KCO

How and where did your musical journey start?

What was the moment when you knew you wanted to progress and felt you could go further?

How did you become the soloist with the Kirkland Civic Orchestra?

What are you looking forward to in your non-musical life or musical life after this concert?

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KCO: How and where did your musical journey start?

Isabella Jie: Well, I started learning piano when I was 3, so a long time ago. Probably like many kids out there, my parents wanted me to do piano lessons. It was actually my mom’s dream to be a pianist. But unfortunately, she wasn’t able to pursue that herself due to her circumstances growing up. When she had me, she was very determined that I was going to be a pianist, right from the start.

KCO: And where was this taking place?

Isabella Jie: This was in my hometown in Medan, Indonesia. Back then, we didn’t have internet, or convenient access to good and wide range of music. A lot of what I learned came from laserdisc recordings that my dad would bring back from business trips to Singapore. He would often ask people at the store for recommendations on which pianists to listen to. That was really my only window to the outside music world because music education in my hometown was very limited back then.

KCO: Was your mother your teacher?

Isabella Jie: No. Well, she tried to be, because she has a great ear, but she doesn’t actually play the piano. She would listen to recordings of great pianists all the time, so she had a very clear idea of what she wanted me to achieve. A big part of my early study was really just listening. But I wasn’t always able to translate what I was hearing into how to actually play it physically.

KCO: You were just doing it however you could? No teacher?

Isabella Jie: I was playing with a lot of tension and improper technique. It was difficult, for sure.

I did study with teachers, but because the musical resources in my hometown were quite limited at the time, it was challenging to find guidance that matched the level I was working toward.

KCO: Did you ever play anything else?

Isabella Jie: No! Just piano and ear training, lots of just practicing and listening.

KCO: What was the moment when you knew you wanted to progress and felt you could go further?

Isabella Jie: I think I have a somewhat unusual story, because I was never really given the choice to do anything else as piano was just always the path. So I followed it and did all sorts of competitions, gave solo recitals at a very young age, and eventually studied piano performance in college. But for a long time, I wasn’t actually in love with music. It felt more like a responsibility than something I enjoyed.

Even in college and during my master’s, I struggled with that. I had moments where I really questioned what I was doing, especially when I compared myself to people who had a much more solid technical foundation. My college teacher really tried to help me, and I’m grateful for that, but I think there was too much internal resistance back then. I also kept hearing from teachers that I had potential, but that there was always some kind of mental block in the way.

Things started to change a little bit towards the end of college, mostly because of friendships. I guess, sometimes just having more open, honest conversations about music can make it feel less intense and more fun.

But the real change happened when I went to the University of Minnesota and started studying with Alexander Braginsky. He immediately saw both the potential and the block when I finished playing my audition, did not waste a second to tell me that he really wanted to work through it all with me.

Around a year after I moved to Minnesota, I met my future husband, Jay, who was doing his doctorate program in guitar performance. We talked a lot about music, and that had a big impact on me. For the first time, I actually wanted to engage with music differently. I started asking more questions about my playing—why things worked, why they didn’t—and really digging into my technique. That was probably the first time I felt like I was choosing this path for myself, and that I could actually move forward because I wanted to.

KCO: When you’re still in that part of the relationship, those conversations can be so intense. You can talk about anything.

Isabella Jie: Exactly, yes.

KCO: You start in Indonesia, then you’re at the University of Minnesota. What happened in between?

Isabella Jie: I left Indonesia when I was 14 and went to Canada for high school. I actually skipped a year because I tested out of a few grades, so I was quite young when I eventually started college. I spent two years doing high school, then went to the University of Toronto for my undergraduate degree.

After that, I went to Indiana University for my Master’s and Performer’s Diploma, where I had a full scholarship and assistantship, and I was there for three years.

Then I moved to Minnesota. For a long time, the plan was very straightforward, ever since my parents set me on this path, my goal was to finish a doctorate and then go back to Indonesia to teach. Given the musical environment there, that would have been a very stable and clear career path for me. That was the plan for many years… until I met my husband.

<laughter>

KCO: And then you somehow arrived in the Pacific Northwest.

Isabella Jie: That was because my husband decided to change careers after he graduated. He now works at a commercial cabinet company in Olympia. So, we moved here.

