AUGUST 2017 14 | FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM Tito Munoz, music director

AUGUST 2017 FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM | 15 And that was just a really fun show. That grew into a regular audience show, ‘Halloween at Hogwarts,’ and we had two to three years of sold-out performances.” Warner Brothers made all eight of the Potter films available so now audiences can see the film while the Symphony is playing the live score underneath it. Knowing the popularity of the Harry Potter series, Ward leapt at the chance to run the films and will continue to grow the audience of Potter enthusiasts. Younger audiences have also responded enthusiastically to the Legends Series, where the Symphony performs the music of bands such as Led Zepplein, Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones. The turnaround of the Phoenix Symphony is even more surprising in light of a tough environment for the arts in Phoenix. The Symphony cannot count on government support and Phoenix does not have the corporate base that many cities across the country do in terms of Fortune 500 companies per capita. What carries the water for the arts, Ward said, are foundations and individual donors. It also helps to have a music director, Tito Munoz, who is young and who has, Ward said, “that new energy and just being able to be smart about what we offer the community.” Munoz, 33, who previously served as Music Director of the Opera National de Lorraine and the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy in France, took the baton in Phoenix in 2014. “When you have someone come in who has a vision and can implement it, that’s great,” Ward said. “And so Tito does a number of things for us. First of all you know he inspires our musicians, which is the most important thing and he makes, what we say, ‘the band as tight as it can be.’” Ward said Munoz also shares his passion for community impact, particularly in education. Also important, said Ward, is that Munoz is of a generation that understands and digests media in a much different way. “As we proceed our business plan of what we call Symphony 2.0, which is nothing less than creating a 21st century orchestra that’s sustainable, he is critical in helping us understand how to do that, particularly to a younger generation,” Ward said. “He’s done an amazing job. We’ve begun to program young American composers. There’s great talent in this country. They produce fresh ink in terms of great compositions that just don’t get played because they’re young and new. Tito knows a lot of them personally.” COVER STORY CONTINUED When you have someone come in who has a vision and can implement it, that’s great. JIM WARD