After 35 Years, ASO Musician Proud to Call Birmingham Home
The Alabama Symphony Orchestra features 53 full-time musicians from all over the world, each with a unique story. Kevin Kozak moved to Birmingham 35 years ago to join the group and currently plays 2nd horn. Mary Scott Hodgin speaks with Kevin about his journey to Alabama and why he has remained with the ASO for over three decades.
Kevin Kozak remembers the moment that would shape his career. He was a young student, taking piano lessons at the time, when he discovered a new sound. “One time they brought a brass quintet in and they demonstrated their instruments, and I remember really liking the horn,” Kozak recalls. What started out as a full-blown hobby would become his life. “I decided that it was this great dream of mine to play professionally in an orchestra.”
After freelancing for a year in New York City, Kozak auditioned with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. Despite having no connection to the area, he accepted an offer with the ASO in 1981 and relocated to Birmingham. He has been here ever since. Kozak says, over the years, by living and performing in the same place, he has found a deeper meaning by bringing music to his community. He even remained in the area when the symphony went bankrupt in 1993. During this time, Kozak performed throughout the US to pay the bills, but it wasn’t the same. “That really felt funny,” he says, “to be playing these wonderful concerts around the country, but they were not for my city, my community. So to be on a stage again, to play for the people that, you know my home, that was very gratifying and remains so.”
The ASO started back up again in 1997 and Kozak eagerly returned to the stage. It has now been 35 years since he first started and he says, today, things are different. People can stream concerts online and watch them on a cell phone or computer. But despite future challenges faced by groups like the ASO, Kozak says a community symphony offers something that is not so easily replaced. “I think the symphony orchestra is an instrument, like a piano of 88 keys,” says Kozak. “You know the combination of how they’re used and the colors that are produced, that’s an instrument, and a symphony orchestra is an instrument. And it’s made up of human beings in your community who are all striving to collaborate with you to produce a beautiful experience.”
In Birmingham, that experience kicks off this weekend with the beginning of the ASO’s Masterworks series for the 2016-17 season.
Mentally ill people are stuck in jail because they can’t get treatment. Here’s what’s to know
Hundreds of people across Alabama await a spot in the state’s increasingly limited facilities, despite a consent decree requiring the state to address delays in providing care for people who are charged with crimes but deemed too mentally ill to stand trial. But seven years since the federal agreement, the problem has only worsened.
Ivey appoints Will Parker to Alabama Supreme Court
Parker fills the court seat vacated by Bill Lewis who was tapped by President Donald Trump for a federal judgeship. The U.S. Senate last month confirmed Lewis as a U.S. district judge.
How Alabama Power kept bills up and opposition out to become one of the most powerful utilities in the country
In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators.
No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS
The board that oversees Alabama Public Television is considering disaffiliating from PBS, ending a 55-year relationship.
Nonprofit erases millions in medical debt across Gulf South, says it’s ‘Band-Aid’ for real issue
Undue Medical Debt has paid off more than $299 million in medical debts in Alabama. Now, the nonprofit warns that the issue could soon get worse.
Roy Wood Jr. on his father, his son and his new book
Actor, comedian and writer Roy Wood Jr. is out with a new book -- "The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir." He writes about his experience growing up in Birmingham, losing his dad as a teenager and all the lessons he learned from various father figures throughout his career.
