BRIDGEPORT, CT - All season long, music lovers of The Greater Bridgeport Symphony (GBS) awaited the results of the two-year-long search for a new permanent conductor. EDUARDO LEANDRO was chosen for the role in January and has since spent time creating a spectacular concert for his grand inaugural concert Something Big! taking place on Saturday, May 10 at The Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport, CT at 7:30pm and planning the five concerts for next season.
“We are so thrilled to have him,” said GBS Executive Director Phyllis Rhodes Cortese. “He will be an important part of this community for a long time to come.”
Something Big! will certainly live up to its name, the evening will feature Brahms’ most popular, “Symphony No. 4,” Mendelssohn’s ‘Electric Overture’ from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2,” with one of Connecticut’s favorite pianists, Andrew Armstrong. “When we planned this season, no one knew who the new Conductor would be, and so no one – even in our own management – knew what the music would be until Eduardo was hired,” says GBS President Mark Halstead. “We asked Eduardo to create something big, and he did! Additionally, the2025-26 Season, New Horizons, will be announced at the concert and the upcoming shows will feature Shostakovich, Britten, Tchaikovsky and many others in surprising combinations.
Leandro originally from Brazil, and now a US citizen, attended the Sao Paulo State University, the Rotterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands, and Yale University. His conducting mentor and teacher wasGustav 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. 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 Brazilianchurrascarias. Maestro Leandro routinely engages symphonygoers for their thoughts on the music GBS presents, and he plans to lead the nearly 80-year-old orchestra as a living representation of the diverse cultures of the area. Bridgeport mayor Joseph Ganim says Leandro “has demonstrated qualities of talent, generosity, civic pride, dedication to the arts, concern for the inner-city and cultural ambassadorship, which show the best of what Bridgeport is and can be.” With the announcement of next season’s concerts imminent, GBS’ fans can look forward to being engaged in symphonic music as never before.
Tickets for the May 10 show range from $18.00 to $72.00 and are available at www.GBS.org. Just in time for Mother’s Day, adults get 15% off regular priced tickets with accompanying children under 19 who will gain free admission. To take advantage of this offer, please call GBS at (203) 576-0263.