A new and improved look and sound may soon be coming to Central Iowa. The high-profile Central Iowa Symphony recently set out to hire a new music director, and they found him in Iowa State Symphony conductor Mark Laycock.

Laycock has been ISU’s Director of orchestral activities since last year. He decided to pursue the position of the Central Iowa Symphony’s music director when he heard the orchestra’s previous director, Paula Holcomb, would be leaving.

“She did an excellent job of collaborating with other art organizations in the area,” Laycock says. “There was a great deal of outreach and community service.”

In addition to conducting the 60-person orchestra, Laycock’s position holds other responsibilities.

“My job is to set the tone for the entire organization. I’m responsible for the symphony’s artistic growth and development,” he says.

Laycock brings a lot of experience to his new position. He holds a masters degree from the University of Nebraska and is currently finishing a doctorate from the University of Northern Colorado.

Laycock is also an accomplished trombonist, taught secondary strings in Las Vegas for five years and conducted a community orchestra for four years.

One of the programs Laycock plans to begin this season is titled “Concert Conversations,” an informal discussion of the concert’s program, which is open to anyone who is interested. Discussions will include anecdotes about composers and their lives and how the music of the evening was composed.

There are also plans in the works for a series of summer pops concerts, with themes that include American, Broadway and movie music.

This year, Laycock hopes to increase the number of concerts held per season, which is now four, and he also has high hopes for the orchestra itself.

“I want to increase the visibility of the orchestra and develop the orchestra artistically so that the people who come to hear us will be impressed by the musicianship that they hear on stage,” Laycock says.

Laycock will remain the director of orchestral activities at ISU, a position that includes conducting the university symphony orchestra and supervising student teachers in instrumental music.

“I’m very happy working at the university level,” he says. “The students give a lot to me in terms of energy and inspiration. I hope to always be working with young people.”