In Sunday’s (11/11) El Paso Times (Texas), Doug Pullen writes, “At 35, Andrés Franco is the youngest of the nine men who have been in competition for the El Paso Symphony Orchestra’s vacant music director and conductor position. He’s also the first Latin American. Franco, who’ll conduct the El Paso orchestra’s performances of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ next weekend, grew up in Medellin, Colombia, home of the infamous Medellin drug cartel. … ‘The city has changed a lot for the better, a whole lot. I’m happily surprised,’ Franco said of his hometown, which he visits a couple of times a year. … In addition to being associate conductor of the Fort Worth orchestra, Franco has worked with the Youth Orchestra of Fort Worth and guest-conducts around the world. He’s also principal conductor of Caminos del Inka, [a musical project] named for a system of pre-Columbian roads linking Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. … Franco thinks his Latin American heritage could come in handy here. … ‘All the programming has to be community-specific. You need to know the needs of the organization and what the community wants,’ he said, adding that ‘there is a lot of great (Latin American) music that deserves to be heard, not only in areas of a large Spanish-speaking population.’ ”
Posted November 12, 2012
