BRIDGEPORT, CT - After a comprehensive search that has spanned two seasons, the Greater Bridgeport Symphony (GBS) is excited to announce the appointment of EDUARDO LEANDROas Music Director and Principal Conductor. Culled from a field of over 180 applicants, seven finalists vied for the Music Directorship in a competition that concluded in December 2024. Leandro’s grand inaugural concert Something Big! will take place on Saturday, May 10 at The Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport, CT at 7:30pm. Leandro was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, land of carnival, samba schools and rich musical culture. He attended the Sao Paulo State University, the Rotterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands, and Yale University. His conducting mentor and teacher was Gustav Meier, Music Director of GBS for over four decades. With his fluency in languages, GBS’ Board of Trustees selected Leandro for a myriad of his talents which include being a world-renowned percussionist, an educational leader, and for his proven skills working in community outreach and music education programs with Bridgeport youth. “I wish our audience could have seen Eduardo in Bridgeport’s elementary schools last year,” says GBS President Mark Halstead. “He speaks five languages and was uniquely able to make a real connection with the students.”
Maestro Eduardo looks forward to broadening communications with the many diverse groups in the greater Bridgeport area. He has already made himself known around town through school visits and is now a regular at Bridgeport’s Brazilian churrascarias. “I am looking forward to celebrating life through art here in Bridgeport, and to sharing our beautiful music straight from our souls to you, our listeners and supporters,” says Leandro. “I understand how much music can unite and transform a community. I’ve seen that happen many times all over the world, from South Korea to Switzerland to Springfield MA. A symphony orchestra should mirror its community, and I want to see the Greater Bridgeport Symphony doing just that.”
GBS’ concert on May 10 will mark Leandro’s debut as Music Director and it will live up to the show’s name, Something Big! Pianist Andrew Armstrong, a perennial favorite of GBS who got his professional start here some 20+ years ago, will play Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2,” and the orchestra will also render Mendelssohn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” overture and Brahms’ “Symphony No. 4. “ “I want to present music that the audience will really enjoy, and that the orchestra will love to play,” Maestro Eduardo said.