Peter Aaronson was always fascinated by the stage. Gaming, particularly in Las Vegas, helped him enjoy it.

Stints at Bally’s and the Venetian over the last several years gave the New York native a portable portfolio. The realities of budgets, combined with his conducting and stage background, have brought him to a significant place: executive director of the Las Vegas Philharmonic.

“It’s great to see all the different parts of my career come together,” said Aaronson, who served as director of entertainment at Bally’s and ran the Venetian’s showroom. “Las Vegas has been good to me. It’s still a small town in the sense that you can be put with the right people when you work here. Within three months of working with the Venetian, I’d met the governor. Las Vegas is still so good that way.”

Aaronson, who views the critically acclaimed Jubilee! revue at Bally’s as his signature Las Vegas achievement, adroitly married finance and fantasy. He always had the dream of performing, first as a trumpet player. Aaronson obtained a bachelor of music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, performed additional studies at the Juilliard School of Music and enjoyed orchestra conducting in Salzburg, Austria. He was also versed in the choral and operatic end of conducting.

The big stage, however, became casino venues. He needed to understand budgets, people and corporations. Between the Las Vegas experience and jobs in Atlantic City, for Universal Studios and the Carnival Crystal Palace Resort in the Bahamas, along with Norwegian Cruise Line, he hit every entertainment note.

Aaronson became a savvy veteran of the hospitality industry. He understood the sizzle, the steak and a new age of economic reality.

“The biggest change that had occurred over the years was that entertainment in general could no longer be accepted as a loss-leader,” he said. “In the beginning, the events themselves did not have to earn a profit because the gaming tables would benefit and the rooms would benefit.

“Yet it became a hallmark of the corporate world that every department in the casino had to turn a profit. When that changed, we were forced to fine-tune our marketing skills, look at all the details. In the case of Jubilee!, it meant that we had to make this a money-maker. Yes, the casino still wanted the customers inside the property after the event, but Jubilee! on its own had to do well.

“From sets, costumes, lighting, designs and casting, often around 100 people, it all had to make sense financially,” Aaronson said. “It was a wonderful time, because I was given a free hand in determining what the show would be, but it would have to be a money maker, and it was. We brought in more crowds. Everybody was happy.”

Aaronson kept up his community ties with area leaders while running the Henderson symphony for six years. He continued to perform, still was seen on the scene, and presto, the Las Vegas Philharmonic beckoned. It is the third largest arts organization in Nevada. It has grown into a nationally recognized orchestra, offering a continually expanding program. That includes a masterworks series featuring some of the world’s best touring artists and a connoisseur series featuring top soloists.

The Las Vegas Philharmonic will find its new home in the $475 million Smith Center for the Performing Arts in 2011. Aaronson is involved in everything, including fund-raising.

For Aaronson, it’s a long way from the gaming journey, which began in New Jersey.

Between 1986 and 1991, he experienced the energy of Atlantic City’s heyday and the start of its recession-driven stagnation. He began as a production manager for the Boardwalk Electric Light and Music show at Caesars. It was produced by Disney legend Robert Jani, the architect for Disney’s Main Street parades. The Caesars show became a Boardwalk parade on stage, depicting life in the 1920s and 1930s at the Jersey Shore.

Aaronson contracted with Caesars to place the show in its building.

Aaronson would later discover the other side of the coin, via casino administration. He ran entertainment departments at Resorts and the Trump Taj Mahal.

“This was my initial experience as a resident production manager of a hotel casino, a chance to become immersed in the headliner world,” he said. “People from that time became my friends. Don Rickles, Dom DeLuise, Frankie Valli, Paul Anka, the giants. It was interesting to speak to them on a different level. Dom DeLuise had a love for Italian opera. Many hours after the show, I would play from opera vocal scores. I would sing the ladies, he would sing the men, all to an empty theater. It was absolutely wonderful.”

The entertainment journey has rewarded Aaronson. He remains driven by music, seasoned by gaming and immersed in a world of high notes.

By Dave Bontempo

Casino Connection Sports Editor Dave Bontempo is an award-winning sports writer and broadcaster who calls boxing matches all over the world. He has covered the Philadelphia Flyers in the playoffs, as well as numerous PGA, LPGA and Seniors Golf Tour events, and co-hosted the Casino Connection television program with Publisher Roger Gros.