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Of his Super Bowl 60 performance with Latin superstar Bad Bunny, conductor Giancarlo Guerrero says, "It was a wonderful opportunity to feature classical music on the largest stage in the world."
Lukasz Rajchert
In February, conductor Giancarlo Guerrero found himself on perhaps the biggest stage of his career: at Super Bowl LX in San Francisco, for the halftime show with Latin music superstar Bad Bunny.
When he found out about the gig, Guerrero thought he was being pranked. "The week before, I got a call from my manager," Guerrero told the online platform ArtsBeat. "They wanted to have an actual string orchestra in the [Super Bowl] performance. [Bad Bunny] was aware of my career, and he requested me.”
Bad Bunny’s manager had "Googled me and found my manager,“ Guerrero said. ”The first thing I was thinking, is this real or a prank? It must be someone playing a crank call on me. I had to literally change all my travel plans. I got to San Francisco on Tuesday [before the game], and I had no idea what I was going to be doing. From the moment I got there, it was amazing to be part of such a complex project. There were 800 performers and all the support staff coming together to put on a wonderful show. All together, it was a lot of fun to be part of it. It was such a short moment on screen, and behind the scenes, it was absolute chaos.”
Now in his second season as artistic director and principal conductor of Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival, Guerrero also is music director of Florida’s Sarasota Orchestra and music director laureate of the Nashville Symphony in Tennessee. He also maintains a busy guest conducting schedule; this fall, he will lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in concerts Oct. 15-17.
Before their encounter, Bad Bunny had been on Guerrero’s radar. But he calls him Benito, in a nod to the star’s birth name, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.
“My daughters are huge fans [of Bad Bunny], and every time we are in the car, they take control of the music,“ said Guerrero, who was born in Nicaragua and grew up in Costa Rica. ”I enjoy his music. This is a guy who has so much musical curiosity. I became a huge fan of his after that week. This is not a guy staying in his musical lane. His mind is everywhere, like me as a conductor — I don’t just conduct Beethoven. Even within this 12-minute show, there were so many different kinds of music. He’s all about the music being presented in the right, proper way. I applaud him for it. This guy really knows what he’s doing. He has such respect for all types of music. We need a whole lot more of that in the world.
Since the Super Bowl, the two have stayed in touch. “On a professional level, I have nothing but admiration for him,“ Guerrero said. ”Personally, he’s such a generous man. Getting to know him was a highlight of the whole week.”
Another highlight was the exposure for classical music. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to feature classical music on the largest stage in the world,” Guerrero said. The last such exposure was conductor Gustavo Dudamel leading the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra at Super Bowl L (50) in 2016. “One of the things that gives me great joy is that orchestras and opera companies in Europe were posting about this [the Super Bowl show]. ”It’s amazing how these two seemingly different worlds come together.”
