It was a hectic first week for Zak Vassar. Since taking over as president and CEO of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra on July 18, Vassar immediately faced a myriad of responsibilities, from planning of the upcoming season, arranging program notes and ads, overseeing bills to be paid— as well as the interviews with local media regarding his new position.
If it feels a bit like Vassar has been thrown into the deep end, it’s for good reason. “[I have],” he says, “But it’s a really lovely pool to swim in.”
Dream job
Despite all the challenges Vassar now faces, it’s clear that he is happy in his new position, and for good reason— running an orchestra has been his dream job since childhood.
Growing up in the Glass City, young Vassar loved classical music, and the passion crystallized into a lifelong obsession when his parents took him to his first Toledo Symphony performance, which included a rendition of Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
“At the end, when they’re at Juliet’s tomb, the music just kind of disappears into the air, and it’s left to just this one piccolo,” Vassar said. “The entire music is down to one, very high instrument. And I remember being 9 or 10 years old, and leaning forward in my seat, trying to hear where the music stops and the silence begins.”
Returning to his true passion
From that day, Vassar knew he wanted to work with an orchestra. He volunteered for the Toledo Symphony throughout high school. When he went to Boston College (majoring in marketing, but with a minor in music history), he still found time to intern at the Toledo Symphony in the summer. Even as the “real world” beckoned and Vassar found work as a marketing consultant, he still held out hope that one day he could return to his true passion.
The first step to achieving his goal would come in 2008, when he relocated back to Toledo with his soon-to-be-wife. Vassar began once again volunteering a lot of time to the orchestra, becoming a fixture in the organization over the past few years.
“When they started to do the search for the president and CEO, my ears kind of perked up. This is the dream job I’d always wondered about. I didn’t know it was going to become available.”
Committed to the art
After encouragement from outgoing president Kathy Carroll and other members of the committee, Vassar threw his hat into the ring. After an extensive vetting process, Vassar was officially announced as new president and CEO on July 13. And even though expanding the Symphony’s audience and visibility is a long-term goal for Vassar, he said it’s equally important that the organization never stray too far from its roots.
“We have to stay committed to the art. We can’t say that, suddenly, we’re going to play country music and rock music and abandon Beethoven and Bach. The core focus is on the art, which means a lot to me, and that will remain the focus of this organization.”
