Ten months after George Zack announced he is retiring from his post as music director of the Lexington Philharmonic, the orchestra’s audience gets its first peek at the possible future this week.

First up among the candidates to succeed the Phil’s conductor of 35 years is Phoenix Symphony assistant conductor Kayoko Dan. The 29-year-old musician is seeking her first post as a music director. Friday night, she’ll conduct Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Suite from Sleeping Beauty, with guest dancers from the Lexington Ballet, and Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, with guitar soloist Pablo Villegas.

In today’s paper, we check in with the conductor search, talking to several committee members about how it’s going. And Friday, we’ll preview the concert with a profile of Kayoko Dan. But, as a sneak preview, here’s a transcript of our phone interview with Dan earlier this month:

Copious Notes: What got you interested in the Lexington Philharmonic?

Kayoko Dan: I was in Jacksonville in March doing the National conductors preview. Every year, the American Symphony Orchestra League hosts an event where they pick eight American conductors to be showcased in front of an audience that consists of people looking for music directors. The Lexington Philharmonic was there. And Peter (Kucirko, the executive director of the Philharmonic) called me and asked me if I was interested in Lexington, and in a heartbeat, I said, "Of Course."

CN: It’s a two-year search, which would drive most people who are used to applying for a job, and hearing the results a few days or a few weeks later, nuts. What is it like knowing you’ll be coming and auditioning and meeting everybody, but the decision won’t be made until spring 2009?

KD: It’s not actually so bad. I’m taking this as just an opportunity to conduct more than a job audition. I can’t really control their decisions anyway. The only the thing I can control is how I conduct, and how I interact with people.

A lot of it has to do with chemistry, too. Some orchestras I go conduct, we get along great, musically. Some others, I go conduct, and the chemistry isn’t right, and it’s kind of awkward. You can’t really determine that until you get up there on the podium and start working.

CN: So, is that part of the process, you’re trying out the orchestra to make sure this is a fit you would be happy with?

KD: It is. And I usually enjoy conducting any group anyway. So, I’m not looking to find any problems. It’s more like they are looking for someone to lead the organization musically and artistically. It’s really for them to figure out if any one of us will be the right fit for the town and the city and the community. I can prepare all I want. But it’s really how it feels and the relationship with the people.

I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve never been to Kentucky. I hear it’s really beautiful. I’m looking forward to seeing some green. It’s very brown and pink out here.

CN: Tell us how you got into music and found your way to conducting.

KD: Getting into music was pretty easy. My neighbor when I was 3 years old was playing piano, and she was older, so anything she did was cool. So, I asked my mom if I could take piano and she said sure.
But my parents were bankers, so every three years they moved. So then I would take a year off of piano, so I never got very good it.

In coming to the United States — I was 8 years old — I didn’t speak a word of here English. It was very scary. I joined the school choir. It was my only way to sort of be . . . I was really shy at school because I didn’t speak any English. Singing in choir was the only way I could speak out and express myself.
Music has been a really important way to keep my sanity moving from city to city and to keep some consistency in my life. In coming to middle school, I picked up flute and played in middle school, high school and college, and the more I got into it, I fell in love with the symphonic music. I played in high school orchestra.

You haven’t met me yet, but I’m really little. I’m about 5-feet tall. People wouldn’t look at me and guess that I’m a conductor. But I have a sense of responsibility, and I like to be in charge. My dog is a Border Collie, and I’m kind of like her, because I feel like I have to make sure I keep my eyes on everyone and make sure everyone is safe.  Conducting music is being a leader of the whole team and being motivating enough that people want to play with you and feel inspired in their playing.

CN: What is your dog’s name?

KD: Maggie Moo. She was actually a pound puppy. I volunteer at the dog shelter in Phoenix. My job is to walk dogs, which is hardly a job. I found her there. Her name was Sierra. But being a Japanese person, two r’s in a row was kind of hard to pronounce, so I changed her name to Maggie Moo. She looks like a cow. She has short hair, even though she’s a Border Collie, and there’s an ice cream place in Phoenix and a couple in Texas, where I grew up, called Maggie Moo’s. And their mascot is cow, so I thought it would be a cute name for her.

CN: Talking about community involvement brings up the question quite a few people in Lexington have been asking since hearing that the next conductor could be a commuter conductor who flies in for the concert and is then off with another orchestra. Do you have a sense of what you might do if you were to get the job?

KD: Most likely I would move to Lexington, because it would be hard for me to commute from Phoenix. Luckily, right now, I am an assistant with the Phoenix Symphony, but they are really supportive of my career choices and they are really supportive in that if I get a job as music director somewhere, they’ll say, "OK, see you." They won’t try to hold me to a contract. They’ll say, "Good luck with the next step in your life." They’re always willing to help me out with guest conducting, and it’s been very helpful. I feel free. I only have a dog, so I don’t have to worry about family relocating.

CN: After deciding you wanted to pursue conducting, what did you do?

KD: After my second or third year of college at the University of Texas, I decided this is the path I wanted to pursue. I never dreamt I would become a professional conductor. I went to my conducting teacher and asked, "Will you teach me?" I had already been through the two semesters of conducting courses, so I convinced my teacher to have a third semester.

There were about five or six people who were interested, so we formed a class. The next semester, I wanted to have a recital, so I gathered 40 of my friends to form an orchestra, and had a conducting recital. Then, I decided I needed to go to graduate school.

