Moos, Mozart and More

The bumper sticker says it all: Even Cowboys Love Mozart.

In other words, Symphony No. 27 can go up against the Coors Light Destruction Derby and, if not win, at least draw a credible crowd.

And so it is that this tucked-away town--where the university specializes in dairy science and cows mosey along the freeway--has for 27 years hosted an annual Mozart festival.

Though the event draws acclaimed musicians and national notice, civic leaders fret that San Luis Obispo has never really gotten credit as an artsy kind of place. Central Coast rivals such as Carmel and Santa Barbara have managed to paint themselves as sophisticates, but San Luis Obispo is still called SLO-town even by locals--still more hick than hip. Tourists come here, of course, but mainly for the scenery or the vineyards.

“It’s not,” festival publicist Charles Crellin said, “like you think of this place as a hot spot for the arts.”

This year, however, could be a breakthrough.

The three-week Mozart Festival, which runs through Aug. 3, is expanding in a big way to take advantage of the local pride and joy: a soaring new Performing Arts Center with acoustics so good the main concert hall qualifies as a recording studio.

Ticket sales are up 30%. Folks are buzzing about an upcoming performance by banjo band Bela Fleck. And the festival’s grand finale, soloist Jeffrey Kahane playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, has been sold out for weeks.

Sure, the Professional Bull Rider’s Tour at the nearby Mid-State Fair may siphon attendance from the Paraguayan harp concert or the Schubert Quartet. But San Luis Obispo’s boosters have reason to hope that this year’s Mozart fest will draw record crowds.

More important, they are certain that the Performing Arts Center will impress all comers--and persuade them to spread the word that San Luis Obispo’s arts scene is worth exploring year round.

“A lot of people still think of this as a cow town, but we’ve really grown beyond that,” said Jennifer Best, communications director for the Chamber of Commerce.

The Performing Arts Center started out as a purely artistic venture, “but the more we’ve gotten into it, the more we see it as a healthy component of our economic development effort,” City Administrator John Dunn said.

To be sure, Dunn does not want to discard the rural image altogether. After all, many tourists visit San Luis Obispo (population 43,000) precisely to get away from big-city bustle. But picturesque views only go so far.

The $31-million hall that inspired this image-buffing opened on the Cal Poly campus last fall, funded by the city, the California State University system and private donations. It is a voluptuous structure of chrome and steel that some think looks like an airport terminal. (Others insist it resembles a spaceship.)

Inside, the center is far from glamorous: The furnishings are strictly utilitarian. The small pavilion theater could be mistaken for a high school gym, with its concrete block walls, glossy wood floor and standard-issue office clock. The 1,300-seat concert hall has a big empty space where a pipe organ will go if there is ever money to buy one.

Still, the Performing Arts Center has been a roaring success. Broadway shows and big-name stars have made it a regular tour stop between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Local groups such as the symphony and the Master Chorale have performed in the hall as well. Their directors say they have stretched their repertoires to more challenging pieces, inspired by the sweet acoustics.

The biggest stretch of all, however, has been moving the Mozart Festival into the center.

In years past, individual concerts were lucky to draw crowds of 650. This year, festival Director Clifton Swanson committed to staging 10 of the 21 major concerts in a hall with twice that capacity.

Then he sat back, terrified.

“All of a sudden we were thinking, ‘Holy mackerel!’ ” said Swanson, a Cal Poly music professor who founded the Mozart Festival in 1971 and has been its guiding spirit ever since.

The tension increased when festival fans began calling in protest, irate at the thought that the big bland Performing Arts Center might strip the concerts of their intimate feel. They wanted assurances that they would still be able to hear music in traditional venues such as Mission San Miguel, 35 miles north of the city, and tiny Chapel Hill Church.

“People love the ambience of those places,” Crellin said. “The acoustics are not so good, but the atmosphere makes up for it.”

Hoping to satisfy everyone, Swanson made sure to schedule some top-notch concerts at churches and missions.

The compromise seems to be working.

“We’re really quite amazed,” Swanson said. “To our delight, people do want to come.”

The trick will be convincing those people to return to San Luis Obispo--and not just for next year’s Mozart Festival. Local groups play in the concert hall year-round; the professional touring season will rev up in the fall. The city has also put together a walking tour of galleries to showcase the visual arts.