\nBortolameolli has ‘incredible connectivity’ on and off the podium<\/h2>\n
Bortolameolli was always a leading contender.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all was just this incredible connectivity that was evident to me both on and off the podium,\u201d Stein says.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the podium, he had the musician’s attention. It was obvious to me, as a layman just watching and hearing the musician’s reaction. So that excitement was there. And then off the podium, it was really clear that he would care about this community. He asked the right questions. He made a point to connect with Valerie, our Director of Education and Engagement, and said, \u2018What can I do while I’m here?\u2019 That’s a pretty remarkable feat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stein also got the impression that Bortolameolli was sincerely interested in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt to me that his connection to our culture was honest and legitimate, that he felt like we do, that there’s magic happening here in our performance and in our out-of-campus work with schools and kids and hospitals and hospice and shelter, all those things that we’re doing, that it’s not just window dressing. It’s real and it’s making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another thing that gave Bortolameolli an edge with Stein is that he wasn\u2019t shy about how much he wanted this position.<\/p>\n\n\u201cWhen Paolo was here for his second week with the orchestra, he made it clear that he wanted the job,\u201d Stein says. \u201cAnd I wasn’t prepared for that, but when it was clear that he was asking us to come back and be part of this team, that was really, really important to me. Asking for that opportunity meant something to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bortolameolli feels the Phoenix Symphony can ‘transform’ lives<\/h2>\n
For Bortolameolli, it all goes back to that emotional connection to classical music he felt as a child.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a pivotal moment in my whole life that in a way it always brings me back to that feeling that a concert can be a transforming life experience,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can go and then you go back to your home a completely different human being. Somehow that feeling and that perspective, it’s something that I have been looking for always. And with the Phoenix Symphony, I felt that immediately. It wasn’t just an artistic click, which obviously is very important, but also a way to communicate a deeper message and hopefully transform lives to make a concert experience something that is beyond the entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n\nIt\u2019s Bortolameolli\u2019s hope that he can bring energy, enthusiasm and a \u201cfresh perspective\u201d to his new role at the Phoenix Symphony.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always think that the conductor position is adding something to what is already happening,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause, as I always say to my conductor fellow students, we don’t produce any sound. So our whole magic or goal is to make them sound the best they can because you are so convinced of what you are bringing to them that everybody is teaming up for the same goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Bortolameolli, it\u2019s important that those shared goals go \u201cbeyond the walls of music,\u201d as he puts it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it’s really relevant in this moment to have the perspective that we are not only communicating sounds,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\u201cWe are also communicating a narrative. That is why, for me, the educational part of it, or how we connect with the community through our message, is so vital \u2026 to craft a very conscious and consequent message about what is our role in this world. And from that point of view, I think programming, being reachable and close to the audiences, breaking the wall of how you deliver a message that it doesn’t feel that you’re trying to educate, but you are actually trying to connect from your enthusiasm with them, is vital.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Kjome, having Bortolameolli join the team as the next Virginia G. Piper Music Director is \u201can extraordinary moment of opportunity and possibility for the Phoenix Symphony\u201d on several levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaolo is someone who has this brilliant vision, but he also is someone who wants to help draw out the best of others, whether it’s a musician who’s playing on the stage of Symphony Hall to help lift them up and be at their best, or whether it’s in all these conversations about where we’re headed as an organization,\u201d Kjome says. \u201cThat is already very powerful for us and will continue to be not only for the Symphony, but also for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
As vice president of artistic at the Phoenix Symphony, Chris Powell is \u201cabsolutely thrilled\u201d with the decision.<\/p>\n\n\u201cThe musicians said in our final meeting, as we were discussing all the finalists, something that I found very important. And that was, we can do a great job programming really terrific concerts throughout the season, but what a music director brings is the identity of this orchestra. So that to me is an incredibly exciting prospect for these musicians to be able to find their real authentic voice with their leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ed has covered pop music for The Republic since 2007, reviewing festivals and concerts, interviewing legends, covering the local scene and more. He did the same in Pittsburgh for more than a decade. Follow him on X and Instagram @edmasley and on Facebook as Ed Masley. Email him at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.azcentral.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gateway Academy students in Phoenix practice for grad concert The music therapy program at Gateway Academy in Phoenix helps students develop skills and build confidence. Here’s a look at their performance. The Phoenix Symphony has named Paolo Bortolameolli as its next Virginia G. Piper Music Director. The Chilean-Italian conductor was selected after a three-year search […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2321896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[39915,30218,22385,22220,369133,353270,22219,22005,239661,6297,284334,21741,22783,51971,21739,298114,21800,307678,239343,239347,25359,449995,23759,147314,23152,284335,385403,429925,310389,239344],"class_list":["post-2321895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-affiliate","tag-ai","tag-arizona","tag-arts","tag-az","tag-classical","tag-classical-music","tag-concerts","tag-concerts-u0026-music-festivals","tag-eamotion","tag-enabled","tag-entertainment","tag-festivals","tag-highlights","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-music","tag-music-reference","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-symphony","tag-positive","tag-reference","tag-story","tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","tag-subscribers","tag-subscribers-az","tag-symphony","tag-u0026"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Phoenix-Symphony-enters-new-era-with-its-next-conductor-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2321895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2321897,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321895\/revisions\/2321897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2321896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2321895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2321895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2321895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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