Former Nashville Symphony music director Giancarlo Guerrero conducts orchestral segment during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime show

A Nashville-linked maestro steps onto the NFL’s biggest stage

Giancarlo Guerrero, the former music director of the Nashville Symphony and now the orchestra’s Music Director Laureate, appeared as a conductor during the Super Bowl LX halftime show on February 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The halftime production was headlined by Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny and included a visible orchestral component led on-field by Guerrero.

Guerrero’s role placed a classical conductor—best known for concert-hall work and recordings—inside a tightly choreographed pop broadcast watched worldwide. In the televised performance, he conducted a group of young string players as part of the halftime staging.

Who Giancarlo Guerrero is, and why Nashville viewers recognized him

Guerrero led the Nashville Symphony for 16 seasons and stepped down at the conclusion of the 2024–25 season, transitioning to the honorary title of Music Director Laureate beginning with the 2025–26 season. The Nashville Symphony has said he is scheduled to return to conduct several weeks per season during the organization’s leadership transition.

During his Nashville tenure, Guerrero and the orchestra became widely identified with recordings and premieres of American music, and the ensemble earned multiple GRAMMY Awards for its recorded projects. His career background includes training in the United States after growing up in Central America; he has been associated with major U.S. orchestras as a frequent guest conductor.

Connections beyond Nashville: Sarasota and Chicago roles

By the time of the 2026 Super Bowl, Guerrero was also serving as music director of the Sarasota Orchestra and as artistic director and principal conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. Those roles have expanded his profile beyond Middle Tennessee while maintaining a formal relationship with the Nashville Symphony through the laureate appointment.

What the halftime appearance signifies for orchestral visibility

Super Bowl halftime shows are typically built around pop, hip-hop, and stadium-scale spectacle. Including a conductor and string ensemble on the field reflects a continuing trend of genre blending in major televised events, where orchestral textures are used to add scale and contrast to a headliner’s set.

• Event: Super Bowl LX halftime show
• Date and venue: February 8, 2026, Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara, California)
• Headliner: Bad Bunny
• On-field conductor for orchestral segment: Giancarlo Guerrero

Guerrero’s participation placed a Nashville-associated conductor in a rare on-camera role during the halftime show’s orchestral segment.

For Nashville audiences, the appearance was a high-profile national moment involving a conductor closely tied to the city’s flagship orchestra—now presented in a setting far removed from the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, but still grounded in the same core skill: leading an ensemble in real time.