Jackson Free Press

In seventh grade, Crafton Beck agreed to play an instrument he had never heard of before. Beck had wanted to play the trumpet, but the band director at his middle school in West Memphis, Ark., said to him: "Son, you can't play the trumpet, you've got braces. How about the oboe or the clarinet?" Beck had no idea what either instrument looked or sounded like, so when the band director suggested the clarinet, he agreed. Years later, at Ohio State University, where he had received a scholarship to study clarinet, Beck finally parted with his arbitrarily acquired instrument and found his true vocation—conducting.

"I took to it like a duck to water," he recalls. "Every music student has to take a conducting class, but I was just really good at it. I also had the intuitive realization that clarinet was not going to be enough for me for the rest of my life."

His leadership skills and enthusiasm for every aspect of musical learning—rather than for a single instrument—were the qualities that made Beck a perfect fit for conducting.

After college, Beck worked all over the country. He taught in Chicago, got his PhD in Cincinnati, served as assistant conductor for the Cincinnati Orchestra for six years, was the principal conductor and music director of an orchestra in Boca Raton, Fla., and worked as the principal conductor of the Lima Symphony Orchestra in Lima, Ohio.

Seven years ago, Beck came to Jackson to work with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. Beck, now 50, says: "I think that I've come full circle now. ... I grew up on a cotton farm on the Mississippi river near Hughes, Ark. I was raised in the country, in a typical southern rural family—all we had was each other. So coming back to Jackson and to the South feels like coming home."

Beck feels that his southern upbringing makes him a better conductor to help southern audiences, especially rural audiences, engage with classical music. "To really nurture your audience," he says, "you have to give them something to latch onto when the orchestra starts to play. That's why I always talk to audiences before a piece, even if it's just for a minute."

Having come from a rural background himself, Beck knows that classical music can bring joy to any human being. "People from all over the world perform classical music—everyone can relate to it. All of us are just waiting for someone to open up a door for us to enjoy classical music. I see that as part of my job as a conductor—to open doors," he says.

On Feb. 24, Beck will conduct "Bravo IV: From the Heart," which includes selections from Tchaikovsky, Debussy and Prokofiev at Thalia Mara Hall. Call 601-960-1565 for more information.