Meet Your Neighbors Ignacio Gallego Fernández and Marisa Bushman

Connecting the Community Through Chamber Music

By Elizabeth Bobbitt | Photography by Lynn Yao

For cellist Ignacio Gallego Fernández and violist Marisa Bushman, art is a social service. It was their shared vocation as classical musicians that eventually brought them to 78209 and led to their co-founding of Agarita, a performing arts institution offering no-cost programming and educational opportunities that make classical music more accessible by reinventing the traditional concert experience.

“Music has to provide a service to a community beyond entertainment. At Agarita, we have found that the best way to connect with the community is to build bridges with other artistic disciplines,” Ignacio says, who serves as Educational Director.

Since its foundation in 2018, Ignacio and Marisa, along with their co-founders, pianist Daniel Anastasio and violinist Sarah Silver Manzke, have mounted over fifty concerts per year, engaging over 25,000 people in their 2024-2025 season alone.

“We like to provide surprising entry points into classical music for our audience. Let’s say that you’re not a big fan of string instruments, but you love fashion. You might come to see a show that pairs classical music with fashion design. We want to dispel the notion of classical music as the sole preserve of the ivory tower. Fun and spontaneity are part of our model,” Marisa says, who serves as Executive Director.

In upcoming months, Agarita is hosting almost weekly concert events in collaboration with an array of world-class artists. On Wednesday, November 5th, Agarita will perform “Places in South Texas,” a collection of specially commissioned works by the Composers Alliance of San Antonio. This event features music inspired by cultural sites in the city, such as San Fernando Cathedral or the McNay Courtyard. Later in 2026, Agarita will release their debut album, in collaboration with world-famous guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas, with a concert at the Tobin Center for Performing Arts. For more information on upcoming events, visit www.agarita.org.

Making Music in 78209

Ignacio and Marisa met in a Music History Review class during their master’s degree at Indiana University. A native of Toledo, Spain, Ignacio entered the master’s program at Indiana by way of a scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music. Born in New York, Marisa earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Viola Performance from the University of California, Los Angeles.

“We met early in the morning during the first week of school. I saw Ignacio, and I knew I liked him right away. We will be celebrating our twentieth anniversary this month,” Marisa says.

They moved to San Antonio in 2010, when Marisa came to work with the San Antonio Symphony. Since moving to Alamo Heights in 2012, the neighborhood has served not only as their home base but also as an important foundation point in their professional journeys.

“We are hoping that our four-year-old son, Felix, will attend the Dual-Language Program at Howard Early Childhood Center next year,” Ignacio says, who served as the director of the Strings program at Alamo Heights High School for five years.

“Growing up in Spain, I lived in a small town where you could go outside and play or visit friends without having to drive, as we often do in the United States. I love the walkability of Alamo Heights. There is such a sense of neighborhood identity. We know each neighbor in our street, and we look after each other,” Ignacio says.

Ignacio and Marisa are visiting Alamo Heights ISD this semester as part of Agarita’s “Write to Music” educational initiative, where students are invited to respond creatively to classical pieces.

“We are hoping to collaborate with English teachers at Alamo Heights as part of this program,” Ignacio says.

Some of Ignacio’s and Marisa’s favorite concert venues are located at much-loved community centers in 78209. During theCOVID pandemic, Agarita organized an outdoor concert at the Alamo Heights Swimming Pool.

“We worked with Texas artist Natalie Botello to create an underwater installation. Our instruments were connected to underwater speakers so that the audience could listen to our music in the pool,” Marisa says.

No matter how Ignacio and Marisa are working to bring classical music to the community, they have one important message: everybody is welcome.

“It’s all about connection at the end of the day,” Ignacio says.