Devin Patrick Hughes credits his father with sparking his love of classical and orchestral music from an early age.

Growing up in Springfield, Ill., Hughes said his father, who died last year at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, traveled to Chicago frequently to “see all the great symphonies.”

“Two of his favorite pieces were Dvorak’s ‘New World Symphony’ and (Bruch’s) ‘Scottish Fantasy,’” Hughes said.

When Hughes, a Colorado-based orchestral and operatic conductor of Irish and Guatemalan descent, was given the opportunity to conduct these two symphonic works for his upcoming music director audition concert for the Salina Symphony, “that sealed the deal for me.”