COUNTYWIDE : Ventura Symphony Names New Conductor

A Canadian symphony conductor has been named to succeed founder Frank Salazar as the musical director and conductor of the Ventura County Symphony Orchestra.

Chosen from among 160 applicants, Boris Brott of Hamilton, Ontario, is the current artistic director or conductor of the McGill Chamber Orchestra in Montreal, the Toronto Festival Orchestra and the Ontario Place Pops.

Brott’s selection by the Ventura County Symphony Assn. ended a nine-month search to replace Salazar, who founded the orchestra 30 years ago.

Salazar, who also teaches music at Ventura College, will retire from active directing on June 30 but will retain a role as the orchestra’s founding music director and conductor emeritus.

Brott, 47, has a reputation as an orchestra builder who is skilled in reaching new audiences, said Gregory H. Smith, who chaired the association’s search committee. “We were looking for someone with proven conducting experience who could help us build the orchestra,” Smith said.

Under Salazar’s leadership, the orchestra has expanded from a small, community orchestra to a metropolitan orchestra with an annual $600,000 budget. Smith said the association wants the orchestra to continue its growth, becoming a regional orchestra with a $1-million annual budget within three to five years.

Brott has been a resident conductor of orchestras in Canada and England and was an assistant conductor to the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein. He has served as guest conductor in dozens of countries in the Americas, Asia and Europe.

This was the first time that officials with the county’s symphony orchestra have had to hire a new conductor, and therefore they were presented a unique problem, Smith said.

“There are a number of people who identify the orchestra with Frank Salazar, and that will place a special burden on us to retain their loyalty,” Smith said. “By hiring Brott, we hope to earn their support.”