EDGAR HERRERA

One of the best lives a human can have is a life in music

By Diana Love and Rick Hutzell

Edgar Herrera soaks in the essence of life from his spacious outdoor deck. Beyond the gentle buzz of birds and bees are the sounds of his family: one daughter is practicing the harpsichord - a recent gift from a patron. His other daughter chats quietly yet ceaselessly about Kiki, her cat. The girls are four years old twins and already as enraptured with the arts as Edgar and his wife, Luz.

For Edgar, these sounds of domesticity, enhanced by his favorite red wine, are beautiful. And quiet. He previously worked from an apartment in Mexico City, far above the cityscape but not quite far enough to evade the sounds of horns, cars, and traffic.

Edgar moved to the Annapolis area during the Pandemic when he accepted a job as Executive Director of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra. The move was significant for him and his family, but in a way, it felt like coming home. "Life has a quieter pace here than in the city. It affords me more space to think and reflect on music and the things I love."

Edgar's entire life is deeply rooted in music. In fact, it's deep in his DNA. African, Spanish, and Mexican ancestors passed down musical traditions so embedded in their culture and art as to be inseparable. His great-grandfather Manuel Ponce, was one of the most influential Latin American composers and arguably the first one on the continent to synthesize European and Mexican folk music with other elements to create an original musical idiom.

His father filled the house with music in the afternoons, playing classical music on LPs featuring the piano. His twin brother, Omar, is a concert pianist and founder of The Ponce Project (ThePonceProject. com), a non-profit committed to promoting Latin America's rich and exceptional classical music heritage. "I grew up with music, with classical orchestral piano music," Edgar said. "It was instrumental, no pun intended, in my decision to pursue a career as a professional pianist." He left Mexico for the University of Texas at Austin. While there, he won the university concerto competition and played as a soloist with conductor Peter Bay.

A Bachelor's and Master's degrees in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin were followed by a Master's in Arts Administration and an MBA from the University of Cincinnati. Edgar is proud of his education, which qualifies him not only as a performance musician among the best but also as a successful entrepreneur, businessman, and now Executive Director of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Edgar's tenure at the ASO thus far has been characterized by significant change. He was instrumental in helping the ASO face the repercussions and challenges brought to the ASO performance schedule and budget by the COVID pandemic. He also