Alondra de la Parra chats with Limelight’s Editor about her life, passions and aims for the orchestra.

Anyone lucky enough to pick up a new Sony double CD back in 2010 going by the title Mi Alma Mexicana (My Mexican Soul), will already know something about Alondra de la Parra, the woman announced as the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s first ever Music Director. First of all they will know she’s Mexican and proud of it. A UNICEF Ambassador and an official Cultural Ambassador of Mexico, she believes in music as a global force and is determined to introduce a wide audience to her homeland’s impressive, if under-recorded, compositional history. They will also know she’s a smart programmer with a curious mind, unafraid of advocating the new and the unfamiliar. And last but not least they will know she is a dynamic and passionate conductor – trust me, should you grab a copy, some of the tracks on this album will have you dancing on the ceiling.

Catching up with the personable 34-year-old maestro on the phone from her home base in Mexico City, she’s clearly very excited about...