John Jeter might have a history of putting the cart before the horse.
As a youngster growing up in California, he fell in love with the music of Wagner, Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart before he ever sat down at the piano to play a note.
FYI
Fort Smith
Symphony
Season
Sept. 11 — An Evening with Joshua Bell, including Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor featuring Joshua Bell, violin, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 22 — Hot Latin Nights with the Mambo Kings, including music by Astor Piazzola, Dave Brubeck, Tito Puente and more, 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 3 — A Classic Christmas featuring Don Bailey, saxophone; Rob Bradshaw, cello; Belva Ross, soprano; the Western Arkansas Ballet and the Fort Smith Chorale, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 21 — Divergent Moods including Griffes’: Poem for Flute and Orchestra featuring Elizabeth Shuhan, flute, 7:30 p.m.
April 22 — BONDED: The Music of James Bond, including Bond classics selected from “Diamonds Are Forever,” “Golden Eye,” “For Your Eyes Only,” “A View to a Kill” and more, 7:30 p.m.
May 13 — Conductor’s Choice, including works by Strauss, Sibelius, Elgar & Janacek, 7:30 p.m.
All performance take place at the ArcBest Corp. Performing Arts Center in downtown Fort Smith.
Season tickets starting at $150 for adults are available by calling 452-7575.
Sometime in college, a professor pointed out to him that even though his major was music theory and piano, he really approached music from the standpoint of a conductor.
When he went looking for a job as a conductor, he chose to lead a small orchestra with potential rather than to assist at a larger orchestra with a track record.
And even now, after 20 years as music director for the Fort Smith Symphony, Jeter continues to challenge the status quo. This year, the orchestra will launch Jolt, an electronic string quartet that will play rock, pop, jazz, country and patriotic music at everything from sporting events to community celebrations, and Kool Cats, a new educational program that will bring jazz to school kids.
"When I came here, the orchestra was a pretty small community orchestra," he recalls. "There were a handful of people on the Board of Directors at the time who really sold it, telling me, 'If you were to come here, you could do a lot with it.' That was kind of the ultimate selling point. There seemed to be a lot of possibilities."
The two new programs pretty much embody why Jeter is still so satisfied at the Fort Smith Symphony.
"The community has always been hugely supportive of the symphony and what we're doing," Jeter says. That support has allowed the orchestra to grow in myriad ways, from debuting compositions to gaining an international reputation as recording artists for NAXOS to reaching some 100,000 youngsters through programs in schools and through the Earquake concert series.
"We've had continual growth every year -- sometimes very significant, sometimes more modest, but always growth that was supported," he says. "We've never gone out on a cliff financially; the community has always been behind us."
What Jeter doesn't say is how much he's given to the community. For the past eight years, he's been not only music director but also executive director. And right now, he's also development director.
"It's been great to have a board that has said, 'This is a musical organization. A musician should be in charge of it.' It's been great to have a certain amount of autonomy and a very specific focus," he says. "I'm a fanatic when it comes to our budget, so it works to have me wear those two hats. And I've always been really involved in fundraising.
"It's a situation where being here so long the job has just sort of metamorphosed. At the end of the day, I'm just wearing one really HUGE hat. ... Orchestras with our budget typically have quite a few more staff members. We'd rather take those resources and put them back into performance and education.
"It's been fun -- and there are going to be some really neat possibilities in the future!"
NAN What's Up on 07/15/2016