“When you’re the Music Director of a symphony orchestra, the job doesn’t consist merely of a few rehearsals followed by a 2-hour concert once a month,” writes Randy Stewart on the website of KSMU, Ozarks Public Radio. “And when you’re employed by two orchestras, multiply the workload by at least a factor of two… and that’s not including travel time. Kyle Wiley Pickett is Music Director of both the Springfield Symphony and the Topeka Symphony orchestras. Both organizations present in the neighborhood of ten or so concerts each season. But Kyle doesn’t just conduct: he’s the public face of the organizations … And things are especially busy around the holidays. When I shadowed Kyle Picket for a day, it was the Thursday before the Springfield Symphony’s Christmas pops concert—and thus a fairly typical ‘Day in the Life.’ As the day progresses he will fulfill all three aspects of the job: conductor, administrator and ‘public face.’ ” The article follows Pickett through his day in a broad range of activities, including preparations for rehearsals, meetings, a conversation with Operations Manager Ned Horner, who is also the Springfield Symphony Assistant Principal Viola, preconcert talks for the public, and rehearsal and performance for a “Christmas Around the World” concert. Audio of the report can be heard at the station’s website.
Posted December 22, 2014
