The debut of a resident orchestra and a rebranded chamber concert series will be highlights of Classical Music Institute San Antonio’s 2024-2025 season.
CMI’s renamed chamber concert series, Chamber Connexions, will kick off the new season, themed “Distinction and Beauty,” with a collaborative performance titled “Archaeology of Memory” at 7 p.m. on Oct. 4 at the San Antonio Museum of Art. The concert shares the same title of a current exhibit of works by Chicana artist and cultural critic Amalia Mesa-Bains.
CMI’s resident orchestra, The Orchestra San Antonio (TOSA), will start its inaugural season March 29 at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts with “Echoes in Diversion,” a concert that will explore influences between classical music, Spanish and Latin American sounds.
The orchestra will be led by Leonardo Pineda, who was recently named principal conductor and artistic curator.
It’s been nearly 10 years since the nonprofit CMI launched as a resident company of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, where most CMI events take place.
Paul Montalvo, CMI’s president and chief executive officer, said he and fellow organizational leaders sought to focus on two themes in the upcoming season.
“We have a history of very distinct programming when it comes to orchestras across the United States,” Montalvo said. “And we’re going to dive into what beauty means in music and other arts.”
According to Montalvo, it is crucial that local organizations such as CMI continue fostering a community supportive of classical music performance groups in and around San Antonio.
“It’s really important that we have all these different organizations doing great work across the city, and we humbly have the privilege to be one of them,” Montalvo said.
“We went through tremendous growth between 2022 and this year. The way we’re approaching things now is based on what is sustainable and what is a beneficial growth model both for our organization and for the community at large.”
CMI’s ongoing community educational initiatives include Chamber Connexions, which features renowned musicians from across the world. Brendan Speltz, a violinist with the Escher String Quartet, was named the Chamber Connexions’ director of artistic programming.
Chamber Connexions’ schedule includes a January 2025 fellowship open to string quartets from around the country. Select quartets will come to San Antonio and study with the Escher String Quartet for one week, which will conclude with a concert.
CMI is carrying on with other outreach programs, such as Ascend, a free, after-school effort that provides classical music education experiences to students in Bexar County and surrounding areas. Montalvo said about 60 students are enrolled to participate this school year.
“[Ascend] is completely funded by our donors, and it’s giving access to people who don’t get classical music on a very consistent basis,” he said.
“Beauty” will also be the theme of the 2025 CMI 210 Festival, which begins with a TOSA concert on June 7 at the Tobin H-E-B Performance Hall. Guest conductor François López-Ferrer will make his San Antonio debut.
Find the full schedule with details on how to attend on the CMI website.
