LAYTON – Jonathan Nish, who works as a criminal defense attorney by day, says leading a local orchestra gives him a respite from the darkness.
For director Jonathan Nish, who works as a criminal defense attorney by day, Skyward Symphony offers a respite from the darkness.
“I don’t think I could do what I do every day without this,” he said before the Skyward Symphony performed its free summer concert at Layton Commons Park on Wednesday. “It keeps me sane.”
The group of over 70 musicians played the music of John Williams, including pieces from Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Star Wars and more. The seats in the amphitheater were filled to capacity, and spectators crowded onto the lawn behind it to hear the group play.
Nish said he has been practicing law for 11 years, specializing in criminal defense and the death penalty. “I remember how horrible the first five years were,” he said before the symphony’s formation in 2018.
He recently represented Kane Thomas Fairbank, a man who pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of two women at Mueller Park in Bountiful. During the sentencing, Davis County Prosecutor Richard Larsen called Fairbank “without question the most fearsome defendant I have ever encountered because of his willingness and desire to kill.”
“The days can get very, very dark for me,” Nish said. “This is my light. This is where I come to let go of all that. This is my second family.”
According to Brittney Kinghorn Hanson, the group’s president, that attitude also extends to many of the volunteers who participate in the weekly rehearsals and shows, which are always free to the public.
“This place is a safe place for all members of our symphony orchestra,” Hanson said. “We have a lot of people from different backgrounds and we invite everyone to bring their authentic self here and be themselves.”
The orchestra’s founders came together in March 2018 when musicians were needed to help a group of young single adults from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints produce Rob Gardner’s oratorio “Lamb of God,” which became the Skyward Symphony.
The first concert was at the Edward Kenley Centennial Amphitheater, the same amphitheater where they performed Wednesday night. “The group was much smaller back then,” Nish said. “We barely had 40 people on stage. Now there are over 70.” The group’s members range in age, from Nish’s 13-year-old daughter McKenzie on cello to players in their late 60s, and they come from all sorts of backgrounds. But there is a bit of a lack of interest from the younger generations.
“We’ve found that it’s not necessarily dying out, but it’s not growing as it should. Every generation seems to get a little bit smaller,” said Nish. He hopes exposure to this music will help encourage children to learn an instrument.
Sarah Pehrson, the group’s concertmaster, said, “That’s how I got started in music, because my parents are musicians. I grew up going to their concerts.” Her oldest sister and parents are in the symphony and “that’s just one of the things that bonds our family,” she said.
The symphony will perform a Christmas concert and invite young musicians to play with them. There will also be a Disney-themed concert in Abravanel Hall in the spring.
“We don’t charge money,” Nish said. “We believe orchestral music belongs to the community and is essential to it.”
