Symphony concertmaster departing

The Omaha Symphony is about to lose its concertmaster.

Amy Sims, who has led the orchestra's first violin section for the past 10 years, announced Tuesday that she would not return for the 2010-11 season, which begins in September. She plans to pursue a freelance career specializing in early music performance.

“I'm heading to Minnesota on Thursday to pick up a period bow,” said Sims. “You need the period-instrument equipment in order to audition for jobs.”

Sims, a California native, first became interested in early music performance while a student at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. She caught the early-music bug again two years ago, when St. Cecilia Cathedral music director Marie Rubis-Bauer launched the Omaha Baroque Festival.

“I going to be sorry to see Amy leave Omaha,” said Rubis-Bauer. “But we'll definitely have her come back to make music with us.”

Thomas Wilkins, the Omaha Symphony's music director, said he was surprised about Sims' decision and wished her well.

“She's going to follow her dream,” he said. “It takes a lot of courage to do something like that.”

Wilkins said the orchestra will hold auditions in the near future and select three finalists. Those finalists will each perform in two concerts a MasterWorks and a Pops program next season.

“I'm going to be looking for someone with a real rich, Philadelphia Orchestra kind of string sound,” said Wilkins.

As leader of the violins, the concertmaster is widely regarded as the second-most-important position in an orchestra after the music director.

The concertmaster determines the phrasing for the rest of the violins to follow. She also establishes the overall sound quality of strings, which in an ensemble such as the Boston Symphony is bright and sparkling and in Philadelphia is rich and creamy.

Contact the writer:

444-1076, john.pitcher@owh.com

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