Giancarlo Guerrero (center) with his wife Shirley and Bad Bunny. Provided photo.

If you blinked, you might’ve missed it. But for those at home in Sarasota watching Bad Bunny’s record-breaking Super Bowl LX halftime show, there’s a good chance that they spotted a prominent member of the community—Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor and music director of the Sarasota Orchestra. The performance, which featured Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga, was an ode to Bad Bunny’s (Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio) Puerto Rican heritage and the Latin American community. Staged primarily in a sugar cane plantation, Bad Bunny came across different scenes, one of which was Guerrero conducting a group of young string musicians.

“The best part of it was having over 1,000 people—about 800 performers and another 300 staff members—from all over the world coming together for one common purpose,” says Guerrero. “My part of it was very interesting, because it was right after this section where Benito was doing this big, complicated dance on top of a pickup truck. Then we move into this other section featuring a wedding, and we’re playing for the wedding while he’s on a dolly with a cameraman being taken from position to position.”

Guerrero, who now joins his wife and daughter as big fans of Bad Bunny, came into the performance less than a week before the Super Bowl. After being requested by Bad Bunny specifically, he knew that it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. “If I hadn’t done this, my wife and daughter would have never forgiven me,” he says with a laugh. “It was an absolutely life changing experience. I got to spend some time with him before and after the show, and I have to tell you, he’s an absolute class act. He inspired the rest of us to do well. He’s a terrifically fabulous musician and I have nothing but great respect for him.”

Sarasota Orchestra, 709 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, 34236

Giancarlo Guerrero (center) with his wife Shirley and Bad Bunny. Provided photo.

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