The San Antonio Philharmonic has some good news: Felipe Tristán, who's served as Associate Conductor of the orchestra, has now been named Interim Artistic Director of the SA Phil.
He says it's been a time of touching-base, brainstorming, and planning for good things in the future. "I am the first Mexican-American conductor to lead this orchestra in its 87-year history. So that's a very important moment to underline."
What's ahead? "I have a lot of ideas. I'm working together with the leadership, and of course, the musicians — the musicians are and must always be front and center, participate in this process — I think it's a no-brainer: we need to represent and reflect the diversity of San Antonio itself, acknowledge and celebrate that San Antonio is the birthplace of conjunto, that we have Tejano, Mexican and Regional, we have country."
"Of course we're going to celebrate the classical canon: we're a symphony orchestra after all. But we're going to put our attention to celebrating what makes San Antonio San Antonio, put it on the map for classical music — OUR music."
Fresh winds blowing indeed. Hear the whole segment at the link above.
