Orchestra Novo uses music to inspire creativity in its latest collaboration with ECHO.

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What inspires you?

For some people, it’s the beauty of nature. For others, it’s the love of the family around them. Still others find inspiration in their idols—old or present—guiding the way in their particular passion or field.

All of these and more are sources of what drives us to grow and create, but one thing, according to Michael Nowak, stands above: music.

“To take inspiration from music is therapeutic and maybe even cathartic for many people,” he said.

Nowak serves as the artistic director of Orchestra Novo, a music-based organization that in collaboration with the El Camino Homeless Shelter (ECHO) is bringing a special event to the Harold J. Miossi Performing Arts Center on Nov. 12.

Starting at 4 p.m., attendees will be witness to an immersive musical experience that features paintings made by those who are under the care of ECHO projected onto a screen. This will be combined with the sometimes sweet, sometimes somber musical flourishes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 conducted by Nowak—the same music that the artists listened to while they were painting.

“Filled with drama, this symphony runs the gamut of musical emotions, from rhythmic impulse and shadow to joy, hope, and ultimately, triumph—all written by a man whose own fate was his greatest challenge,” Orchestra Novo’s website proclaims.

Nowak said he feels music is meant to enhance or coax the inherent expression everyone has to offer.

“We go in and we play music for them and they listen to that music over and over again on loop until it starts to get into their psyche,” Nowak said. “You start to become part of it and with that, you start to think and create.”

The combination of seeing the art inspired by the music and hearing the music that inspired the art is not only immersive for the musicians and the artists but for the audience as well.

“The audience gets to experience the same music that inspired the paintings, and that connection you see them make is astounding,” Nowak said. “As the paintings appear on the screen behind the music, you see the happy chords matching the happier paintings and vice versa.”

And while Nowak knows the music that inspires the paintings is just as important as the paintings themselves, he noted that the most essential aspect of an event like this is the people.

“It’s an outlet for them—a way of creative expression they might not have otherwise and so they are the core of what makes this special,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for them to tell their stories nonverbally.”

Since its inception in 2015, Orchestra Novo—specifically its Co-Creation Project that this collaboration falls under—has worked alongside groups like the Grizzly Academy, SLO Alzheimer’s Association, Transitions-Mental Health Association, the Central Coast Autism Spectrum Center, the SLO Veterans Service Collaborative, and, of course, ECHO.

“It’s always been about bringing awareness to those who are underserved in SLO County,” Nowak said. “Orchestra Novo’s goal is to reach out to those who we know may or may not get much attention from the mainstream.”

He said that part of the reason this upcoming event was so important to him was it gave him the opportunity to work alongside what he considers essential efforts done by ECHO.

“I was very much overwhelmed by the great work they do for these folks looking to get back on their feet,” Nowak said. “They are 100 percent committed to making sure that they are getting to a better life.”

More than anything else though, Nowak says the artists’ interpretation of the music, through the eyes of someone who has struggled with homelessness, makes the pieces themselves as inspirational as the music that inspired them.

“Their spirit is as good as anyone gets,” he said. “Most people say live each day of your life as if it’s your last, but the reality is most of us don’t do that because we have day-to-day things we can afford to do, like getting gas or buying groceries, that give us a routine and make each day less impactful when we get to the end of it.”

Nowak and his Orchestra Novo team saw a deep level of daily gratitude firsthand when they began exploring the idea of working with ECHO for this year’s event.

“These people are just grateful for a meal and place to sleep, and it shows in how they express themselves,” he said. “We went in for a night—when the process of collaboration first started—and served dinner to close to around 90 people that participate in the program. … We treated them as colleagues and friends, and they did the same.”

It’s that human connection, brought out by a shared inspiration of music and subsequent creativity, that Nowak hopes will be on display for the audience—reminding them that no matter who or what you are, you can create something worthy of appreciation.

“You don’t have to have talent; you can paint a blob and that is just as amazing,” Nowak said. “What matters is, and what is important is, that you are creating.” Δ

Staff Writer Adrian Vincent Rosas is jamming out to Beethoven No. 5. Reach him at arosas@newtimesslo.com.

This article appears in Nov 2-12, 2023.