Dawn Harms, Music Director and Conductor of the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, continues to astound us with her incredible career. She is a chamber musician, violin soloist, and is on the faculty at Stanford University. She is a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, is Associate Concertmaster for the New Century Chamber Orchestra and is Co-Concertmaster with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. She also records regularly at Skywalker Ranch Studios on soundtracks for movies and video games.
Can you believe that one woman handles all of the above, and does so with incredible dynamism, talent and expertise?
We were delighted when Harms took time out of her busy schedule, preparing for a big June 6 Bay Area Rainbow Symphony concert, for an interview.
San Francisco Bay Times: Given that you are a strong advocate for music education, we’re curious about your own early influences. Please tell us about some of your early mentors and whether or not your family played a role in your first interest in music.
Dawn Harms: Yes, my parents played a huge role in me starting and continuing to play the violin, and making music my career. They always wanted a violinist in the family, and since I was the youngest of three, I was their last chance, and hope.
I had a kind of “music man” experience. A man came to our little town of Paradise, California, when I was 7 years old, and he was offering to give Suzuki violin lessons. So I took lessons for 6 months or so, and then he was gone. He just left town. So, my mother—a piano and voice teacher—helped me along, until I found a real violin teacher when I was 9.
I did not have an orchestra in my school, so I played drums in the band, and sang in the choir. I was the only string player in my whole school, and I got my experiences, and opportunities playing for church, as well as school functions, such as the French club dinners, and PE square dancing. My mother, in particular, made sure that I had plenty of places to play, to keep me inspired.
I was also very inspired by Jack Benny, who influenced me to combine playing the violin with comedy…thus my family show was born. (Editor’s note: Harms performs her show for families throughout the U.S., New Zealand and Japan.)
San Francisco Bay Times: Your resume is mind-blowing! Please mention some of the films and video games that feature your music. I’m guessing that we have probably heard your playing over the years, perhaps not being aware of the musician behind all of the beautiful, memorable music.
Dawn Harms: Well let’s see, there have been plenty of them…It’s ironic because I have only actually played one video game in my life, and that was Pac-Man! But I have played violin on the soundtracks of the video games “The Simpsons,” “Mario,” “Zelda,” “Uncharted,” “Star Wars the New Republic,” and “GI Joe”—to name just a few.
As for movies and TV series, The Game, The Mummy, Outlanders, The Candidate, Ratatouille, and the list goes on.
San Francisco Bay Times: How did you first become involved with the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony?
Dawn Harms: Ian Harwood, the founder of BARS, asked me if I would be interested in guest conducting a rehearsal in the early years of the orchestra’s existence. A couple of years later, I was asked to be a soloist with the orchestra. I was amazed at the quality of the group. When the music director position came open, I applied. I had recently participated in the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen, and was looking for opportunities to conduct. It was perfect timing. I was one of four finalists, and got to prepare an entire concert with the orchestra. I was very fortunate, and the rest is history.
San Francisco Bay Times: Please share some memorable anecdotes/moments from your work with BARS, and experiences outside of this symphony as well.
Dawn Harms: Being able to have the world-renowned Frederica von Stade sing with BARS was the biggest highlight for me so far. Also, being able to book Sara Davis Buechner for our concert coming up on June 6 was amazing. I’ve been fortunate enough to play on two of my cousin Tom Waits’ CD’s.
Playing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” for the seventh inning stretch at a Giants game with my buddy Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg was such a blast.
The thrill of a lifetime was when I got to fly in Gordon Getty’s jet to New York City to perform at the Guggenheim museum.
San Francisco Bay Times: How does your work as a professional musician segue into the LGBT community in general, and how has the LGBT community touched your life here in the SF Bay Area?
Dawn Harms: I haven’t always been able to feel comfortable being out as a gay woman. Especially living in Amarillo, Texas, where I got my first professional string quartet job at 24 years old. I just learned how to be hidden in a straight world, or so I thought. Soon I found out that I wasn’t alone, and how many gay people were living just like me…normal, everyday people.
Music brought me and the gay community together in Texas. They came out of the woodwork after my concerts. I was blown away with how many people there were. We had a lot in common. A common struggle to be accepted for who we were.
The Bay Area LGBT community has helped me tremendously since I moved here in 1996. I only knew one gay woman when I moved here, and in fact it was Betty Sullivan (Co-Publisher of the San Francisco Bay Times and founder of “Betty’s List”) who turned that all around for me. She invited me to a Bay Area Career Women TGIF one Friday in 2002. It was a blast, and I met so many wonderful lifelong friends to this day.
San Francisco Bay Times: Please tell us about the upcoming BARS concert and what excites and interests you the most about it.
Dawn Harms: I’m so excited to be featuring a program of all women composers whose music is rarely performed. Rarely performed doesn’t mean that it isn’t incredibly beautiful music. They just happened to be women, and were not given the same exposure and opportunities as men. In fact, these three composers are exceptional. We will be performing Clara Schumann’s “Piano Concerto,” Vitezslava Kapralova’s “Partita for Piano and Strings,” and Ethel Smyth’s “Serenade.” All of these works are masterpieces, and have been compared to the brilliance of Brahms, and Tchaikovsky.
This concert will also feature Sarah Davis Buechner as our fabulous piano soloist. As a transgender woman, she gives us the opportunity to reach out to the transgender community.
San Francisco Bay Times: How can our readers get more involved with the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony—as musicians, volunteers, supporters…?
Dawn Harms: Attend a concert! Volunteer to help with a concert as well. There is a lot that goes into making our concerts so successful. We are always accepting new members to come play with us as well. You can come give us a try with no obligation. Just go to bars-sf.org and check us out.
We are also in need of donations to help fund such extraordinary artists like Sara Davis Buechner. We want to keep bringing our audience the highest quality of performers, and that takes money to be able to invite such talent.
We have an incredible feeling of community, and our concerts are a lot of fun as well.
San Francisco Bay Times: What advice do you have for younger musicians, and particularly LGBT individuals, who are interested in pursuing a career in music? It would seem that there are many challenges now, given cutbacks in music education at schools, and how high tech has affected music creation, distribution and so much more.
Dawn Harms: Yes, the situation with music in the schools is just appalling. It is very sad that they are cutting the very thing that can help save our kids, and keep them out of trouble. Music gives them a sense of self worth and community, and, at the very least, gives them something to do. The trouble starts when they don’t value themselves and have nothing worthwhile to keep busy with.
If you love it and it is all you want to do, then you have to follow your dream. It is not an easy road to take, and it is very competitive. But if you work hard, and get as good as you can, it will always bring you joy, no matter what level of expertise you reach. And perhaps one day you’ll have the chance to join an excellent orchestra like the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony!
You can see and hear Harms and the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony on June 6, 8pm, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Beforehand, at 3pm, Sara Davis Buechner will illustrate her life story and transgender journey with short piano pieces, followed by a Q&A session. For additional information and to purchase tickets, please visit: bars-sf.tix.com/Schedule.asp?OrganizationNumber=2941
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