KCO: When you were in Canada, were you in the Toronto area?

Isabella Jie: Yes, I was in Toronto.

KCO: How did you become the soloist with the Kirkland Civic Orchestra?

Isabella Jie: I actually was recommended. Lots of connections are being drawn here, but it all started after I recorded a piano solo album of works by Bruce Stark in March last year. His music is very jazz-inspired, almost a mix of jazz and classical, which really suits my style of playing.

My director at the University of Puget Sound, Tracy Doyle, heard the recording, and she and her husband, James Doyle, really liked it. Then I received an email from James Welsh, who is one of the conductor candidates, saying that James Doyle had recommended me as a soloist for Rhapsody in Blue on his program.

That’s essentially how it happened. Rhapsody in Blue has actually been on my bucket list for a long time, so I was very excited to say yes to the opportunity!

KCO: It’s a fun piece. Everybody likes it. Sometimes the hardest thing is getting the orchestra to be jazzier. It’s not always everyone’s comfort zone.

Isabella Jie: Yes, definitely. This is going to push everybody’s comfort zone, like you said.

KCO: But it sounds like it’s right in your comfort zone.

Isabella Jie: Yes, I really love it! I didn’t even realize it at first. When I recorded the Bruce Stark album, it was just a joy. I had so much fun playing it. It’s very virtuosic and challenging, but I really enjoy that mix of jazz and classical.

Bruce Stark was actually looking for a pianist to record his piano works, which is very specific in that style. I didn’t know him at all at the time, but he came across one of my videos on YouTube which I didn’t even post myself. And he emailed me, and he said something along the lines of hey, I saw this video of yours on YouTube, like, 10 years ago, and I think you’re perfect for my work, can we meet? That was how I was introduced to this style of music

<laughter>

KCO: Well, I look forward to playing the Rhapsody.

KCO: What are you looking forward to in your non-musical life or musical life after this concert?

<more laughter>

Isabella Jie: It’s funny because everything in my life is all music, you know? But outside of that, I really enjoy simple things. I love board games, going out with friends, trying new restaurants, and just exploring different parts of a city. I also enjoy cooking and food in general.

It can be hard to make time for those things during the school year, when everything is very packed. But in the summer, I try to slow down a bit—do some gardening, or just explore all the things I love. I really enjoy that balance.

In terms of musical life, I would say I also really love teaching. It never really feels like work to me. Even with my students, I often say it feels more like something fun than a job.

KCO: I know what you mean. You get the opportunity to really engage with somebody. Time disappears.

Isabella Jie: Yes, being engaging and having an inquisitive conversation is really nice. With teaching, I feel like I actually improve as a musician myself. A lot of things in my playing became clearer once I started teaching, because you begin noticing things differently. I’ll find myself thinking, how would I explain this to a student? How do I fix this in a way a 10-year-old could understand? And in doing that, I have to really understand it myself.

At the university, I feel very much part of a growing musical community. It’s really rewarding to see how much students develop over four years. It keeps things feeling fresh for me as well.

I feel very lucky that all of my work, whether at the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma Community College, or with my private piano students, gives me space for exactly these kinds of conversations. It all feels connected in that way. It’s really what I love doing.

KCO: That’s awesome. I really appreciate your time.

Thanks to Isabella for the interview on April 27, 2026.

by Francis X. Langlois – tuba player in the KCO

KCO: How and where did your musical journey start?

KCO: How did you transition to conducting?

KCO: How did you get to Tacoma?

KCO: How did you arrive at this program?

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KCO: How and where did your musical journey start?

James Welsch:  I suppose, like a lot of musicians it probably started pretty early and didn’t necessarily follow a straight line. I’m sure there are people who find themselves picking one thing and sticking to it. My first interaction with music came in elementary school. I had a lovely elementary music teacher with the last name “Key” which seemed appropriate. She was a one-woman band impresario – a young teacher who wanted to do it all. She started with a choral group. We were called the Choraliers. That’s where I began as a young vocalist.

Then she started an elementary marching band, called The Minutemen. She put instruments in our hands and said, “you’re going to play this.” When I was going through this process with her, I had an affinity for the trombone. I don’t know why. Miss Key wouldn’t allow me to play it because my arms were too short. I thought, well, you’re going to run into the same problems with the rest of us, but she ended up giving me a trumpet and that’s what I started with.

