The Classical Music Institute (CMI) has announced the formation of a new performance-focused subgroup that will serve as the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts’ resident orchestra.
The Orchestra San Antonio (TOSA) is comprised of a core group of 60 CMI musicians. About 10 of those core members reside in San Antonio and regularly teach in CMI’s education programs, with the remainder traveling from around the U.S. and Latin America for performances.
TOSA will perform concerts during the upcoming CMI 210 Festival in June and will announce its first full season of programming in July, said President and CEO Paul Montalvo.
The move to create TOSA is essentially a rebranding of the performance arm of the 10-year-old nonprofit organization to better delineate the professional concert orchestra from the education-focused side of CMI, Montalvo said.
“It’s a natural evolvement of where we’ve been going when it comes to education and performance,” he said.
The resident orchestra
CMI began in 2014 primarily as an education-focused nonprofit, performing occasional concerts at the Tobin Center each year in addition to its summer music education camps. Following the dissolution of the San Antonio Symphony in June 2022, CMI took over as the orchestra for productions of Ballet San Antonio and Opera San Antonio, which, along with CMI, are Tobin Center resident companies.
Resident companies, which also include the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio and the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, enjoy privileges from sharing offices in the administration building adjacent to the Tobin Center to securing preferred dates for scheduling events in the H-E-B Performance Hall and the Carlos Alvarez Theater.
The San Antonio Philharmonic orchestra, comprised of former musicians of the San Antonio Symphony, sought but was not granted Tobin Center resident status. It has performed at the First Baptist Church since forming in August 2022.
The Philharmonic’s executive director Roberto Treviño said his focus remains on the orchestra’s upcoming performances and its next season under the guidance of new music director Jeffrey Kahane.
“We are enthusiastic about the promising future ahead, characterized by a steadfast commitment to prioritizing the needs and interests of our community,” Treviño wrote in a text message to the San Antonio Report.
Asked whether the formation of TOSA closes the possibility of the San Antonio Philharmonic being granted resident status, Tobin Center President and CEO Michael Fresher said he’s been approached by other opera and ballet companies seeking resident status but has not granted it because Ballet San Antonio and Opera San Antonio already exist as resident companies.
“Much in the same vein, we’re not going to be adding another orchestra as a resident company,” Fresher said.
Community focus
Montalvo said TOSA will also focus on community engagement. While its concerts will primarily be held in the main hall of the Tobin Center, “we also are going to go out to the community consistently,” including a goal of performing in surrounding areas such as Floresville and Somerset, he said.
As the 2024-2025 TOSA performance season develops, Montalvo said the organization’s focus is on financial sustainability and measured growth.
“We’re going to slowly build over time,” he said. “We’re going to grow at the pace that we feel is sustainable and fiscally responsible.”
