One of Northern California's busiest musicians, Music Director and Conductor Pete Nowlen has been a member of the UC Davis faculty since 1988 and currently serves as Director of Concert Bands. Pete currently holds Artistic Director posts with Camerata California Chamber Choir and the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band. He has been the California Youth Symphony Brass Coach since 1992 and summer camp co-director since 2007. 

Orchestral conducting credits include the Sacramento Symphony, U.C. Davis Symphony Orchestra, Sacramento State University Symphony Orchestra, Camellia Symphony, and Music in the Mountains Orchestra. Opera, ballet and theater conducting credits include La Boheme, Hansel und Gretel, Magic Flute, Amahl, Orpheus in the Underworld, La Finta Gardiniere, Billy the Kid, L’Histoire du Soldat, Façade, Little Shop of Horrors, Falsettos, Company, and Man of La Mancha.

Horn performance credits include the San Francisco Symphony, Opera and Ballet orchestras, Symphony Silicon Valley, Sacramento Symphony, Philharmonic and Opera, the Music in the Mountains Festival, and the International Orchestra of Italy.

Pete is the founder and driving force behind Sacramento’s VITA Academy, dedicated to revitalizing classical music through innovative community and audience engagement and school music programs.