The San Luis Obispo Symphony has warmly welcomed experienced music industry maven Lisa Nauful as its new assistant director and communications director.
In her new role, Nauful oversees all marketing and communications efforts, working to develop and implement strategies that help the orchestra promote its annual nine-month season, as well as further its missions and promote its various programs.
“We are so fortunate to have someone of Lisa’s caliber able to join our symphony staff,” said SLO Symphony Executive Director Jim Black. “Her experience as both a musician and marketer brings a unique perspective to our communications plans, and we are delighted that she is now a member of the staff.”
The SLO Symphony’s purpose is to support an outstanding community orchestra, to foster symphonic and chamber music education, and to contribute to the cultural and economic vitality of the Central Coast community. Since joining the orchestra as principal bassoonist, Nauful has already contributed to the nonprofit organization in many ways. In her new role, she brings over 20 years of music industry marketing and public relations experience, as well as a performance degree from the prestigious Eastman School of Music.
“I am thrilled that my new position with the symphony brings together my love and knowledge of symphonic repertoire with my experience in marketing and communications,” Nauful said, adding that her passion for orchestral music ignited when she began studying the bassoon at age 14. “Some people play golf or do yoga to relax, I practice my bassoon. When my friends were begging their parents for Chicago’s latest record, I was asking for the complete set of Brahms Symphonies with Eugene Ormandy.”
Prior to joining the SLO Symphony, Nauful built a successful career in the record industry after working as a professional musician for 15 years. She has worked with accomplished musical artists, such as Placido Domingo, Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson and Robert Shaw. As the senior director of publicity for Atlantic Records in New York, she oversaw the public relations efforts for the Teldec, Erato, Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings, Nonesuch and Atlantic Jazz labels.
She later worked as a US label manager for Warner Classics in Los Angeles, and eventually served as managing director for Bethune Theatredanse, a nonprofit organization that brings arts programming to special needs youth in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
A native of New Jersey, Nauful grew up listening to the lush sound of Ormandy’s Philadelphia Orchestra. As a young player she had the opportunity to study with Bernard Garfield, principal bassoonist of that orchestra. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music from The Eastman School of Music and a master’s degree in performance and orchestral repertoire from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
While in Texas, she often performed with the Dallas Symphony and was a contracted member of the Dallas Opera and Ballet Orchestras and the Dallas Chamber Orchestra. She has also appeared with the New York Pops, Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia and the American Symphony. Nauful also traveled to Europe for post-graduate study with Karl Ohlberger, former principal bassoonist of the Vienna Philharmonic.
For more information about Nauful or the SLO Symphony, visit the website here.