Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Maestro

An engaging orchestral conductor, award-winning pianist, and passionate educator, Gonzalo Farias is the Assistant Conductor of the Houston Symphony. In an ever-changing world, Gonzalo desires to establish music-making as a way of rethinking our place in society by cultivating respect, trust, and cooperation among all people in our community.

Galen Fott is a Nashville-based actor, singer, director, animator, and puppeteer. He appeared last season with the Nashville Symphony, where he sang the role of Monsieur Dauphin in the world premiere of Hannibal Lokumbe’s The Jonah People. Other recent Nashville roles include Mr. Mister in The Cradle Will Rock with Nashville Opera, Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, Torvald in A Doll’s House, Part 2, Father in Ragtime, Oliver Warbucks in Annie, and King Triton in The Little Mermaid. Elsewhere, he has played the title roles in Cyrano, Phantom, and Jesus Christ Superstar; King Arthur in Camelot; Archibald Craven in The Secret Garden; and Matt Friedman in Talley’s Folly. In 1991, Fott originated the role of Gaston in the still-running Beauty and the Beast stage show at Walt Disney World. Other performing highlights include the national tour of Mame starring Juliet Prowse, singing at Carnegie Hall, and with Houston Grand Opera.
In his related career as a director and animator, Fott has adapted over two dozen children’s books into award-winning films for Scholastic/Weston Woods. For these films, he directed the vocal talents of Sean Hayes, Anika Noni Rose, Paul Giamatti, Stanley Tucci, Steve Buscemi, and Joanne Woodward. Fott’s work has screened at the Guggenheim, Sydney Opera House, National Gallery of Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Philharmonie de Paris. His films have also been featured in the Hiroshima and Anima Mundi animation festivals, in the major international film festivals of Houston (twelve-time Remi Award winner), San Francisco (four-time Golden Gate Award nominee), London, and Nashville, and in the major children’s film festivals of New York and Chicago.
Fott has also performed as a puppeteer with the Jim Henson Company. And in a previous life, he co-authored eight books on computer graphics, and was a contributing editor to PC Magazine.
Born in Clarksville, Tennessee, Fott graduated from the University of Memphis with a BFA in Theatre Performance. After spending years in New York, Houston, Vancouver, and Orlando, he now lives in Nashville with his wife Laura and son Burton. www.galenfott.com