Minerals researcher, cellist plays his life in a miner key

On the outskirts of Reno, in a dusty trailer office with little personality except one small photo of a group of hunters, Peter Lenz looks every inch the mining engineer. Tall, lean and simply dressed, Lenz, director of research and development for EP Minerals, is at home in the diatomite-dusted surroundings of the operation east of Sparks.

He's been with the company for 20 years, working on products based on the mineral diatomite. (It's used for everything from cat litter to dynamite.)

But away from the science of his day job, Lenz takes on a different persona: He's been principal cellist for both the Reno Philharmonic and the Reno Chamber Orchestra for almost 20 years.

The combination of roles is as natural as could be.

Born in Reno, Lenz graduated from Wooster High School, and wasn't sure what to study in college. His father, a surgeon, was friends with the dean at UNR's Mackay School of Mines. Lenz had always been interested in Nevada's mining and geological history, so it seemed like a decent fit.

While many kids play a musical instrument in middle or high school, Lenz never stopped.

"I've always enjoyed it. I wasn't big on practicing in high school, but in college that changed," he says. While studying for his degree in mining engineering, Lenz continued to take music courses. After earning his bachelor's degree, he even applied to go to graduate school in San Francisco to pursue a degree in music. But by the time he was accepted, he was working in the mining industry.

"It was a close choice in college. But it's hard to get into a major in orchestra. There's just not many jobs but there's lots of competition," he says.

He has no regrets about his chosen profession.

"What I love about work is it's always a variety of things. What we produce goes into a lot of projects. I don't like the bureaucracy and paper shuffling, but it's part of the challenge," he says.

The balancing act between performer and scientist is a challenge Lenz has mastered over the years. His father loved music, and both parents supported their children's dreams of performance.

Today, all six of Lenz' siblings also play an instrument. In fact, the Reno Philharmonic is home to five members of the Lenz family, as is the RCO.

"The Reno music scene would not resemble what it does without the Lenz family," says Scott Faulkner, the executive director of the Reno Chamber Orchestra who also is Lenz' brother-in-law. Faulkner's wife, Andrea, is Lenz' sister and principal oboist for both orchestras.

"He has a really beautiful sound. You can hear musicians from around the world, and they aren't any better," Faulkner continues. "Peter's an inherently terrific musician. I don't know him as a scientist, but I know the people at work are always stunned when they hear him as a musician."

Still, Lenz insists he's better off for not having chosen music as his career.

"I think if you did it orchestral playing every day it would become like work," he explains.

Lenz believes disciplines of music and mining are complementary, and the balance is important. His daughters, Julie, 19, and Elizabeth, 16, are also musically inclined; Julie studies voice and harp at UNR, and Elizabeth is a violinist and concert mistress of the Reno Youth Philharmonic. Their mother, Mary Miller, is principal flute for the RCO and the Reno Philharmonic.

He advises his daughters to live well-rounded lives.

"I'd tell them not to go to college for the career training, but for the education. A lot of disciplines are focused on just one thing, and you need to be well-rounded," he says.

Lenz himself loves to bow hunt and play baseball, both of which he does with his extended family.

"Bow hunting is more of a challenge than rifle hunting; you can't pick it up once a year and be any good. Plus the weather is nice, and it's lots of fun," he says.

The family also plays serious sandlot baseball games every week.

"We play baseball, and it's hardball," Faulkner explains. "If you break a finger or get hurt on a concert day, you still have to play. One time, Peter got hit by a ball off the bridge of his nose. He was still bleeding through his bandage at the concert, and afterward is when he went to the hospital."

But some of the best advice he's ever heard doesn't have much to do with the cello, diatomite, baseball or bow hunting.

"My Grampa, when he was kid, he goes to the fair. There's this tent, 'Learn the secret of the world,' so he pays his only dime to learn the secret of the world. He walked in and was told, 'Never whittle toward yourself,'" Lenz says, laughing. "Now that's good advice, too."