Newton Hart Wayland (November 5, 1940 – September 5, 2013) was an American orchestral conductor, arranger, composer and keyboardist.
The product of an elite musical education, Wayland was known for his dedication to performing for the broadest possible audience.
[1] During a professional musical career that began in 1963, Wayland appeared as a conductor with symphony orchestras across the United States.
In 1978, Wayland was one of a select handful of people in consideration to succeed the longtime Boston Pops Conductor, Arthur Fieldler.
“I don’t want to rest on my laurels and do the same old stuff I know works.”[8] He said “live performance can be visual and exciting – an event; a festive occasion, in a variety of ways: improvised now happenings, audience clap-alongs and sing-alongs.”[9] The Boston Herald dubbed Wayland “a musician who refuses to be tied down to a single category.”[10] His adventurous nature was exhibited throughout his conducting career, such as when he used garden hoses as instruments in his concert tribute to Arthur Fieldler.
[11] A gifted pianist and harpsichordist, Wayland was the first-call keyboardist for the Boston Symphony throughout the 1960s and provided keyboards for his own performing and recording groups throughout his career.
A Boston Symphony Orchestra highlight was his accompaniment of soprano Beverly Sills as the harpsichordist for the Orchestra's staged performance of the U.S. premiere of the original, 1912 version of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal's "Ariadne Auf Naxos."
[14] Other notable performances include: Wayland told the Santa Barbara News-Press, “as for my own musical style, you could say I am Bartokian, Hindemithian –with a considerable dose of jazz.” In the 1960s, Wayland formed a performing group called “The Great All-American Music Machine.” The group consisted of Wayland on keyboards, Frank Nizzari (alto, soprano, baritone saxophone), Ken Wenzwll (electric bass, trumpet, trombone, fluegelhorn, flute), John Chiodini (guitar, bass, banjo), Fred Budda (percussion), Jan Curtis (Mezzo-soprano), and David Evitts (Baritone).