Pam Dassenko – Full Article
October 4, 2024
Pam Dassenko, Co-Concertmaster, Retired
As a member of the violin section, Pam’s first concert with the Symphony was in 1987. She and her husband Tom Miller had just moved to San Luis Obispo. “I was very pregnant at the time of the concert; it was near my due date. We were playing Brahms. It was lovely. I figured if my water breaks I could just sneak out the back!” She delivered their daughter Alex the next morning. Pam still has a fondness for Brahms.
Pam was born in California, her family soon moved to Walla Walla, Washington, and then to Uruguay for eight years where her parents were missionaries. Her father taught agriculture, and her mother taught voice, violin, piano, and was the choir director. “I’d hear my mother teaching piano. I was about three years old when I started to play. It was organic. I started on the violin when I was six, and started piano lessons at seven. My parents gave me so many opportunities in life. We didn’t have much money but we were rich in music, art, travel, and education. I had a great supportive family.”
The family returned to Walla Walla where Pam went to high school and played the flute, and in college where she studied music. She also played piano accompaniment for voice students. “It was a good experience and a great exercise in sight reading, and I played violin in the local symphony orchestra.” After deciding to not seek a career in music she began a career search. “I wanted to support myself. I thought about medicine and shadowed a physician. I considered law. I decided on dentistry, and weirdly enough I loved it!”
Pam and Tom (Tom was also born in California and moved to Vancouver B.C. as a child) moved to Southern California for Tom’s medical school, and Pam for her DDS. While in dental school Pam toured Norway, Sweden, and Denmark with The Little Orchestra, and played with the Riverside and Redlands Symphonies. They moved to Rochester, New York where Tom completed his residency in radiology, and he was on the faculty and staff at the University of Rochester. Pam practiced dentistry and was able to study at the Eastman School of Music there. When they were expecting Alex they decided it was time to move back to California.
You are not a player alone, you are aware of everyone and what they are doing.
Pam Dassenko
It’s not just about you.
Shortly after Alex was born Pam became the Symphony concertmaster. “We were playing great music, but the stress was becoming too much with raising an infant, and my dental practice that I owned. As concertmaster there is an additional layer of work with the bowing, seating, and of course playing the solos. I thought I should step aside and play in the violin section. I approached Mike (Michael Novak, then orchestra conductor) with the change. He suggested a co-concertmaster solution, and until 2015 when I retired Paul Severtson and I shared the co-concertmaster chair.”
“Paul and I shared the utmost respect and care for each other. It could have easily become a competitive situation, but we supported each other. We set a tone, we strived to be equals. We wanted the best for each other and for the orchestra. We were strong together and strong in our separate ways. It was collegial with Paul. I was comfortable with the leadership role, but within the team. You are not a player alone, you are aware of everyone and what they are doing. It’s not just about you.”
“The Symphony was a big part of my life. It fills a special role in the community by offering excellent classical music and educational opportunities for young people through the Youth Symphony. It was important to support it, and to show up at all of the events. I credit the Symphony for fostering my love of Mahler. Every time we played Brahms or Stravinsky I was in heaven. I’m a music omnivore. There isn’t much I dislike. The tours to Spain and Australia were great, and I loved the end of season when we performed skits and spoofed each other.”
For many years Pam volunteered as a coach, board member, and board president for the SLO Youth Symphony. “It was during my term as President that we faced the need for a more stable management system that would work for the Youth Symphony not just based on whichever parent was willing to volunteer to run and operate the organization. We first contracted with the Symphony to do our clerical work and office management, then we finally started the process of merging with the San Luis Obispo Symphony. I’m so proud of what the Youth Symphony and its many ensembles have accomplished and continue to accomplish!”
“I gave playing in the Symphony a good long run, but the pain in my neck from playing and my dental practice was doing damage. I couldn’t play or practice as much as I needed to keep up my skills. I didn’t want to sort of play, I wanted to play well. I stepped down as co-concert master in 2015, and played occasionally in the section until 2020. I miss the players, my friends, even those Thursday night rehearsals after work. Feeling tired and out of energy. But those rehearsals fed me, I’d no longer feel tired.”
When asked what she’s doing now she said “I play piano. I really wanted to get better, to play the Goldberg Variations, Chopin, Mozart, so two years ago I started piano lessons with Dr. Terry Spiller. There is so much piano repertoire, I could play a new piece every week and not run out of music for the rest of my life.” Pam and Tom frequently travel to Ann Arbor to visit their daughter, son-in-law, and two-year-old grandson. She plans to work their way through a travel bucket list, and her reading list.
Fun fact about Pam. In high school she entered, on a lark, a contest, and received the Homemaker of Tomorrow Honorable Mention Award from Betty Crocker. She still has the plaque, and it hangs on her wall at home.