That’s essentially how I began my fascination with music. There was a lot of it going on around me, not just in elementary school. My father is an amateur musician. He wrote a lot of his own songs and would hear him singing in the household.

Being surrounded by music growing up, I think what hooked me wasn’t just the sound but maybe the experience of it. I had fond experiences doing music. The way music brings people together was certainly something that created a bigger sense of not just self, but what we are able to accomplish with others.

I started performing as a young person, exploring different instruments and ensembles and always kept in touch with vocal music. But over time I found myself less focused on just my individual part and more fascinated with how things fit together. I was listening across lots of music genres.

One of my grandmother’s favorite stories: we ended up in Pick and Save, a store that doesn’t exist anymore. There were bargain bin collections of cassettes, such as the complete symphonies of Tchaikovsky, Bach’s complete organ works and Brandenburg concertos, and all that sort of stuff. I remember, as a 6- or 7-year-old, walking over to one of those bins, picking one out, and being enraptured by it. I said to my father, “Can I have this? I really want this.”

He said, “Do you even know what this is?”

And I said, “oh yes, it’s just fabulous music.” I wore those things out. That’s essentially it. It was me, a radio, recording radio broadcasts, and listening to everything! Then, just being amazed at how people could put those things together.

KCO: Where were you and Miss Key in the world at this time?

James Welsch: I was in Florida, in little suburb of Orlando called Longwood, in Kindergarten at Longwood Elementary.

I suppose that’s partially why I still do what I do. I don’t know if it’s a sense of giving back or whatnot, but everything is much better when you can do it communally. I’m unabashedly a “keep-to-myself” kind of person except for music, being with other musicians, and discovering things together.

It seems like duality. I guess I have that aspect of being a performer, a conductor, that sort of thing. The other insular aspect of it would be my background in composition. That’s very much “to yourself.” I feel like I’m in a vacuum often, but I have foot in each camp.

But I owe it all to Alice Key who really gave me a voracious appetite to know music in whatever way I wanted it.

KCO: How did you transition to conducting?

James Welsch: I don’t know if it’s particularly unique, but I spent a lot of my lunches in the band room like a lot of band kids did. Except I would remove myself maybe further and go and spend time in the library of the band room. I would open these scores and look at them. I could see my part. I can see other people’s parts, who were playing the same part as me. They didn’t have the same pitches as I did. That sort opened up questions such as why? Why are they in a different key from me.

And so that really began a different road. For me, all of that creation, re-creating other people’s music. I grew an interest in writing my own. So, all the way through middle school and high school, I wrote lots of music, some were successful, and some were not so successful.

I had interests and designs in going into music education, so I started there. But I also had been recruited at Stetson University (in FL) for music theory and composition. I went for dual purposes but ended up settling on theory and composition.

I wrote music while I was there. As any composer could tell you, when you write for more than two or three people, it becomes instantly complicated because you now need to have discussions about when we are all going to meet to rehearse? And if you’ve written an orchestra piece, who’s going to conduct it?

I found myself conducting my own work and that didn’t go so terribly. All my other composer friends started to ask me to conduct their work, too.

I still am a composer. I just do it less, and more on a need basis. I don’t have to pay my bills with composition, which is great. It’s amazing to find out that is what replaced composition, being a conductor.

I had ideas not just about my own music, but I also had ideas about other people’s music. I wondered how I could take all of these various voices, interests, personalities, good and bad days, and somehow, spin something more coherent and interesting out of it.

How could I help others understand music that might not be immediately understandable, or very complex and compounded? It became more of a mental exercise that seemed more rewarding.

I eventually made the switch from composition and went into a master’s program in orchestral conducting. I decided that conducting was worth doing. It was the technical language of music. It was the score study, gestures and rehearsal techniques, and learning by doing. I wasn’t just writing the music.

Also, how do we get the music to mean something? Working with ensembles, making mistakes, refining my ideas, and constantly asking, how can I help musicians do their best work?

KCO: After Stetson, where do you go?

