Photos Courtesy 2nd2Nunn Photography
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com
Dr. Cathy Brownlee conducted her final concert with the New Texas Symphony Orchestra on May 11. After 21 years at the helm, she said, it just seemed like the right time to pass the baton.
The NTSO performs at Moody Performance Hall, the only community orchestra based in the city of Dallas, although Brownlee said there are four or five other orchestras around the DFW area.
Among the things she’s proudest of, Brownless said, is the orchestra’s commitment to no barriers. Members of the orchestra, who volunteer their time and talent, don’t pay dues to participate, and the audience doesn’t pay for tickets.
“There are no financial barriers,” she said.
Although all members of the orchestra are volunteer, there are still some major expenses including renting the performance space and renting or buying music used during a performance. That’s covered by grants and donors, Brownlee said casually, as only someone with years of experience in the non-profit world possibly could. It’s one of the reasons replacing her will be a challenge.
The board has just begun the process of choosing Brownlee’s successor and have already had more than 50 people apply. She said they hope to have the new artistic director of NTSO in place in time for the kickoff of the fall season.
New music, new audiences
Brownlee’s conducting career in the community began when she was hired by Cathedral of Hope to take the church’s orchestra, that had only played for special occasions, and feature it in services each week in the new sanctuary that was about to open.
From that church gig, she became the artistic director of The Oak Lawn Band and then of The Women’s Chorus of Dallas. She had been doing some work with Tim Seelig, who was then the director of the Turtle Creek Chorale, when she created the NTSO.
“For the first five years, we were under the Chorale’s umbrella,” she said. “In the beginning, we had 15 or 20 members. Now we have about 80.”
For the smaller orchestra, she said, they used more accessible arrangements. And, “When we went to full orchestral pieces, that was exciting,” she said.
What excites Brownlee is introducing her audience to new composers. “I try to find things that are unexpected,” she said. “Look at the textbooks and you won’t find people of color [but] more than just dead white guys.”
To bring in new, young audiences, those audiences have to see themselves in the music, Brownlee explained. For example, Florence Price who was the first African-American woman recognized as a symphonic composer, was first performed by an orchestra in the 1930s. But in Brownlee’s repertoire, Price wasn’t the only woman composer or the only Black composer, but rather the first in a wide array of musicians featured.
For her final concert, she had the local jazz-fusion-experimental band Skinny Cooks play with the orchestra.
“I’m always looking for something different,” Brownlee said.
A life in music
Tony Daniel has known Brownlee since the 1980s. “We were band directors at rival high schools in North Texas,” he said. “I met her at a football game.”
After Brownlee brought Oak Lawn Band into the Lesbian and Gay Band Association, Daniel said, that organization was chosen to be part of President Bill Clinton’s first inauguration parade. And Brownlee was chosen to be a conductor of the mass band that marched.
“Her heart is so big,” Daniel said. “She’s such a good conductor. Her skills are beyond reproach.”
Daniel said all of Brownlee’s concerts have a common thread: They’re about social justice.
“She’s a mover and shaker for the DFW area when it comes to the arts,” he said.
Barb Nunn played for Brownlee for 16 years at Cathedral of Hope.
“She was always meticulously prepared,” Nunn said. “Nothing could surprise her.”
She said Brownlee was always specific about how she wanted something to sound, and she was great at relaying that. But, Nunn added, Brownlee always expected the best from her musicians.
“You don’t have to wait for me to ask you to play it right,” Nunn said Brownlee would tell them. And, Nunn said, “the main goal of every rehearsal was not to get ‘the look.’” She said anyone who’s performed with Brownlee knows “the look.”
Carson Nunnally is NTSO concertmaster. She’s been playing with the orchestra for eight years, starting when she recently moved to Dallas and was looking for a place where she could continue to play music. She found the orchestra and thought maybe it would be fun.
“Eight years later, it’s still fun,” Nunnally said. “I’ve been so impressed with her leadership style. She really cares about the people in her orchestra.”
She said Brownlee remembers what’s going on in people’s lives. To lighten the mood, she can be self-deprecating at times.
“The tone she sets,” Nunnally said, is, “We’re not there for work. We’re there to play music but we’re there to play. She brings us home to that.”
At each concert, she reminds the audience to create music, create art, Nunnally added.
“She’s one of those people who’ve made an impact on Dallas. People aren’t aware of it, but she’s a dreamer who found a way to make things happen.”
Now that she’s retiring, what will Brownlee do to occupy her time?
Well, she’s not entirely retiring. She’s continuing as professor of music and commercial music at Dallas College Cedar Valley Campus where she teaches commercial recording techniques among other music courses. She’ll be doing her classes online and plans to go to the campus one day a week.
On campus, Brownlee served on the school’s DEI committee. But like colleges and businesses across the country did, Dallas College did away with its DEI office. So now Brownlee will be serving on the newly created and completely different, but perfect for a musician, R&B committee — that’s Representation and Belonging.
Her wife, Elizabeth, retired earlier this year. The two said they’ll be spending more time together, and that they love keeping up and working on their five-acre property in southern Dallas County.
“We painted the house lavender because we can,” Brownlee said.
And she has an unhealthy relationship with her tractor, Dottie. She calls it a special bond.
“I’ve used the heck out of that tractor,” she said. “It’s my baby.”
One thing everyone agrees on is that Brownlee will be missed at NTSO.
“Being a woman conducting an orchestra, she never saw barriers that she couldn’t overcome,” Nunn said.
Daniel said, “I’m a big fan of hers and always have been.”
“She’s an institution in Dallas,” Nunnally said and added, “I really respect and admire her.”
I first met Cathy around the time she was conducting the orchestra at Cathedral of Hope and perhaps a bit before that. I am not a musician. I only know that whenever I had the opportunity to hear a group of musicians being conducted by Cathy it was a pleasure. More importantly though was that Cathy was always kind and generous. She just exuded those qualities. Congratulations and thank you!