The San José Chamber Orchestra is celebrating Barbara Day Turner, who founded and led the orchestra for 35 seasons, with a season-opening tribute concert on Sept. 27. She retired as music director and conductor, but remains the organization’s artistic director.
The event, titled “Brava, Maestra!” with a program typical of Turner’s adventurousness, is led by SJCO’s new music director, Liana Bérubé, in San José’s St. Francis Episcopal Church. The program includes works by Jeremy Cohen, Marc-Oliver Dupin, Steven Mark Kohn, Max Wolpert, and Michael Touchi.
Turner, who also participated in numerous South Bay ensembles, has commissioned and/or premiered more than 260 new works, produced seven CDs of American music, and has accepted five ASCAP/League of American Orchestras Adventurous Programming Awards.
She told SF Classical Music: “I have been fortunate and grateful to spend my formative years in music, enjoying the opportunity to conduct operas, musicals, orchestral, and choral works.
“I recognized a clear need to create opportunities for the exceptionally talented musicians I knew in the Bay Area, as well as to build an orchestra that could bring diverse music to the enthusiastic audience that has supported us from the beginning.
“This became my life's work, shared with my colleague and partner, Daniel Helfgot, whose unique knowledge of music, theater, history, and languages has been invaluable.
“It is wonderful to see that initial vision grow into today's ensemble of musicians who share a deep love for creating art together. I am continuously inspired by the support of our audiences and community, as well as the success that encourages us to look forward to the next 35 years and beyond.”
Turner also served as music administrator and resident conductor of Utah Festival Opera for 15 seasons, leading performances of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa, Puccini’s La bohème, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Verdi’s Otello, and other operas and musicals.
While conducting Opera San José, she led the premieres of Henry Mollicone’s Hotel Eden, Alva Henderson’s West of Washington Square, Craig Bohmler and Daniel Helfgot’s The Tale of the Nutcracker, and George Roumanis’ Phaedra in addition to the standard repertoire.
Turner conducted in Berlin and Mexico (Orquesta Sinfónica de Aguascalientes), as well as at various U.S. venues. Turner’s discography includes five recordings with SJCO, the PBS award-winning DVD of George Roumanis’s Phaedra, the Naxos release of Alva Henderson’s opera Nosferatu (world premiere), and works by Howard Hersh titled Angels and Watermarks.
Turner has been a frequent adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and an annual judge for the Irving M. Klein International String Competition, in addition to serving on the advisory boards of Opera NEO, the Delphi Trio, and the National Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy group.
