Dawn Bonker
Daniel Alfred Wachs, assistant professor, Conservatory of Music, College of Performing Arts, was called at the last minute by the music director of the
Houston Symphony
to serve as cover conductor Feb. 11-13 for a program of music by French composer Maurice Ravel. The Houston Symphony is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected orchestras, with a history stretching back to 1913 and a list of conductors that includes Andre Previn and Sir John Barbirolli.
As Wachs explained, “It’s a funny thing. You go from being one of the least important people to the most important person in 60 seconds. If you’re lucky, you have time to change into your tails!” It was exactly this type of situation that catapulted Leonard Bernstein to fame at Carnegie Hall back in 1943. While it didn’t happen this time, Wachs’ motto is
semper promptus
— and we’ll be watching.
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