Odd Jobs

Everybody changes careers. I’ve done it five times--not job changes, career changes. But none of my moves--from college teacher to publicist to arts administrator to stockbroker to journalist-critic--can match the dramatic shift Pacific Symphony principal horn player John Reynolds made.

“Originally, I was a motorcycle mechanic,” Reynolds said recently by phone from his home in La Crescenta. “I was always mechanically minded when I was a kid [growing up in Bakersfield].

“I had played horn since I was 10, but I didn’t do it as a profession until I moved down there and went to school at Cal State Northridge, when I was 21,” he said. “Then I really dug in hard.”

Reynolds is one of two Pacific principals who will be featured as soloists this weekend with the orchestra at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in a brass-heavy program titled “Classical Brass.” The other is trumpeter Burnette Dillon, who also made some career changes to get where he is, although his were more in line with what he started doing--music education.

Reynolds, at least, had his older brother as a model. Jeffrey Reynolds has spent the past 27 years as the bass trombone player in the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“I kind of grew up in his shadow. My mom got him to get me on French horn,” John Reynolds said. “I saw where he was. I thought it was possible for me, but it looked almost insurmountable until I decided my motorcycle business was not going to do it for me. I was already close to the top. I saw that wasn’t were I wanted to go.

“So I really dug in hard. I practiced my horn outdoors, where you don’t have acoustical walls to help you. I went through lots of training orchestras. I played in every symphony in town. Every gig I think you could do, I did.”

His career with the Pacific began as associate principal horn in 1987, the year he also began playing in Hollywood film and recording studios, thanks to the friendly influence of the orchestra’s then-principal horn, James Thatcher. Reynolds became principal horn in 1995, after winning an audition to fill the position when Thatcher left to concentrate on session work.

Reynolds, who is engaged to Pacific violinist Liane Mautner, likes playing in the orchestra, despite the long commute from La Crescenta and despite making far less money than he gets from studio work.

“I get to play with good musicians, a good conductor and play the repertoire. It also keeps me honest about my business because we can go to the studio and sometimes be there all day and not play anything.

“When I go to Orange County and play with the Pacific Symphony, I have to be on top of my technique. It forces me to keep on top of my playing ability.”

In recent years, Reynolds has abandoned riding a motorcycle. “It’s too dangerous,” he said. “I almost lost my French horn off my motorcycle. Car for me.”

He keeps his close relationship to his brother, however. “We’re jeeping buddies. We do duets on camping trips.”

*

Like Reynolds, Dillon, who started studying music education at Cal State Long Beach, said there was a time in his life when “I had no intention of performing.

In fact, the 52-year-old Los Angeles native said, “I quit playing for several years. I taught music in Iowa, in the public schools. Those were years I enjoyed very much. I always enjoyed what I was doing.”

After Iowa, he moved to Fresno to teach and to get a master’s degree. That led to a teaching post at the University of Oregon. While there, he joined a community orchestra.

“I got back into playing every day, and that made me want to do a little more playing, which was not possible at the university because it was not part of my job,” he said. “So I made a decision to come back to Los Angeles.”

Dillon, also a Hollywood studio musician, Dillon began playing with the Pacific in 1985. “We don’t do it for the money,” he said. “You’re doing what you set out to do in the beginning. You’re playing some music.” On Saturday, both men are playing their first solo concertos with the orchestra. For Dillon, the assignment is Tartini’s Piccolo Trumpet Concerto; for Reynolds, it’s Strauss’ First Horn Concerto.

“I’m always looking for opportunities to let people know what wonderful musicians we have,” said conductor Carl St.Clair. “It’s a great opportunity for me and a different music-making relationship with your players when they perform as soloists.”

Said Dillon: “People don’t hear the piccolo trumpet much at all. . . . I enjoyed the piece, listening to it, and I had played it about 25 years ago. It’s very light, not a real heavy piece.”

The Strauss concerto is “moderately virtuosic,” Reynolds said. “It’s a very early work. It’s very tonal and very audience-friendly. It takes you for a little journey, but not too far back into woods.”

Both are a little nervous about being in the limelight.

“This will be my first experience in front of the orchestra,” Reynolds said. “I’ve played at Hollywood Bowl, so I’m used to the outdoors. Still, this will be a new experience for me.”

Dillon agreed: “Classical concertos are reserved for guest artists that are renowned and that actually make a living as soloists, and obviously we don’t do that. Are we afraid of heights? I don’t know. I normally play in the back of the band. Being on the front of the stage is different.”

Of course, if it doesn’t pan out, they can always change careers again.

* Trumpeter Burnette Dillon and horn player John Reynolds will be soloists in concertos by Tartini and Strauss on the Pacific Symphony’s “Classical Brass” concert Saturday at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8800 Irvine Center Drive. Music director Carl St.Clair also will conduct works by Gabrieli, Shostakovich and Respighi. 8 p.m. $6.50 to $51. (714) 755-5799.