ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
note: below
It's official.
David Wiley, assistant conductor for The Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis and a crowd pleaser when he guest-conducted here last fall, will be the next music director and conductor of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra.
Wiley, 30, was the youngest of five finalists for the position. He signed a contract Thursday and was introduced to some 80 or 90 symphony supporters and members of the media shortly after. A brass trio played as he entered the Jefferson Center's Fitzpatrick Hall.
Wiley said he had coveted the Roanoke job ever since meeting Victoria Bond at a conductor's conference several years ago. He said education will be a priority, and recalled a favorite memory from his visit here last fall, as he was conducting a concert at a rural high school.
"By the end of the performance you could see the excitement in the students' faces," Wiley said.
The new maestro will retain his position in Minneapolis in addition to his Roanoke duties.
The amount of time Bond spent in Roanoke became an issue toward the end of her tenure, but symphony officials and Wiley insisted his dual obligations would pose no problem.
Wiley, who with his wife, Leah, is looking for a house in Roanoke, said Roanoke will be his primary commitment.
"I look forward to joining a softball team," he said.
Wiley will be here through the weekend, and is scheduled to attend the symphony concert Monday night.
"We have become very excited about the prospects for the coming year," said Symphony Board President Briggs Andrews in introducing Wiley.
Andrews said afterward that he hoped Wiley's presence will stimulate interest in the orchestra much as Bond's arrival did 10 years ago. "We are hoping this will give us a boost."
Wiley won the job for a number of reasons, high among them his "dynamic energy" and skill at talking to the RSO's volunteer groups, Andrews said.
He declined to disclose Wiley's salary.
Thursday's announcement ends a two-year search for a replacement for Bond, who improved the quality, finances and profile of the symphony dramatically in her nine years here. Wiley will be expected to continue that improvement, which some say had noticeably leveled off in recent years. The orchestra's budget for the coming year is about $800,000, down from a peak of nearly $1.1 million in 1992-93.
Wiley has been with The Minnesota Orchestra since the fall. He's a native of Boston and his parents now live in Floyd County.
He holds two bachelor's degrees - one in piano performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and one in religion from Tufts University - as well as a master's degree in instrumental conducting from the University of Indiana. He recently finished his doctoral dissertation - a performance analysis of Puccini's opera "La Boheme" - and he won the 1993 Aspen Music Festival conducting prize.
His three-year contract with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and Roanoke Valley Choral Society begins immediately.
Wiley's inaugural performance as music director and conductor is scheduled for Oct. 21 at the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: PAUL L. NEWBY II/Staff David Wiley and his wife, Leahby CNB(background center), meet the audience after their introduction to
symphony supporters. color