BY CELIA R. BAKER
Salt Lake Tribune

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 6, 2010 5:55 PM

Holly Gornik's life as the Utah Symphony's English-horn player is marked by long stretches of boredom interspersed with moments of "absolute panic and terror" when she picks up a cold instrument to play highly exposed solo passages. Such is life for players of the oboe's alto-voiced cousin. Composers employ its haunting voice sparingly, but always with special intent.

This weekend, Gornik performs the famous second-movement solo in Dvorák's SymphonyNo. 9 ("From the New World") -- after sitting silent through the symphony's first movement. It's the tune concertgoers are most likely to be humming when they leave Abravanel Hall.

Dvorak, a native of 19th-century Bohemia, borrowed inspiration from American folk music and spirituals in writing the "New World" Symphony -- a beloved orchestral standard. The indelible melody he conceived for the extended English-horn solo was later adapted as a stirring folk song, "Goin' Home."

"I've probably performed it about 45 times in my career, and I never tire of it," Gornik said. "It's a beautiful rendition of a folk song. It's so melancholy, and such a lovely piece."

Gornik, a native Utahn, has been a member of the Utah Symphony's oboe section since 1973. Previously, she performed with the orchestra in the 1960s before taking a position with the San Antonio Symphony for three years.

She is married to Utah Symphony trumpeter Edward Gornik, whom she met while earning a master's degree from the music school at Northwestern University. "It was love at first sight," she said.

The musical marriage offers the advantage of shared experiences and the convenience of traveling to and from work together, but created challenges when the couple's two grown children were young. "We both had the same schedule, so we had to hire a full-time nanny," Gornik said. "That was the hardest part about it."

Gornik was equally interested in art and music during her youth and received scholarships in both areas upon high-school graduation. Her love of mechanical things drew her to the oboe as a child, and later the English horn. It's a lucky trait for a musician who must maintain finicky instruments and supply them with a constant stream of handmade reeds.

Her career includes teaching, recording and performing on oboe and English horn, but she never lost her love for visual art. Painting and sculpture serve as antidotes to the stress of playing an instrument that stands out whenever it is heard. "I view it as therapy for me. My job can be exceedingly intense," she said.

Gornik's stone sculptures and richly hued landscapes are displayed at Salt Lake City's Local Colors Gallery. For her, art and music are dual compulsions that spring from an inner need to be creative.

"I have to play the music," she said. "It's something inside, not a choice. Like painting -- I have to paint. I've let myself down if I don't have some expression in that way."

Utah Symphony assistant principal flutist Lisa Byrnes enjoys both aspects of Gornik's artistic expression. She attends her colleague's art shows and finds similarities between Gornik's painting and playing.

"There is a lot of color in her painting, but it is very tonal," Byrnes said. "It's the same when she plays --there is a variety of color in her playing."

The solo in this week's concerts "really shows off Holly's strong points because it is kind of like a landscape painting," Byrnes said. "It is very expansive. Her experience on the instrument really comes through in a solo like that. She knows just what to do with it, and it's a pleasure to hear her."