Fort Worth’s Rose Marine Theater, where the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, in collaboration with Artes de la Rosa Cultural Center, will present a free concert celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month on Oct. 1.
In Thursday’s (9/28) Fort Worth Report, Marcheta Fornoff writes, “The number of Hispanic and Latino orchestra members across the country is low, but growing. Over the summer, the League of American Orchestras released a study 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. The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is just one group working to address diversity both within its ranks and in its audiences. ‘I saw a big need for (serving) the Latino community,’ Josselin Garibo Pendleton said. As the orchestra’s senior manager of education and community programs, she knew she wanted to address that. In partnership with Artes de la Rosa, the orchestra is working to meet community members where they are by hosting a free concert called Celebración Sinfónica at 2 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Rose Marine Theater. The performance will include some of the orchestra’s traditional repertoire and pieces tailored to this event from Gabriela Lena Frank, a contemporary Latina composer, and Astor Piazzolla, the late Argentine tango composer…. ‘We’re hoping to be building relationships so it’s not just to get in there [and] perform once … We’re trying to build new connections with people, (start) ongoing conversations and opportunities,’ assistant conductor Taichi Fukumura said.”
