Apr. 25
Abracadabra! A Magical Musical Adventure
About This Concert
Abracadabra! Grab your magic wands (or batons) for a spellbinding musical adventure—we’re conjuring up a morning of magical musical fun! Bring your little wizards and witches to Jones Hall and have your magic conducting batons at the ready for magical moments from Harry Potter, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and more that will delight little wizards and their families.
This concert is part of the PNC Family Series.
Program

The program will be available soon. Please check back later.
Tickets
In-Hall Tickets
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Saturday, Apr. 25
10:00 A.M. at Jones Hall
Saturday, Apr. 25
11:30 A.M. at Jones Hall
Artists

Gonzalo Farias
conductor
View Biography
Sponsors

Title Sponsor

Underwriter
Vivian L. Smith Foundation
Sponsor
Extras
Additional Information
Doors Open:
10 A.M. Performance: 60 mins. pre-concert
11:30 A.M. Performance: 30 mins. pre-concert
Prelude:
No Prelude
Duration
Approx. 60 mins
Intermission
No Intermission
Age Limit
All Ages
Visitor Info
Parking and Directions
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For those families looking for the ultimate live-music experience! Enjoy every note of the Houston Symphony’s Family Series, with a thrilling array of concerts enjoyable for the whole family.
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conductor
Gonzalo Farias
Gonzalo Farias, Associate Conductor of the Houston Symphony, is an imaginative and engaging orchestral leader, award-winning pianist, and dedicated educator. Praised for his “clear, engaging style with a lyrical, almost Zen-like quality,” he is recognized as “a focused, musical artist who knows what he wants and how to get it—with grace and substance.”
He has held conducting posts with the Kansas City Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. As Music Director of the Joliet Symphony Orchestra, he strengthened community connections through innovative programming, pre-concert lectures, and bilingual collaborations, including a narrated performance of Bizet’s Carmen.
Recent and upcoming appearances include the Nashville Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Buffalo Philharmonic, Tallahassee Symphony, and the Houston Symphony, where in 2024 he conducted the world premiere of Arturo Márquez’s Guitar Concerto with Pablo Sainz-Villegas.
He was one of six conductors chosen for the prestigious Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview, presented by the League of American Orchestras, and was appointed by the National Endowment for the Arts as a grant review panelist.
Born in Santiago de Chile, Farias began piano studies at age five. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and continued his education at the New England Conservatory, studying under Wha-Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman. He has won prizes at the Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition, Maria Canals, and Luis Sigall competitions. His conducting mentors include Donald Schleicher, Marin Alsop, Larry Rachleff, and Otto-Werner Mueller.
Beyond performance, Farias is committed to reimagining music as a force for personal growth, dialogue, cooperation, and community-building. His doctoral dissertation, Logical Predictions and Cybernetics, examines Cornelius Cardew’s The Great Learning to explore music-making as a self-organizing system. Influenced by Zen Buddhist practice and second-order cybernetics, he views music as a shared space where performers and audiences co-create meaning, reflecting on our shared human condition.