<\/p>\n
Fawzi Haimor is the Marin Symphony\u2019s new music director \u2014 only the fourth in its 74-year history.<\/p>\n
Born in Chicago in 1983, Haimor\u2019s extensive r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes three years as music director of Germany\u2019s W\u00fcrttembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen and conducting symphony orchestras all over the world, including in Finland, New Zealand and Qatar.<\/p>\n
An Arab American of Jordanian, Lebanese and Filipino descent, Haimor was raised in Saudi Arabia by his father, who worked for the United Nations, for much of his early life before moving to San Francisco at 11 years old. Haimor has played violin since an early age, often playing along to recordings by Ludwig van Beethoven and film-score guru John Williams.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t that easy to get sheet music when I was younger,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I would take staff paper, and I would write down the music as I heard it onto the page so that I could take my violin and play along with the recording.\u201d<\/p>\n
His initial plan was to study organic chemistry and go to medical school, but his fascination with the music world was too strong for him to resist. The figure of Beethoven loomed especially large in his imagination, not just for his brilliance but for the personal struggles he had to overcome, not least the loss of his hearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so amazed at the music that this man wrote, along with the difficult life that he had,\u201d Haimor said. \u201cIt eventually got to the point where I wanted to make this my life. Instead of studying organic chemistry, I always found myself going right back to Beethoven.\u201d<\/p>\n An esteemed career in music followed, and though the German Romantic movement heralded by Beethoven\u2019s music is still a major part of Haimor\u2019s focus, he also has an unwavering dedication to the music of modern composers, including Arab American composers like Kareem Roustom, whose \u201cRamal\u201d was one of the pieces Haimor included on the music program he assembled as a guest conductor for the Marin Symphony earlier this year.<\/p>\n Haimor\u2019s guest appearance with the Marin Symphony doubled as his audition for the newly vacated music director role.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was this strong sense of gelling together and just of a wonderful musical collaboration,\u201d said Haimor of the performances. \u201cYou could feel the chemistry. It\u2019s not anything that anyone could particularly describe \u2014 it\u2019s just a feeling that you have where everything seems to be locking in so well.\u201d<\/p>\n Haimor was announced as the new music director in July, only the fourth following Sandor Salgo (1953 to 1989), Gary Sheldon (1990 to 2000) and Alasdair Neale, who departed in 2023 to relocate to Paris.<\/p>\n Haimor will make his debut as music director with \u201cMasterworks\u201d performances with the symphony at 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the James Dunn Theatre on the College of Marin campus in Kentfield.<\/p>\n The program kicks off with \u201cTarantismo,\u201d a piece by contemporary New Zealand composer John Psathas, with whom Haimor collaborated while conducting the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra last year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of mythical in a way,\u201d said Haimor of \u201cTarantismo.\u201d \u201cYou imagine yourself being bitten by a tarantula, and the only way to get the venom out of your system is to dance more and more frantically until you have this massive climactic moment at the end of the piece.\u201d<\/p>\n The program proceeds with \u201cHungarian Fantasy\u201d and \u201cTotentanz\u201d by 19th-century Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, whose virtuosic piano performances were greeted with intense audience adulation. Haimor selected these pieces specifically to showcase the skills of Marin Symphony principal pianist John Wilson, a favorite with symphony audiences for his colorful style.<\/p>\n \u201cLiszt was the rock star of the day,\u201d Haimor said. \u201cSo it\u2019s very fitting for John to be playing these pieces \u2014 he is kind of like a rock star.\u201d<\/p>\n The program concludes with Johannes Brahms\u2019 Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73, a beloved staple of the symphonic repertoire that Haimor has cherished throughout his musical career.<\/p>\n \u201cOur objective is to continue to serve the community the best we can,\u201d Haimor said. \u201cThis is what we know how to do.\u201d<\/p>\n