Agarita to Celebrate 2025 with 7 Community Concerts, 3 Humble Hall Concerts & More

Agarita is celebrating the new year with an exciting lineup of concerts planned for 2025, including seven large-scale community concerts, inspiring art and music with local and International Artists, a special lecture and guest performances at its new Agarita Loft and visits to schools, libraries and parks through its Humble Hall and Agarita Inspires! programs. These performances are always bilingual, free and open to all.

"Agarita is pleased to continue its 2024-2025 season with strong programming that remains devoted to the community reaching new audiences through reinventing the concert experience and making a direct impact through artistic collaboration and education," said Agarita Executive Director and Violist Marisa Bushman. "Our mission remains steadfast to present classical music in a free and accessible manner. We aspire to inspire others with our world-class, innovative performances, community engagement and adventurous programming."

"We are immensely grateful for the generous donations we received in 2024 from our supporters and especially appreciative of the unwavering support of the San Antonio community. This allows us to continue providing high-quality performances to the community free of charge," said Bushman.

On January 25, 2025, Agarita will celebrate the new year collaborating with Olmos Ensemble at the University of the Incarnate Word and will have an additional concert with different repertoire on January 27th at the Shepherd King Lutheran Church.

This spring, Agarita will welcome back internationally acclaimed Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas to the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, HEB Performance Hall, on March 9, 2025. Sainz-Villegas has been acclaimed by the international press as the successor of Andrés Segovia and an ambassador of Spanish culture in the world.

Looking forward to summer, Agarita will present a premiere of Ethan Wickman's Shimmers of Byzantium, among other inspired works at The Chapel of the Incarnate Word on May 3, 2025. It will close out the season for two back-to-back performances with with GRAMMY-winning quintet, Imani Winds at the Diane Bennack Concert Hall, University of the Incarnate Word, on June 21, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. and Charline McCombs Empire Theatre on June 22, 2025 at 3 p.m.

Agarita will offer a free lecture by co-founder and pianist Daniel Anastasio and welcome guest performances with cellist Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir and violinist Suliman Tekalli at its new Agarita Loft in Southtown. Anastasio will hold a recital with Saeunn, and Suliman will be joining the Agarita ensemble for two evening concerts at the Loft.

Through its Humble Hall visits at libraries and parks, Agarita will continue with its dedication to the community to visit all 10 council districts and 4 precincts in San Antonio with four free mobile concert performances. Two of these free performances will be with Azul Barrientos at libraries presented in a bilingual format. This community initiative brings live, world-class, innovative musical performances to San Antonio while eliminating barriers including time and expense of traveling to a concert hall or venue.

Through Agarita Inspires!, Agarita will continue to visit schools this January but it will include a special Paint to Music partnership with the San Antonio Symphony League that will feature musicians from the New World Symphony at school visits during the month of February 2025.

As of December 2024, Agarita has performed in front of more than 48,000 audience members, providing 266 concerts at around 145 venues and collaborating with more than 50 artists and groups. Through Agarita Inspires!, Agarita is giving 50+ educational concerts for more than 12,000 young students, all free of charge.

These performances are generously supported by donors in the Agarita Family. New additions to the family are the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation, Nancy Smith Hurd Foundation, Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992, San Antonio Symphony League, as well as the San Antonio Area Foundation, which continues to support Agarita's general operating expenses, with an average of $15,000 annually through 2025 as part of its 2023 Responsive Grant. Agarita has also received additional funding of $30,000 from Area Foundation and $25,000 from Bexar County.

In addition, Agarita was recently awarded the Area Foundation Collaborative Grant that will allow Agarita to further expand their partnership with artist Azul Barrientos. By the end of June 2025, through this partnership with Barrientos, Agarita will have an additional Community Concert, two Humble Halls and four educational shows. More details to follow.
 

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