Juneau Symphony will feature a guitar concerto for the first time this weekend at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé as part of its winter concert series titled “Virtuosity.” It’s also Dr. Wilbur Lin’s audition as music director following Christopher Koch’s retirement.
He is currently the music director of the Missouri Symphony and associate conductor of the Colorado Symphony. Lin said he first applied to be Juneau Symphony’s music director in 2014 when he was just starting his career. He didn’t receive an audition then, but the symphony kept his resume on file. Lin said he has followed the symphony’s progress for the last 11 years.
“This is a very unique orchestra,” Lin said. “We have amazing local players, but we also have world-class musicians flying in from all around the country. So I think there’s a lot of potential in both directions. We can continue to grow artistically, but also this is uniquely, very strongly supported by its community, and that means that while we do that, we are not losing our touch with the community, and we’re not losing our touch from being still a very locally based orchestra.”
Charlotte Truitt, executive director of Juneau Symphony, said Lin is the second of four candidates auditioning this season. She said the audience can provide feedback on each candidate through a survey, and eventually, the musicians, board and lifetime members will vote. She expects the next music director will be announced by the end of the summer.
“Feel where the collaboration lies,” Lin said. “See if it’s something that will work for the orchestra. Is that something that brings excitement? Is that something that brings passion? That’s kind of what I really like to do. I don’t want to just offer entertainment. This is good entertainment, but hopefully this will help people open their ears and really listen to music as well.”
Lin said while he has conducted Mozart’s Overture to the Marriage of Figaro and Beethoven’s 7th Symphony many times, the guitar concerto will be a first for him, a bucket-list item.
John Unzicker, Juneau Symphony’s featured soloist, plays guitar while music director candidate Wilbur Lin conducts on Jan. 23, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
John Unzicker, a Juneau guitarist, will perform Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the orchestra as a featured soloist. A concerto is a piece of music that specializes in one instrument — in this case, the guitar — while the symphony accompanies it.
“Kind of like there’s a singer and someone’s playing piano to accompany the singer,” Unzicker said. “What’s a little bit different is the orchestra has parts that they get to do to stand out. There’s a beautiful English horn solo in one of the movements.”
He said he played electric guitar in a Juneau Symphony pops concert before and classical guitar with the symphony quartet in an online concert. He looks forward to performing in “a celebration of music this weekend.” Juneau Symphony asked him to do a concerto concert in 2022, but COVID-19 delayed it. Unzicker suggested the piece and rehearsed three to four hours a day leading up to the concert.
Concierto de Aranjuez, written by the Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo in 1939, is known as the most famous and performed guitar concerto. It features a Spanish style, with strumming and fast scales. Unzicker said parts of the third movement also have complicated harmonies.
“A lot of the things that I’m playing, I’ve never played before, like the finger patterns, the chords — there’s a lot of really unique chords in the song,” Unzicker said while quickly strumming his guitar. “The composer was a blind pianist, so he didn’t come at it from the guitar; he came at it from the piano. We get beautiful chords that I’ve never heard in my life except for this piece of music.”
John Unzicker practices in the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé music room on Jan. 23, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
On Thursday, he rehearsed in the music room at JDHS — the same room he taught in for seven years. He has been a music teacher in the Juneau School District for two decades. He currently teaches elementary general music at Harborview and Gastineau. He also regularly plays his jazz guitar at Spice Juneau Indian Cuisine and the Crystal Saloon with the band “Hot Club of Juneau.”
“I’ve been teaching long enough to where, now, there’s at least two that I can think of off the top my head in the symphony that I had as students when they were kids,” Unzicker said.
Sunday’s concert is pay-as-you-can and Unzicker said he hopes many of his students will attend. Parents who contact the symphony office or show up early for seats can get their children in for free. He also encouraged his fellow guitar players to come.
Know & Go
What: Juneau Symphony concert “Virtuosity.”
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé, 1639 Glacier Ave.
Tickets: Tickets are available for purchase online at https://juneausymphony.na.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/17435.
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz.garrett@juneauempire.com or (907) 723-9356.
