notice of the person on the podium and what they were doing. During a summer of an honors program in the San Fernando Valley I was given a chance to conduct the band on a piece we had just performed. The experience was exhilarating! While at a music camp, David Whitwell, the Director of Bands at Cal State Northridge took me under his wing and showed me a few things. In High School as my musician ship grew I was given other opportunities to conduct ensembles that I played in. Included in those experiences were more and more advanced ensembles. In playing with the Santa Monica Symphony–a semi-professional orchestra–I was exposed to top level orchestra repertoire by Beethoven, Brahms, Copland, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and more. At one point my father asked me, “are you going to be a professional musician?” Not having really thought about it as a career, I responded yes, and have never looked back.

After graduating High School, I left for Vienna to study at Die Hochschule for Musik and Dartstellende Kunst. Here I was given an exposure to a city that had orchestra concerts and opera almost every night of the week. I once went to the Vienna State Opera 17 nights in a row and never saw the same thing twice! The exposure to that level of music making and level of artistry had a profound impact on my young life. It made me all the more determined to want to succeed as a conductor.

After traveling around Europe I returned to the U.S. to attend the University of Southern California as a music history major, graduating summa cum laud. During that time I landed positions as a youth orchestra conductor and a position of Director of Music at a Presbyterian Church in the San Fernando Valley. At the Conductors Institute in South Carolina I met my wife who was a professional violinist in the Alabama Symphony. She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area for a position with the Marin Symphony and I moved north to attain my Masters Degree in Conducting from San Francisco State University. While there I became the Music Director of the Oakland Youth Orchestra, a world touring ensemble. The orchestra went to Europe in 1993 and Mainland China and Taiwan in 1995.

All along the way I continued to apply for professional orchestra positions. In fact, I had a very thick file of rejection letters! However it was winning the Carmen Dragon Prize for the best conductor in the California State University system that sent me on a professional orchestra career path. JoAnn Falletta was the adjudicator as the Music Director of the Long Beach Symphony, but also the Music Director of the Virginia Symphony–a full time professional orchestra. The Associate Conductor position had come open and I let Maestro Falletta that I had applied. I got the position and we relocated to Norfolk, VA. Over seven seasons I conducted around 350 concerts. And that rejection file? I burned it in my fireplace upon officially starting my new job!

During that time I also became the orchestra director at the College of William and Mary. The combination of both college and professional experience made me a perfect fit for becoming the Music Director of the Fort Collins Symphony and Director of Orchestras a Colorado State University. I retired after 20 years at CSU, but now have completed 21 seasons with the FCS. Through the economic downturn in 2008 and Covid in 2020-2021, the FCS has continued to thrive so that we now are performing to sold out houses. Along this journey has been work with the Denver Young Artist Orchestra as Music Director for 10 Seasons, and Opera Fort Collins for over a decade.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
About 12 years ago I began an “only in Colorado” adventure called the Colorado 36. Start at Loveland Ski Area at the Continental Divide as the lifts open and take 18 runs. Then down the mountain to the closest open golf course (usually Fossil Trace in Golden) for 18 holes of golf. Add 18 ounces of Colorado Beer and you have a great day! Perhaps staying in one of the mountain towns to bag a 14’er or two. Head down south to ride the Royal Gorge railway.

You could make it a week just playing Jim Engh designed courses such as the aforementioned Fossil Trace (with the old steam shovels and iron fireplace ON the course.) Or Harmony Club near Fort Collins. The Golf Club at Redlands Mesa out in Grand Junction feels like your playing IN the Colorado Monument.

Then the Arts. Or course I’d have them attend the Fort Collins Symphony (who will play with Ben Folds at the Gardens on Spring Creek this August). We love walking through many of the Denver Museums with the many travelling exhibitions. While there we could take in a Rockies game at Coors Field which is beautiful no matter who wins! The Fort Collins Symphony has also played the National Anthem at a Denver Broncos Game.

Eating along the way would involve anything from the many great Denver Restaurants–Tamayo or Cholon for dinner; Syrup and Sam’s No. 3 for breakfast. Up in Fort Collins Avery’s for lunch and Bistro Nautille for dinner. Chimney Park Bistro in Windsor would be a great celebration place for the week.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The board, staff and musicians of the Fort Collins Symphony Association

Website: https://www.fcsymphony.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/FortCollinsSymphony

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FortCollinsSymphony

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FortCollinsSymphony

Other: Open Notes Podcast
https://opennotespodcast.buzzsprout.com/