James Welsch: I ended up at Syracuse University, in 2005, to get my masters in orchestral conducting. I finished that degree in two years. One of my friends, Diego Vega, was a professor at Syracuse. He was in the US teaching on a visa from Colombia (Diego Vega now teaches at UNLV). Diego needed to go back to Colombia. I was approached by Andy Wagner, who was the chair of the composition department at the time and asked, “hey, you’re pretty good at this theory stuff. Do you want to fill in for a year as an assistant professor of theory and composition?”

I said, “add conducting to it and I’m down for it.” I ended up staying at Syracuse for about six years as a faculty member and then had to make some decisions. Was I going to go into the Air Force bands, or was I going to pursue my doctorate finally? I ended up at UT Austin, as a result, to get my DMA in orchestral conducting.

KCO: Were you a trumpet player throughout that time?

James Welsch: I still am a trumpet player, but back as early as Stetson, they were really having a hard time recruiting specific instruments. So, I entered as a trumpet player and played trumpet in ensembles, but they really needed French horn players. The mechanics of both of those instruments are similar so that was an easier switch. I took up the horn, and then eventually also got some time with clarinet and viola through my education.

Right now, if people ask what are you playing most? I would say I play the horn most often but can manage through some other instruments as well.

KCO: How did you get to Tacoma?

James Welsch: I finished my degree in Austin in 2016. I had applied to everything available and got no nibble and so I thought, I guess I’ll just work at a chicken wing shop until something happens.

I found a job posting for the El Paso Symphony. They were posting late for general manager and music director of their youth orchestras. I put in an application. The next week, I got a call and went out to do the audition. I was appointed as music director and general manager of the El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestras, and an assistant conductor with El Paso Symphony Orchestra. I spent 2016 to 2021 in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.

I moved back to Florida to take on the music directorship of the youth orchestra I was a member of in high school, the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra. I did that for a few years.

Then this opportunity came up in Tacoma, and I’ve always wanted to live there, but never had excuse to move across the country. I made a leap of faith and came out this way.

KCO: How did you arrive at this program?

March with Trumpets – Bergsma
Charleston for Orchestra – Johnson
Song of the Liberty Bell – O’Connor
Rhapsody in Blue – Gershwin Soloist: Isabella Jie, piano
Symphony No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 21, “Nordic” – Hanson
Satchmo! A Tribute to Louis Armstrong – Ricketts

James Welsch: Like music, programs are living breathing organisms, like the orchestras playing them. When I first learned that I would be a candidate, I started going through all my books of programs. I have a list of things that would be a neat idea to try. When I’m pondering what to play on a program, I usually have more of a penchant, if I’m honest, to select things that I’m not familiar with, or things that would challenge me. We all know the greats and those are wonderful. But there’s an awful lot of music that we don’t know. I must admit, up front, most of my program selections are more of a challenge because fewer people might know them. But they’re worth knowing.

When I was pondering what we should do, I took note that we’re celebrating a certain milestone in the country. I was venturing a guess that my other colleagues might not select an American oriented program. But I’m not really interested in The Stars and Stripes Forever, Hurrah! But maybe, a more subtle patriotism and acknowledgement of the many different voices that make up our country and its history.

So, when ruminating on a general idea, I remembered a song from my early 20s, when somebody says along the lines, “oh, he’s just a 20-something, he may be doing a lot, but he’s a twenty something.” That sentiment invites thoughts about the sense that 20-year-olds might have about being able to do it all, can achieve anything. I look at America a little like that. Maybe we’ve lost our sense of what is possible, but that’s really the hitch of the of the title itself: An American 20-something.

Over time, that developed into specifically picking pieces that really are rooted in a very specific time period in America. So American twenty-something has this dual meaning: the impetuousness of youth, but also a specific period of American music where a nation is finding its voice and will continue to try to do so.

It’s about moment, or an era of American music coming into its own, the 1920s, an incredible collision of energy, identity, and experimentation. I think you can hear that in the spirit of each of the pieces on this program: The boldness of Bergsma; the identity of the Charlestown itself, being the sound of a decade; lyricism of a fiddle tune; and an American composer who’s well known for his second Symphony, but this first one, is an homage to his own Swedish background and finding that neo-romantic, American feel; and Gershwin, of course, which I feel is as much the heartbeat of the whole program as it is maybe of a country. It’s Jazz, and it seems classical in moments. It’s expansive, and it’s like America figuring itself out in real time.

