HTH EPSO INTERVIEW: Elizabeth Zamora

1. How long have you been a member of the EPSO? I have been a member of the El Paso
Symphony for 15 Years
2. Who is your conductor? Bohuslav Rattay is our conductor.
3. What is his occupation? He is our musical director/conductor.
4. How many members are there in the EPSO? There are about 70 members in the El Paso
Symphony Orchestra.
5. What do you know about the history of the EPSO? Ex.
- Conductors
- Members
- Concerts
- Music
The El Paso Symphony Orchestra (EPSO) is in its 85th Season. The 1st EPSO conductor was
Hine Arthur Brown, followed by Orlando Barrera, William Kirsch, then Abraham Chavez,Jr.,
who had been a member of the symphony since 1940 was named EPSO in 1975,
in 1992, Gurer Aykal became the next EPSO conductor, EPSO pointed its first female conductor
Sara Ioannides in 2005. Some members of EPSO have been playing for over 30, 40 years. In 85
seasons, numerous concerts have been done with music by all the famous composers in every
era.
6. Why did you decide to join the symphony? I decided to join the symphony because I love
music, love playing my violin. It's wonderful learning, performing, making beautiful music with
other professional musicians. I always dreamed of playing in a professional symphony.
7. Does anyone else in your family play in the symphony? I am the only one in my family that
plays in the symphony. I do have family members that are musicians though, but do not play in a
symphony orchestra.
8. Where else (besides the Plaza Theater) does the symphony play concerts? Besides having our
concerts at the Plaza Theatre, we also play at the Abraham Chavez Theatre, Biggs Field Park and
have played at other events at the Chamizal.
9. What type of music do you normally play? We normally play overtures, concertos and
symphonies.
10. Is there a specific type or preference in music? The conductor is the one that chooses our
concert music, there is a music committee that helps/suggests repertoire.