When Gerard Kern ’67 left his long career selling public safety radio systems used by police and fire departments, he planned his next act to fill his life with purpose.
So in 2011—one year after his retirement from General Electric—the longtime clarinetist founded the Seattle Wind Symphony, an all-volunteer group of mostly professional musicians whose concerts feature top musical guests from around the country.
More than a decade later, Kern, 83, who served as symphony president until 2018 and is now president emeritus, is proud the symphony has found the dedicated audience he believed would embrace it.
Being a part of the wind symphony has led to many joyous experiences for Kern. “One of the greatest thrills about my association with the symphony has been introducing them and playing to sold-out houses of approximately 2,500 people at Benaroya Hall,” he says; the group performs once a year at the home of the Seattle Symphony. He also got a kick out of introducing the audience to two other men named Gerard, well-known guest conductor Gerard Schwartz and Puget Sound music professor Gerard Morris.
Through the symphony, Kern also fulfilled his dream of conducting a symphony orchestra. “It was scary and amazing,” he recalls of the 2016 event, “which was funny because I am used to being in front of people. But for me, just the idea was kind of overwhelming.”
He credits his wife, Carol Pedersen Kern ’67, with suggesting he be given the honor to mark the band’s fifth anniversary. The couple met in a university religion class when he was a business major with a music minor and she was an education major; they have been married for 56 years and have three daughters and 10 grandchildren.
Although he no longer plays clarinet with the wind symphony, Kern still performs with the Bellevue Community Band, where he says the expectations are not as rigorous. “At 83,” he says, “less rigorous is good.”
