Orchestra of Southern Utah Appoints New Music Director
– By Ashley Langston –
Carylee Zwang has been named the music director and conductor for the Orchestra of Southern Utah two decades after she joined it as a drummer while attending the local university.
Board President Harold Shirley said she had the background, talent, and support of the orchestra and was the obvious choice for the new director. She has served as an OSU assistant conductor for nine years and was able to step in on short notice “without missing a beat” when former conductor Xun Sun was unable to conduct.
In an industry that is extremely male-dominated, Zwang said she’s excited to be one of two female directors for OSU, working with Choral Director Jackie Riddle-Jackson. She hopes young girls will see her conducting and feel encouraged to pursue their goals, even if they seem daunting or unconventional.
“I’m that weird little kid that watched PBS and saw the guy up there in his tailcoats and said I want to be that one day,” she said. “This is a fun opportunity to live my dream.”
Sara Penny, a founding board member for the orchestra, said Zwang is excellent at collaboration. Her musical experiences in the community are diverse, and she has built relationships in high schools, community theatre, and much more. Those connections and her collaborative nature have lent themselves to “epic” performances involving dancers, soloists, actors in the audience, stage effects, and more.
“She just goes all out,” Penny said. “(She’s) honoring the orchestra tradition, but exploring different kinds of music and reaching out to new audiences.”
The road to this new title has been full of challenges, but Zwang said each new hurdle has been rewarding and has contributed to her growth. She has always been musical, and her parents gave her a tiny drum set when she was just five years old. She was a natural at percussion, and at her small Utah high school, she was named the music “Sterling Scholar,” a recognition given to high school seniors who excel in a particular field of study.
However, when she graduated and started attending Southern Utah University, she actually could not read music. No other field of study seemed right for her, though, so she took the plunge, declared her major as music education, and began the “hardest four years of (her) life” as she worked to catch up to the other music majors.
It was considered a pretty elite opportunity for university students to play with the Orchestra of Southern Utah, and when her professor invited her, she took the chance. She’s been with OSU ever since. Even while serving as an assistant conductor, she still played percussion and has been glad for the opportunity to keep her skills sharp.
Zwang taught at Parowan High School for seven years and her alma mater, Enterprise High School, for two years. When she started teaching at Parowan High School, she received another big opportunity for growth, as she was hired to lead the band and choir. She had never even taken a choral class, but she rose to the occasion. She has enjoyed her continued work in that vein as director of the Parowan Community Choir.
She spent time as an adjunct professor at Southern Utah University, is a member of the local rock band 8EEZ, has conducted the pit orchestra for the Cedar City Junior Ballet, and is the resident pit orchestra director for the Cedar Valley Community Theatre.
“I really love that,” Zwang said. “I love doing pit orchestras because they are a little dangerous, I guess. You never know when the singer is going to not be with you or when something will go wrong, and you’ll have to fix it.”
In addition to Zwang’s excellent collaboration and relationships with other community talent, she and Riddle-Jackson work together beautifully, Shirley said.
Riddle-Jackson has also been involved with the orchestra for many years, especially for the “Messiah” concerts each December. Penny said she has conducted the “Messiah” choral for many years and has now conducted both the choral and orchestra twice. She teaches at SUU, teaches voice lessons privately, and is the director for the women’s choral group In Jubilo.
“She’s an incredible soloist herself, but she knows how to nurture and bring out the best in the vocalists and in the orchestra,” Penny said.
Shirley agreed, calling her “highly qualified” and saying she’s “just got super talent as far as getting music out of people.”
Zwang is quick to express gratitude for the talented and dedicated people she has had the opportunity to work with so far and the mentors who have helped her along the way. Among them were Sun, who retired from the Orchestra of Southern Utah after 20 years as music director and conductor. He really taught her how to pull the orchestra into your emotions.
“Xun was a great mentor,” she said. “There were so many things that I learned from him as a conductor.”
Sun was born in China and was a distinguished violinist there before coming to the United States to study, and then to Cedar City. He supported several emerging composers, and some of the OSU-commissioned works during his time, such as “Spanish Trail Suite” and “Africa,” garnered international attention and awards.
Sun created an international musical relationship, and Zwang said she is grateful for the unique opportunities and experiences she had with the orchestra while it was under his direction.
The Orchestra of Southern Utah was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1988, governed by a board of directors, but an orchestra has existed in the community since the founding of Southern Utah University in 1897. Music has been important to Cedar City area residents since the community was settled by pioneers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1851. Tickets to the upcoming season are available for purchase now at www.myosu.org
