Clayton Wilson, 86; Music Professor Helped Found Symphony

Clayton Wilson, 86, a founding member of the Santa Barbara Symphony and a longtime professor of music at UC Santa Barbara, died Oct. 2 in a Goleta Valley convalescent center, where he was receiving therapy after a recent stroke.

The oboist and another member of the university faculty, violinist Stefan Krayk, cajoled about 50 musicians into forming the orchestra, which performed its first concert Dec. 12, 1953, at the city’s Lobero Theatre. The first conductor was Adolphe Frezin, a Belgian cellist then living in Santa Barbara.

Born in Ravenna, Ohio, Wilson grew up moving around the Midwest and lived in Japan as a young child with his parents, who were ministers. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Northwestern University and began his teaching career at the University of Texas at Austin.

He joined the UC Santa Barbara music faculty in 1947 and stayed until he retired in 1982.