The music director is the artistic leader of the organization.

And as such, they conduct most of our concerts, but they also forge the artistic path for how we want to progress through what we play and commission and record and broadcast.

And they're very in tune, we hope, no pun intended, with the communities that we're trying to serve.

Well, I've always been very curious and passionate about music.

Music has always been around me in a way.

Since I was a kid, I played a bit of piano and a bit of violin, a bit of clarinet for fun, or a bit of guitar and I sung.

But, you know, as much as we was, for example, swimming or, you know, playing tennis, it just a natural part of my life without being really that special until the very moment where music just hit me.

And I experienced that moment, the power, what it really means, music.

And to me, it happened when I was 13, and I was singing in a children choir of my town of Florence, a huge orchestra in front of me.

And when they all started playing and singing, it just blow my mind.

It was just such a huge sound.

And in front of me there was this man, you know, waving his arms and smiling and producing the sound and connecting all of us.

And I felt secure.

I felt connected with, you know, everybody else in the rehearsal room, and I felt part of something bigger than me.

That's why probably I'm here.

The whole point of getting to know who you want to have as your next music director involves an audience, involves public performances.

And it's a long process because between the decision to advertise for a new music director and the appointment, several years pass.

So we initially had about 200 applications or so come in and at that time, a search committee was formed.

They narrowed it down, and we decided to give each of those candidates two weeks in the first or second week to conduct one of our main Altria Masterworks programs and then in the other week to do either a pops or a metro collection concert or a lollipops concert.

So we got a sense for how they would both program and conduct big pieces, big programs and some of the smaller things we do as well in the different concert settings.

And the music director is the face of the organization for many people, more so than the executive director.

So a lot of their role is spent outside of the organization just as mine is in meeting people, being out and about, learning about the life, the work of the city.

The music director has to embrace the community.

That starts from the orchestra and then the staff, the organization and the city.

I think this is the... with one vision.

I love it.

From the first moment, I felt welcomed.

I felt accepted, and this is beautiful because it's the way you play, right?

I see that this is a city that is growing in terms of population, in terms of... I see a lot of construction going on.

It means that there is some buzz that is going on, and the Richmond Symphony is there, so fantastic.

I mean, I'm really glad, because this is an orchestra with huge potential.

You give 100.

They reply 150.

And that's fantastic, you know.

It means that, you know, they want to grow.

They want to... okay, they really want to build up something.

That's the best gift that I could ever imagine.

When you're in a situation like us that are 62 years old, it's very important that you renew yourself, including the artistic leader.

So it was very interesting to see what would happen as we advertised and saw the applications coming in, got to the short-listing and as you said, found that we had a very different set of candidates as finalists than was the case ten years ago.

All of what we've been doing for the last four years has been driven by our strategic plan, which talks about artistic excellence, financial health, of course, public relevance, audience building, and a focus on diversity, equity inclusion in everything that we do.

And that extends to how we program, where we program, and what we play.

And I think you'll see us doing more television, radio, Internet streaming and even videography within some of our concerns here at The Carpenter in the coming years.

I think the only way to really involve people is really make them part of it.

I want to open up doors.

I want to, you know, grab people and make music together.

I'm passionate.

I'm an enthusiastic person, and I love to be connected with people.

I love to connect people.

That's why I do music.

That's really the essence of my playing, of my... you know, music is something that touched me, and I believe that we have the possibilities to touch other people in the same way, and it's beautiful when it happens.