I chose Arizona State University, because they have three orchestras there. The teaching assistant position I wanted and I won put you in charge of one of those orchestras as the main conductor. It’s like playing an instrument. If you don’t practice, you won’t get better. I could have gone to some more established conservatories, but there, I would have just watched teachers conduct. I couldn’t have done it myself.

CN: Tell us about the experience of that first orchestra and what you discovered about yourself.

KD: The third orchestra was mainly music education majors and non-majors. It felt real to me, because it wasn’t the music majors who aspired to be professional musicians. I was dealing with average people. They were there because they wanted to be there. It was a great experience. I felt a responsibility, especially to the music educators, because they were going to take their experience of being in the orchestra and take it to their classroom. So, I felt like whatever influence I could give, they could influence their students. I felt like my impact was real. It’s hard to describe.

I really wasn’t experienced as a conductor, and if I did something crazy that was impossible, they would kindly tell me. They were a big help. We were learning together.

CN: Directing that orchestra, were you in charge of programming, and what did you discover about yourself in that role?

KD: That was really challenging. It was a really difficult orchestra to program for, because of the different levels of playing going on. I always tried to program stuff that was standard repertoire so that if they were to teach that music, they would have it under their belts. But I also programmed challenging but attainable music so they wouldn’t get bored. I also wanted to make sure they sounded good at the concerts. I found myself liking a lot of Russian music and French music. I particularly like works of Debussy and Ravel. The colors are fantastic.

CN: Of course you have a program set here. I understand you worked with Dr. Zack to select the program. How did it come together?

KD: They suggested this program, and I said, "These are all fantastic pieces. Let’s go with it." It was a really easy process, actually.

The Stravinsky Pulcinella Suite is some of the best music in the world. The Rodrigo I always wanted to do. It’s actually a very challenging piece. It doesn’t look hard on the paper, but it’s very challenging. And the Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty is beautiful. We’ll have the ballet company with us, and that will be fun. I always like collaboration.

CN: The ballet will be a little different for MasterClassics audiences, but it’s fairly common on our pops and family concerts. A lot of the responsibilities for an assistant conductor fall to those pops and family concerts. Are those kinds of collaborations something you’re used to?

KD: Yes. It’s always very chaotic and fun. There are always surprises that happen on stage, and it’s fun. I like those added elements.

CN: It’s no secret the obituary for classical music in America gets written over and over again. What do you think the state of classical music in the United States is?

KD: I really don’t know what’s happening in the schools, but I do know there is less funding for arts education. But when I do kids shows or go speak to the schools, they are so excited about music. When I announced the other day, "The next piece is Beethoven’s Fifth," they started cheering for Beethoven’s Fifth. Kids like this music. I just feel it’s unfortunate the funding is limited to have arts in the schools. I hope there will be enough motivation and encouragement for those children to have instruments in their hands. That’s the key, for them to have instruments in their hands and have participated in the music to enjoy classical music. I don’t think it’s dying. Kids like classical music, and if they have instruments in their hands, it can come back.

Beethoven’s music has been around forever, and we still love it.

CN: What kind of role do you think the music director of a city’s orchestra can play in encouraging music education?

KD: Music educators get really excited when they feel included in the process. So I like them to pitch in their two cents in coming up with education concerts, or they can come have a workshop with the musicians or myself, and have some kind of committee that includes music educators.
I actually go around before a concert to talk to them about what’s going to be in the concert and etiquette at concerts and small steps that really help. Other times, I feel that arts organizations say, "This is what we’re going to give you. Take it." Somehow, we’re missing something. We need to go directly to the children and communicate directly with them.

CN: I was reading that you recently participated in Leonard Slatkin’s program in Washington this summer and you’ve worked with Kurt Masur. Tell us about those experiences.

KD: Those were amazing experiences because they are huge figures in the conducting world, so just being in their presence is amazing. I wanted to cry the first time I met Kurt Masur. Actually, the week that I was there, (legendary, and now deceased cellist Mstislav) Rostropovich was in town and just happened to drop by to say hello to Kurt Masur. In one room, we had Rostropovich and Kurt Masur, and I said, "This doesn’t happen in Phoenix, on a daily basis." It was great to be with all these maestros I’ve admired for years and I have their recordings. It’s really inspiring to make music at that level. It’s also very intense. While we’re in that moment, it’s really overwhelming, and it takes a month or two to figure out, "Wow, that was a really amazing experience." That hardly ever happens.

CN: One of the things that has been talked about recently with Marin Alsop taking over the Baltimore Symphony is women on the podium. Do you feel like that’s still an issue, or is it becoming less so?

KD: I think it’s becoming less so. I know I will have some kind of challenge, being a woman, and also being a minority doesn’t help either, or being young. I have three strikes against me. But I can turn it around and make it a positive thing and make it an element of surprise sort of. I have a feeling the musicians don’t judge me because I’m a woman. When they first saw me, tiny, they may think, "can she do this?" I never have had a problem because I’m a woman or I’m young. Once I step on the podium, they see me as a musician and a conductor.
I’m really honored the Lexington Philharmonic called me up and asked me to conduct.

CN: Being 29, have you felt that people look at you and think, "She’s awfully young. What does she know about this grand old music?"

KD: I was afraid of that, as well. But I don’t feel it. Maybe I’m just a little thick skinned. I’m a pretty happy person, so maybe I just ignore the negative energy around me. I never felt a prejudice against me for that.

If anything, I’ve felt people are very supportive of me because I’m young, and they’re rooting for me.