The number of Hispanic and Latino orchestra members across the country is low, but growing.
Over the summer, the League of American Orchestras of 156 orchestras that showed growth in the number of Hispanic and Latino musicians: 4.8% today, up from 2.5% during the 2013-14 season.
is just one group both within its ranks and in its audiences.
If you go
What: Celebraci贸n Sinf贸nica concert
When: 2 p.m. Oct. 1
Where: Rose Marine Theater 1440 N. Main St. in Fort Worth
Admission: Reserve a free ticket .
鈥淚 saw a big need for (serving) the Latino community,鈥� Josselin Garibo Pendleton said.
As the orchestra鈥檚 senior manager of education and community programs, she knew she wanted to address that.
In partnership with , the orchestra is working to meet community members where they are by hosting a free concert called at 2 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Rose Marine Theater.
鈥淲e鈥檙e excited, grateful and humbled to have the Fort Worth Symphony here,鈥� Artes鈥� executive director William Gir贸n said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e located in the Northside, but we serve all of Fort Worth 鈥� We (hope) to get our Southside, Eastside and Westside neighbors to come on out to the concert as well.鈥�
The performance will include some of the orchestra鈥檚 traditional repertoire and pieces tailored to this event from , a contemporary Latina composer, and , the late Argentine tango composer.
鈥淲e are representing our community,鈥� Garibo Pendleton said. 鈥淭hese are Hispanic composers that you may never have heard of that are doing great things. I mean, Gabriela Lena Frank is special because she is living and someone they can follow.鈥�Santiago Ariza Rodriguez, a Columbian doctoral student at Texas Christian University, will also be a featured soloist in two separate pieces.
鈥淭his young, Latino musician is (someone) that you would otherwise not see very often in the States,鈥� she said.
The orchestra is accustomed to playing a variety of different composers and styles, and members were happy to take on a new challenge, assistant conductor , said.
鈥淏y creating a program like this, which is very specific to the occasion, I think we can make a more impactful experience for people,鈥� he said. 鈥淩ather than just plugging in a generic concert and saying, 鈥楬ey, come see the local symphonic orchestra,鈥� we鈥檙e actually reaching out to create special events.鈥�
Artes is also one of the handful of local organizations the orchestra partnered with for its community ticket program, which provides community groups with a set number of tickets they can give to the people they serve for select productions throughout the season. The goal is to broaden access to people who would be unable or unlikely to attend performances otherwise.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping to be building relationships so it鈥檚 not just to get in there, perform once and never hear from each other again,鈥� Fukumura said. 鈥淩ather, we鈥檙e trying to build new connections with people, (start) ongoing conversations and opportunities to share music together.鈥�
Marcheta Fornoff covers the arts for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at marcheta.fornoff@fortworthreport.org or on . At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy .
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