It’s more of an expose of what some of America looked like, what is your vision? And what is your understanding of America’s voice? I thought it would be interesting to hear as well as play.

KCO: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us about everything.

Thanks to James for the interview on April 6, 2026.

by Francis X. Langlois – tuba player in the KCO

KCO: Where did your musical journey begin?

KCO: What led to your being a conductor?

KCO: When did you move to this area?

KCO: What do you want to say about the March program?

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KCO: Where did your musical journey begin?

Tigran Arakelyan: I was born in Armenia, and, started music in Armenia, when I was 9 years old. My parents both played music, not professionally, but they both played music. My grandmother was a music teacher.

My music started because I was experiencing a chronic breathing issue, and a lot of coughing. My parents didn’t really know what was going on. I guess asthma or whatever it might be. I went to many places, including Yevpatoria, which is in Crimea and Ukraine. There was a children’s clinic there that incorporated Western and Eastern medicine and tried to find alternative ways to help kids with all kinds of different health-related concerns.

I tried all kinds of things when we were back in Armenia. My parents were trying to get some other advice, and one of the homeopathic doctors suggested I should do some kind of wind instrument, because it’ll be helpful with lungs and breathing.

The person suggested Zurna, which is this double reed instrument. It’s a folk instrument. It’s very loud, and my parents said absolutely not. We do not want that in the house!

So, my parents picked the flute for me. That’s how I started. I played for a couple of years in Armenia, then moved to LA when I was 11. I continued playing in the 6th grade band. So yeah, that’s where the music journey started.

KCO: It was more like physiotherapy than music?

Tigran Arakelyan: Basically, yes.

KCO: Did you enjoy it?

Tigran Arakelyan: Yes, right away. If I didn’t feel motivated enough, my mom would just sit down and say, “play for me, I want to hear what your progress is, and what you’re learning.” She was consistent that way, so that was very helpful.

Before finding other community places to be a part of, we found this Armenian music school, which was open to anyone. It was run by Armenians and Lark Musical Society. I went there.

I started there when I was maybe 12 or 13 years old. It was a year or so after we moved to the LA area. I learned a lot. It was very similar to my previous experience where you take very affordable private lessons. You have Chamber music on Saturdays. You have music theory and history classes. I met so many friends there, people that I really enjoyed being around. It was a great program.

KCO: What led to your being a conductor?

KCO: You had first to pursue a music education beyond the public school. Later, it must reach a point where you think, “I’m going be a conductor.”

Tigran Arakelyan: It was a lot of different things. First, I was mostly in the classical world, and studying music, primarily with people who had a classical music background. I really was fortunate to have a teacher, Laura Osborn, at this Armenian music school. She went to USC for classical flute, I think. She then went to New England Conservatory for some improvisation program. She was interested in all kinds of genres, not just classical music.

My parents always listened to all kinds of different music, so I was also interested in jazz and other genres. Studying with Laura, I would always go with questions. I found this jazz flute player, Herbie Mann, or Hubert Laws or other. I asked about Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull. I would find music, and she’d say “oh, it’s great you found this!”

I found Nestor Torres, this Latin jazz flute player. I would find these recordings and be fascinated by them. She was fantastic. I was able to work on projects that she wanted to work on, but she was also fantastic about what I would find. She would say, “oh, that’s great. You should listen and see if you could transcribe it. Or, listen and see if you can play it by ear.” She was encouraging and that led me to be interested in all kinds of different genres.

When I was finishing high school, I just didn’t know if I even wanted to be a flutist. I didn’t know if I wanted to have a career playing in an orchestra or even being a classical flutist. I really wanted to do all kinds of other genres, and so I did that for a bit.

I did 5 years in college for my undergrad. When I was 22, one of my friends suggested that I take a conducting class. He said something like, “You conduct, you learn a little bit, and you play. Everyone plays, and everyone conducts. It’s easy. You should take it.”

I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know conducting. But I did take it, and it was really cool. I was actually fascinated by conducting, and that’s where it took off.

