Perhaps it's his vision that explains why this Willow Glen resident has experienced career longevity in the performing arts industry. As many would attest, thriving within this fickle industry can be difficult, but Bales has been faithful to his love for the arts since he graduated in the late 1960s from UC-Berkeley with a bachelor's in dramatic arts.

Shortly thereafter he headed east to the heart of the cultural arts world—New York City—and, with little money, no job and only a friend's couch to sleep on, began looking for an entree into the world of performing arts.

After knocking on a number of doors, he landed one of his first gigs, with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, a modern dance group. The then-twentysomething Bales worked as an assistant stage manager, traveling with the company all over the world, from England to Istanbul. During his time with the company, modern dance was "indigenous" to the United States, and people would pack sold-out auditoriums overseas to see a type of dance that differed from ballet.

He remembers one show in London that was held over and he needed to find replacement parts for some of the props, but doing so turned into quite a project. During the performance there was supposed to be a "big explosion" on stage, as part of the background special effects, he says. To prepare for it, Bales needed more flash powder, but he couldn't find the same mixture he was accustomed to using, so after he found a new mix, a stagehand advised him to use more than usual.

"I basically created a bomb," Bales recalls, laughing. "We used it in rehearsal, and it really blew up, with the lid rising about 80 feet in the air.

Although he chuckles about the situation now, he remembers being very quiet the rest of the day, staying out of everyone's way.

With those early days behind him, Bales continued to tour with one company after another for the next eight years all around the globe. It was also a unique time for performing arts. He considers the period from 1965 to 1980 the "golden age" of modern dance.

Bales says, "These tours were the breeding grounds for many [performers] across the world to start their own modern-dance companies."

He recalls feeling very fortunate to be able to work with some of the finest producers "in the prime of their careers," such as renowned artists Paul Taylor and Martha Graham.

In 1983, Bales took a significant career leap and accepted the position of executive director at the Cleveland Ballet after a search firm contacted him.

After Bales became the executive director of the Cleveland Ballet, San Jose Ballet founder Karen Loewenstern approached him with the idea of forming a co-venture between the two companies. At the time there was no resident ballet in San Jose; there was only an administrative and fundraising body in place.

Yet Bales didn't warm up to the idea immediately. Although he, too, was considering a co-venture partnership with another company, San Jose was barely on his list of possibilities. But representatives from the San Jose Ballet were persistent about the joint venture and finally made a proposal that he accepted. It was Loewenstern's passion for making the venture a reality that sold Bales on the idea that it could be successful, he says.

This was the third such venture in America, and it became known as San Jose Cleveland Ballet.

Along with allowing the two partners to share the financial cost of maintaining the troupe, the San Jose Cleveland Ballet provided a chance for the dancers in both cities to achieve greater notoriety nationwide.

In 1987, Bales and his family moved back to the Bay Area, where he continued in his position as executive director for the San Jose Cleveland Ballet, commuting between the two cities.

In 1989, Bales decided to take a break from his job as executive director and work as a consultant in the arts, while continuing to raise money for the ballet.

During that time the Cleveland Ballet company incurred financial difficulties and collapsed. When the Cleveland partner ceased operations in fall 2000, the San Jose portion of the company decided to preserve itself by moving its headquarters to San Jose and renaming itself Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley.

After the restructuring of the company, Bales returned as its executive director in 1998.

During this second stint with the ballet, Bales witnessed the city's century-old symphony also running into serious financial trouble.

After 122 years, administrators and musicians were suddenly unemployed, as the symphony became insolvent. This circumstance was a sad one for him, because he had formed working relationships with many of the symphony's players who had accompanied the ballet performances.

So he set out to look for a way to create a new symphony in San Jose.

"When the symphony closed, we had this large body of artists that were set adrift and didn't have employment," he says.

He left Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley and became executive director of the new Symphony Silicon Valley, turning over the ballet reins in 2003 to Charles Hart.

After a number of fits and starts, the symphony is now in its second season, with four administrative staff members and 75 musicians.

"I loved the ballet and I loved being a part of it, but I decided to do the symphony and do something fresh," 53-year-old Bales says.

Founder and general director of Opera San Jose Irene Dalis says if anyone can make the symphony last in San Jose, it is Bales.

Dalis, also a Willow Glen resident, has great admiration for Bales, because "he shoots straight from the hip and has a passion for what he is doing."

"He marches to a different drum," Dalis says. "He's a thinker. He's been in San Jose long enough to know the problems of this area."

Symphony Silicon Valley and former San Jose Symphony percussionist Galen Lemmon says that, at first, he second-guessed Bales' decision to form a new symphony instead of resurrecting the old one. But now he's glad that a new beginning has arrived for symphony-goers in the South Bay.

"He understands the real problems with the community at large," says Lemmon, who also lives in Willow Glen. "He really expects people to be loyal to his business, and he fights for his organization. I admire that, and we see eye to eye on that."

Former Executive Director of San Jose Cleveland Ballet and current San Jose Jazz Society Director of Development Stephanie Ronco says it is Bales' tireless persistence toward success that makes him successful.

"When he believes in something, I don't want to be on the opposing side of the table of Andrew Bales," she says.

She says he is the kind of person who gets things done, and if he can't do something, he finds someone who can. She says that after a few phone conversations with Bales, she can already tell that he views Symphony Silicon Valley "as his baby" and is in "nurturing mode."

"He knows it will be one step at a time to reestablish credibility with symphony-goers, but he is being patient with it," she says.

Bales himself says the symphony is a labor of love and doesn't think of it as work. His biggest obstacle, besides starting a symphony during a downtrodden economy, is regaining the trust of symphony fans who supported the San Jose Symphony.

"The former symphony was an important part of the community for a long time," Bales says.

And almost all of its original musicians have returned to play with the new symphony.

Then, in typical visionary fashion, he adds, "I'm here to make new opportunities happen, and I'm going to do whatever it takes."

For more information about Symphony Silicon Valley, call 408.286.2600 or visit www.symphonysiliconvalley.org.