Maestro steps away from podium

“When I turned around to conduct the orchestra for the piece, they were all there and I was looking around and seeing all these familiar but haven’t seen in a while alumni faces,” Klein said. “It was really very touching and quite emotional.” 

Klein will be retiring from his role with the program; and although he is “handing off the baton, almost literally,” to incoming Maestro Brad Hogarth, Klein’s legacy will continue on. 

“He grew the incredible organization, so it’s not just one orchestra that we’re talking about, it’s a whole system of extracurricular music education in the community,” Hogarth said. “He’s left such a wonderful legacy of great performing but also the opportunity for students to really dive into their instruments and excel.”

The Peninsula Youth Orchestra was born out of a desire of Klein and Bay Area music educator Sara Salsbury to provide a youth program to increase music education in San Mateo County. Created with the hope of attracting varying levels of experience, the PYO program initially offered three tiers of proficiency and has since expanded to include more ensembles and a summer camp.

In the Bay Area — where there is an intense focus on post-graduation plans, careers and specifically the realm of science and technology — Klein said he felt there was an unmet need of providing students an opportunity to learn something beyond their possible career interest. 

“To be a well-rounded person who can have a full life and relate to other people and relate to society, you need to be able to connect with other cultures and with the inner workings of your emotions and the emotions of other people, and that’s what the arts are all about,” he said.

Though he estimates about 5% of his students pursued careers in music, he said PYO and other music education programs are essential in providing space for kids to experience a life outside of digits and screens. 

“I think part of the challenges of our era are that as a society, we get more and more narrowly focused and less able to relate to other people,” Klein said. “So, when I’m on stage, and I see 100 musicians digging in to express joy, fury, sweetness or melancholy all together, 100 focusing on that same musical expression, it’s a remarkable experience.” 

“To be a well-rounded person who can have a full life and relate to other people and relate to society, you need to be able to connect with other cultures and with the inner workings of your emotions and the emotions of other people, and that’s what the arts are all about.” 

In a further effort to expose students to other cultures, since 1999, the advanced level orchestra has toured around the world. From performing in Japan that first year to the upcoming June tour in Budapest, Vienna and Prague, Klein said the ability to bring his students to perform in iconic venues across the globe is a highlight. 

“One of the great things about a youth orchestra is the opportunity to take your show on the road,” Klein said. “Members of the orchestra have this fabulous, incredible experience of bonding together on airplanes and buses and walking tours, sound checks and concerts in various places all over the world.” 

Klein’s official last concert he conducts with PYO will be at the end of the upcoming tour — held at his favorite concert hall in the world, Dvorak Hall in Prague — and then Hogarth’s term will begin as he brings in the new season this fall. 

“It’s my hope that Brad Hogathor, my successor, and whoever succeeds him down the line, will take PYO in new directions that I wasn’t good at or couldn’t have imagined,” Klein said. “The world is changing and having a fresh view of what the possibilities are is really important to making PYO stay connected and relevant and vibrant in the future.” 

Hogarth said he is grateful to be able to come into a program already so well established by Klein and Salsbury. He looks forward to facilitating collaborations between PYO and other artists around the Peninsula of varying mediums. 

Though he has not selected exactly what repertoire he will teach for his first season, he does know he wants to conduct the Afro-American Symphony by William Grant Still, the first Black composer to have his work performed by a major symphony orchestra. 

“This piece in particular is sort of this way to bring some of blues and jazz and the music that the Black community were famous for and working on and bring that into a classical setting,” Hogarth said. “He wanted to create a marriage of the two. It’s a beautiful piece with lots of wonderful jazz idioms and it’s a really great one for the students to get an idea for how these genres can blend.” 

Emotions have been high as Klein prepares to step away from the podium, but he looks forward to seeing how the program grows and to continue promoting music education in the Peninsula.  

“These are magnificent, brilliant, wonderful, delightful young people,” Klein said. “I am lucky to, for almost three decades, have worked with the most amazing young people who are great to be around and supportive of each other. They are brilliant and deserve this program.”