I started my first orchestra, and there’s still a Seattle Weekly review of our first concert. We played at a bar, and we played in other places. But it’s kind of funny, because it was my first concert ever, and I put this orchestra together. The concert was reviewed in the Seattle Weekly. The program was Beethoven’s First symphony, Paul Hindemith – Kammermusik Nr. 1, and this piece by Arshak Andriasov, an Armenian-American composer who lives in New York. The piece is called Torch 1. The concert was great. That’s where my conducting career took off.

KCO: Wow! That’s a very diverse program.

KCO: When did you move to this area?

Tigran Arakelyan: When I graduated high school, I came up here because I was interested in all kinds of different genres, and so I was looking for a program that fits that interest.

I went to Cornish for a year, and I just really didn’t like the program as much as I hoped. As open as it was, it’s not something I found interesting. I wanted some more structure than I was getting, and missing, in some ways, the orchestral playing, which I didn’t get at Cornish. I did that for a year in 2005.

Then I went back to LA and went to Cal State Long Beach, which has a good program for music, and it continues to be good. I got into that program when I was applying to colleges to study with Dr. John Barcellona. He was a really great teacher to have the opportunity to study with, so I did that for a few years. This is when I expanded to being 5 years in college, because I did a couple of years at Cal State Long Beach.

Then I went back to Cornish to finish things up and start conducting again. So, it was like, Long Beach with, Cornish on either side.

I went back to California after I was done and did my master’s. Then, in 2013, I was invited by Ludovic Morlot to do the doctoral program at the University of Washington. That’s when I came back to Washington.

My time in Seattle has been spread over three different times: One year, when I first started undergrad, the final year of undergrad, and then doctoral degree at UW in 2013. I’ve been here since 2013.

KCO: What do you want to say about the March program?

• Hebrides Overture – Mendelssohn
• Prelude from Hansel and Gretel – Humperdinck
• Afternoon of a Faun – Debussy
• Capriccio Espagnol – Rimsky-Korsakov
• Capriccio Italien – Tchaikovsky

Tigran Arakelyan: It’s entitled “Escapades,” so it’s like an adventure. I don’t always like to do themes, but I wanted to have a bit of a theme this time. I don’t have to dive too deep into history, but the Mendelssohn — The Hebrides Overture is the only piece I ever conducted from memory, which I did for my master’s. It’s about Fingal’s Cave, exploring Scotland.

Hansel and Gretel, that’s very interesting, because I play a lot of music for my kids at home. Sometimes, it is just kind of in the background, they might not pay attention, but sometimes they might make a remark, “wow, this is cool.” I played the whole Escapades program for them, and Hansel and Gretel is the one they connected with. And it’s not surprising, because I think Humperdinck does a great job. It is a fairy tale, it is meant for kids. So, in some ways, it’s kind of funny that they enjoyed listening to that, as opposed to any of the other pieces. Maybe it says a lot about the composer, of how he was able to turn this fairy tale into music that is interesting for kids.

KCO: The Capriccios are super fun, I think.

Tigran Arakelyan: Those are great. I’ve programmed those together at one point with a different orchestra. It’s like these Russian composers exploring music of Spain and Italy. It’s cool to do that. Also, the other thing I wanted to say about the program overall, is that it’s really like a concerto for orchestra if you look at the whole program. Many of the players get some important moments.

And then the Debussy, it’s the first piece I conducted when I started my doctoral degree at the University of Washington, so that’s an interesting connection for me. Also, it is just an interesting piece. When I was a junior in California, I played second flute for this piece, so I didn’t get a chance to play that flute solo, but it was great. I remember sitting next to the person that was playing, and I was like, wow, this is so awesome.

KCO: Wow, that so interesting because during our first read-through with you, Doug (Gallatin) was the second flute that night. It wasn’t his part. He steps up, plays it and he crushes it.

Tigran Arakelyan: Yeah, it was great. I was really impressed, and he was so humble. He came to me before the rehearsal, and he asked if he should play the first part even though he was the sub, and then, he just rocked it. I said, “you’re amazing. You sounded great”.

KCO: Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Thanks to Tigran for the interview on January 15, 2026.

by Francis X. Langlois – tuba player in the KCO

KCO: Where did your musical journey start?

KCO: What led you to extend your music education and eventually become a conductor?

KCO: What do you want to say about the November program?

