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.

Juan Sebastian Cruz is an actor, musician, emcee, and circus artist based in Houston. He is a proud alum of Rice University where he received a BA in Visual and Dramatic Arts.

His passion for public speaking alongside his love for symphonic and orchestral music landed him his first collaboration with the Houston Symphony in 2020, and since then he has enjoyed hosting student matinees, family concerts, and even dressing up as various characters to entertain audiences at Jones Hall.

As a professional actor, he has worked with many local theaters including Stages, The Alley, TUTS, 4th Wall, Catastrophic, TEATRX, and The Ensemble. Nationally, he has worked with La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, La Mama Studios in New York City, Horizons in Atlanta, and Yale Rep in New Haven.

He is a frequent collaborator with writer Hilary Bettis and has performed in two of her world premieres, 72 Miles to Go… and falcon girls.

Alongside his work as a stage actor, he is also a Teaching Artist with the Alley and TUTS. His work as an educator has allowed him to engage with community centers, hospitals, and students of all ages ranging from elementary to high school. He enjoys combining his multi-disciplinary artistic experience with a highly dynamic style and encourages everyone to learn in unconventional ways.