Maestro Roman Pawlowski has conducted the Newark Symphony Orchestra since 1983. But after the concert on May 17, 2009, he will put away his baton and pick up his fishing pole and composer’s pencil.

Newark, DE April 20, 2009—Professionally trained conductor Maestro Roman Pawlowski will conduct his last performance with the Newark Symphony Orchestra on May 17, 2009. As the Music Director since 1983, Maestro Pawlowski has elevated the NSO to a level not often achieved by non-professional orchestras.

With 80 volunteer musicians, the NSO has grown from a group that played in a living room to an orchestra that performs four full symphony concerts and four chamber music concerts per season.

Pawlowski leaves behind an orchestra that respects his uncompromising artistic integrity. Felix Cohen, a lawyer and a bassist with the Orchestra, says, “In my 40+ years of amateur and professional playing, I’ve met no conductor better at communicating his love for music and motivating his players to maximum achievement.”

Susan Kiley, principal violist and Pawlowski’s wife, enthuses, “Roman is a professional conductor who has trained with some of the world's best conductors; his high musical and personal standards rub off on his players.  His concern and generosity are boundless.”

Maestro Pawlowski’s involvement in all aspects of the NSO’s organization—including selecting music, attending Board meetings, writing program notes, and helping with fund-raising—will be sorely missed.  “I can’t imagine any artist putting more of himself into his work than he has into this orchestra,” says Dr. Peter Caws, professor of philosophy at George Washington University and President of the Orchestra’s Board of Directors.

Upon retiring, Maestro Pawlowski and his wife intend to move closer to the Delaware beaches, where he will spend his retirement fishing and composing. “Retirement will offer me new opportunities and energies for creative undertakings that have been impossible to indulge until now,” Pawlowski adds.

Four guest conductors—Nicole Aldrich, Simeone Tartaglione, Dimitar Nikolov, and Jeremy Gill—will publicly audition for the position in the 2009-10 season. Each will conduct one symphony concert, and the NSO will announce its new Music Director in the summer of 2010.

But before that happens, the orchestra will wrap up this season’s musical “tour of the world” in Italy. The May 17 concert, “Viva L’Italia!” to be held at The Independence School on Paper Mill Road in Newark, will be the last full symphony concert of the 2008-09 season. The orchestra will perform Gioacchino Rossini’s Thieving Magpie Overture, Peter Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien, Charles Griffes' Poem for Flute and Orchestra with soloist Charlotte Lin, winner of NSO's concerto competition, high school division, and Ottorino Respighi’s The Pines of Rome. 

About the Newark Symphony Orchestra (NSO):

The Newark Symphony Orchestra has been in existence for 44 years.  It is a non-profit, volunteer supported arts organization that is governed by a Board of Directors.  The NSO performs four full symphony concerts and four chamber concerts per season.  The Newark Symphony Society assists the NSO by providing financial and volunteer support.

About Roman Pawlowski:

Maestro Pawlowski has been Music Director of the Newark Symphony since 1983.  He spent 40 years directing the Delaware County Symphony in Delaware Co., PA; 22 years with the Immaculata Symphony in Chester Co., PA; and 8 years as conductor of the Young People's String Orchestra in Baltimore.  He is a graduate of the Philadelphia Musical Academy with a Master’s from the University of Pennsylvania and doctoral studies at Temple University.  He studied conducting with Mehli Mehta, Pierre Monteux, Erich Leinsdorf and Max Rudolph, among others.

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