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KCO: Where did your musical journey start?

Nickolas Carlson: I grew up on a farm outside of a small town in rural Kansas called Lindsborg, and that was also where my musical journey began. The town had a population of maybe 3,500. The community and the public schools all had wonderful support for the arts. The music programs in the schools were wonderful, and all my teachers growing up, specifically the music teachers, were so knowledgeable and so encouraging. They really gave me a good start to my musical career.

That community, back in the 1800s, started doing the Messiah every single year. It is the longest-running continuous annual performance of the Messiah in the United States. I was able to join that orchestra when I was in high school, and I played in the second violin section. I played all the way through graduate school in that ensemble with the Oratorio Society. They did the Messiah every Palm Sunday and every Easter, but they also did the St. Matthews Passion, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, every Good Friday. Once I got to college, I started playing in the orchestra for the St. Matthew Passion as well.

Having those experiences with this large group of people, all performing this music together, from all different walks of life, really solidified for me the idea that music helps us form community. It helps us live in a community together. I even completed my undergraduate degree in my hometown. I tried to go off to a state school, but I wasn’t quite ready to leave home yet. So, I went back to my hometown to do my undergraduate studies.

KCO: And what was the college?

Nickolas Carlson: The college was Bethany College.

KCO: What led you to extend your music education and eventually become a conductor?

Nickolas Carlson: I have always loved orchestra. I was never a great violin player. I was a decent clarinet player, but my heart really wasn’t in it. So, when I was studying organ performance in undergrad, I decided that I wanted to go on to study organ performance for graduate school and to become the keyboard player for a symphony orchestra.

The last year of my undergraduate degree, I got to study abroad in Sweden. I was ahead in my coursework enough to spend the entire semester only focusing on folk music. While my focus was on folk music, I still had a senior recital to prepare for when I returned. I was trying to practice the organ. The organ at this school had not been played in many years and was not in good repair. And so instead of practicing the organ, I often fell to studying scores.

They had a large music library with a lot of scores. I would grab a score, I would go to the house that I was living in, and I would just follow along with scores and listen to recordings. I had always had sort of an interest on the side in conducting. One of the older women who sang in the Messiah Chorus where I grew up used to joke with me about coming back and conducting that Oratorio Society when I grew up. I had told her when I was in middle school that that was going to be my career. I was going to be the director of that Oratorio Society when I grew up. I don’t remember that, but she reminds me of it every time she sees me.

I had always had this kind of interest on the side with conducting, and that time in Scandinavia, studying all these scores solidified that for me. I had taken all of the conducting classes I could in undergrad. I loved it. But the focus on score study solidified it for me when I was in Sweden.

I came back to finish my undergraduate degree, and I told my organ teacher, “I’ve changed my mind, and I don’t want to go to graduate school for organ. I want to go for conducting.” She was one of the greatest teachers I’ve ever had in my life, and she said, okay, well, we’ve still got to do your senior recital, so we’re going to finish that up. But why don’t you prepare a conducting recital, too?

It was not part of my coursework, but I did all the work to prepare this conducting recital. I got a small group of musicians together, and we did a conducting recital. Then, I did a very last-minute audition for graduate school because I had decided late, and got into Wichita State University. It was not my first choice. It wasn’t even on my radar, but it was the school that was still open for applications, and it worked out really well.

I went to Wichita State the next fall. I did a dual track of study. I was getting a Bachelor of Music Education at the same time I was getting my Master of Music in conducting. At the time, everyone was telling me that if you really want to get into conducting, you either have to go the opera route and become an opera pianist that eventually becomes a conductor. Or you need to go the public-school route and teach orchestra in schools. That’s going to be how you break into the conducting world.

I had planned to spend 3 years in graduate school, because I was doing both degrees at the same time. I got to my third year, and my conducting teacher gave me the opera that semester. He had a trip when this performance was happening. He asked if I would like to conduct the production? And so I did, and I did all the coursework for the music ed degree, except student teaching. So, I did not get the Bachelor of Music Education, but the opportunity to conduct the opera production was too good to pass up.

KCO: How did that translate into conducting as a profession? You are not teaching at present, but you are conducting.

Nickolas Carlson: Yeah, I got lucky, I guess. After graduate school, I decided I wanted to move to a different part of the country, either the east or west coast, or down south.

