Peter Bay Prepares for His Final Season With the Austin Symphony Orchestra
After nearly 30 years, the longtime music director looks back on his career and ahead to a farewell season featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell and more
Peter Bay was 9 years old when he first felt the sonic itch.
He grew up in Washington, D.C., in a nonmusical family. But his audiophile father filled the house with music by the Beatles, the Monkees and the Rolling Stones, while televised concerts introduced Bay to classical music.
“Leonard Bernstein used to be on CBS very often doing young people’s concerts, and I watched those when I was very young,” Bay said. “That gave me the itch for conducting.”
He knew it was a long shot.
“I thought, well, the odds are against me becoming a professional symphony conductor, so at least I could probably conduct in a high school, a wind ensemble or orchestra,” Bay said.
He said yes to every opportunity, from church performances to youth orchestras and any chance to step behind a podium.
“I begged the high school band director to let me conduct something,” he said.
His persistence eventually led him to his dream role as music director of the Austin Symphony Orchestra (ASO). Bay moved to Austin in 1998 to take the job and has led the orchestra for nearly three decades. The ASO’s upcoming season will be his last as music director.
Swan song
“I am stepping down from the music director position to make way for, you know, a younger, fresher face,” Bay said, though he does not plan to retire from conducting. “I’m not really sure what the future is going to hold for me. It’s definite that I will be looking for another job here in Austin, and it may or may not be in the arts field.”
Under Bay’s leadership, the ASO added 350 works to its repertoire, an average of 10 new works per season. The organization’s budget also doubled, reflecting Austin’s population growth and evolving interest in the arts.
“There seems to be many, many more opportunities for people to hear classical music than there were when I first came,” Bay said. “There have always been plenty of opportunities for people to hear pop music, rock music, singer-songwriter, country, and that’s what Austin has been known for primarily. But I think the performing arts and the classical arts have grown considerably.”
One of Bay’s career highlights came in 2018, when the ASO performed Leonard Bernstein’s “MASS” at the Long Center in honor of the composer’s centennial. The work called for about 350 performers, including a rock band, dancers, singers and children’s choirs. Two of Bernstein’s children attended the performance.
“They were overwhelmed by the production, and that meant the world to me,” Bay said.
Bay is bringing that same ambition to his final season. The schedule includes cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Joshua Bell and the ASO’s first performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9. In October, Jamie Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein’s daughter, will direct her father’s short opera, “Trouble in Tahiti,” and present readings of poems by Ogden Nash. Bay’s ex-wife, Grammy Award-winning soprano Mela Sarajane Dailey, will perform with the orchestra in March.
For Bay’s final concert in June 2027, his longtime friend and collaborator, pianist Anton Nel, will take the stage.
Bay has followed three principles since he was young: persistence, patience and preparation. He studied music education at the University of Maryland before attending the Aspen Music Festival in 1979.
“That basically turned my life around,” Bay said. “I was exposed to so many guest conductors there and had opportunities to conduct so many things. Then, by great luck, I was hired the very next year to be on the conducting faculty and stayed there for 10 years.”
What’s next for Bay
Before moving to Austin, Bay held conducting positions with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Britt and Breckenridge festivals and the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, among others. Since 1982, he has also performed and recorded with artists including Judy Collins, Roy Clark, Charlie Daniels, Tony Bennett and Christopher Cross.
His interest in rock music and popular culture also shaped the ASO’s programming, including performances of film scores played live. This season’s film lineup includes the 1989 “Batman,” “Jurassic Park,” “Elf” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Away from the podium, Bay attends UT football and basketball games, listens to live music at Parker Jazz Club and explores Austin’s restaurant scene.
“I want to see more UT women’s basketball, and I’m dying to go see a volleyball game there,” Bay said.
Although Bay’s next chapter remains open-ended, he plans to continue conducting as the ASO’s conductor laureate, with the Arizona Philharmonic and at summer festivals in Maine and across Texas. He is also looking for a day job.
“I have a son who just started in college, and tuition’s expensive,” he said.
Whatever Bay pursues next, he intends to keep making music.
“I am living and have lived a dream, literally,” he said. “With a lot of persistence and help along the way, and some luck, I’ve been able to do this. I don’t know where it will be or how often it could be, but I just want to keep working.”
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