The San Antonio Philharmonic named Roberto Treviño, former councilman for District 1 and one of its current boardmembers, to serve as the group's first executive director.
“The arts play such a critical role in the quality of life in our community,” Treviño said. “The access to world class music is so important to these musicians, to this board, and of course to our audience.”
Treviño served on the council from 2014 to 2021.
For 83 years, the San Antonio Symphony was the city’s professional orchestra. But after decades of financial instability, its board dissolved it just last June.
The San Antonio Philharmonic was then formed, primarily from the musicians who had been symphony players. They just completed their first performance season and have mapped out their second.
Treviño hoped to leverage that first season to build a sustainable Philharmonic.
“My hope is to first and foremost continue the momentum that we've established with the Philharmonic,” Treviño said. “Make sure that people understand that the Philharmonic is the San Antonio Symphony that carries that 80-plus-year history.”
Treviño planned to re-introduce the Philharmonic and in so doing widen the circle substantially to all parts of the city.
“One of the things that we've tackled, particularly this inaugural season, was making sure that we reached out to every corner of this community,” he said. “We left no one out. And education is one of our huge core values and a priority for us. And we need to spread their message.”
Treviño encouraged people to buy tickets to concerts and experience live classical music themselves. The first concert of the new season is on Sept. 22.