I met a friend in graduate school who grew up here in Washington, who was moving back home after graduate school. I thought to myself that I really don’t think I’m going to like the East Coast. It’s just the population density is just a little bit too much for me. There’s a built-in support system moving with this friend back to the West Coast. Seattle sounds beautiful, so we moved out to Seattle.

I was living in West Seattle. She grew up in Lacey and went to St. Martin’s University down here in Lacey. She introduced me to her teacher from her undergraduate degree. I met him and started working at the college.

I found out that the community orchestra down here, the Olympia Chamber Orchestra, was also looking for a conductor, because their conductor was retiring, and applied for that job, and I got lucky. Right out of grad school, I moved here, and this orchestra is looking for a conductor, and it’s kind of the perfect inroad. It’s a community orchestra, and they just want somebody that’s going to help them continue into the future. At that time, they were not paying the conductor. It was an all-volunteer gig, and I did that for a few years. Then it was obvious that there was this desire to continue to build, and I said, at some point, I’m going to have to leave. And, you’re going to have be lucky enough to find another conductor just out of grad school who’s going to do it for free. So, we started the process, starting with a very low payment for the conductor, just to get them used to the idea. And now, I’ve been with them for 8 years now.

KCO: That’s awesome. It’s a great story of both parties being willing to take a chance.

KCO: What do you want to say about the November program?

• Overture to Der Freischütz – Weber
• Overture to Der Vampyr – Lindpaintner
• Ma Mere L’Oye (Mother Goose Suite) – Ravel
• Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld – Offenbach
• Symphonie Fantastique – Movements IV. and V. – Berlioz

Nickolas Carlson: I am so excited about this program. There’s are several pieces that I have been wanting to do for a while. The Weber, Overture to Der Freischütz, is absolutely one of my favorite pieces. It just has this perfect atmosphere, for this time of year. I went back and forth on how much I wanted to tie this program to the season. But the more I thought about it, the more I whittled down my repertoire list, then found something, and then expanded on that, I just realized that I really love this time of year. And I think there’s a lot of wonderfully descriptive music that’s written about this time of year–this autumnal changing of the seasons with Halloween-ish kind of vibes.

When I auditioned for the Olympia Chamber Orchestra, I had the repertoire that I chose. I decided a few years later that I was going to try to include one of the pieces from that program on every audition that I did for an orchestra in the future. So, for this concert, that ended up being the Ravel Mother Goose Suite. The other piece it could have been was Beethoven’s First Symphony, which is one of my absolute favorite pieces. For an orchestra that’s larger, like the Kirkland Civic Orchestra, I felt like something like the Ravel might be a better showcase for the group than something like the Beethoven, which is a bit smaller in its instrumentation. You take the idea of Mother Goose and all these fairy tales and stories, and then it leans right into the fantasy of the autumn season.

I have had such a great time working with the orchestra. I think that we’ve made a lot of progress together. You know that the Berlioz Symphony Fantastique is on a lot of people’s bucket lists. It was surely on mine, and someday I’ll do the whole thing. It is a tough piece, and particularly for a community orchestra to go on this journey with me, of learning this piece, and doing all of this hard work that it takes to get it done. I’m so thankful to the group for doing that work with me and being willing to go along with it.

The Lindpaintner overture is something that’s a bit strange, you know? The subject matter has that same feel. It’s based on the story of a vampire. It really isn’t that dark a piece, musically. It actually sounds pretty happy. If you had not told me what the title was, I would have never guessed it was called The Vampire.

One of my passions with orchestras and orchestral music is to find music that is just outside the periphery. It has a familiar sound. But it’s maybe not a specific piece that’s familiar to people. And so, the parts (for the players) are available online in a relatively easy-to-read edition, but the score was not. I put together the score a year ago for the orchestra down in Olympia. It took me all summer to put all of that together and make sure it was edited correctly, which, of course, there are still mistakes. I figured, if I’m going to do all of this work to put this score together and put these parts together, and it fits so well into this program, I might as well do it again.

KCO: I think it’s a good choice. Thank you for the interview.

Thanks to Nickolas for the interview on October 8, 2025.

by Francis X. Langlois – tuba player in the KCO