His music career began at 8 with the violin, but by 13 he conducted his first piece, Beethoven's 1st Symphony, and soon after was under the tutorage of San Francisco Symphony conductor Pierre Monteux and going to conductor school in Europe. His two boyhood passions converged 16 years ago. When the festival first began, Braun brought the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra to Tahoe for concerts at venues around the lake. Within three or four years, a full symphony was performing for the festival and the organization went from the umbrella of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra to its own nonprofit entity. At first Braun warned supporters that it might take a few years for the festival to be successful.
People have to be convinced that the quality is good.
While the Lake Tahoe Summer Music Festival also offers concerts in other scenic venues, such as Squaw Valley, Sand Harbor, Valhalla and Tahoe Donner, Braun's favorite memories are from Topol Pavilion. Both incidents occurred during an encore. We were playing the Thunder and Lightning Polka of Strauss and just as we depicted the thunder, from the Nevada side of the lake you could see lightning and hear thunder. In another concert on a twilight evening, the orchestra was performing Barcarolle from Tales of Hoffman and began playing the scene of a boat gliding over a lake. Just then, a full moon rose over Tahoe's East Shore to light the path of a boat plying through the waters of Lake Tahoe.