Chicago conductor Giancarlo Guerrero performed with Bad Bunny
Four minutes into Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, the camera cut to two rows of smiling string players.
Leading them with graceful, rapid rhythms and a sparkling hibiscus flower on his lapel? Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor of Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival, the free orchestra series that plays each summer at Pritzker Pavilion.
Speaking to the Tribune on Monday after the show, Guerrero said he was “still in shock.” His team received a call from Bad Bunny’s manager on January 31 inviting him to be one of the more than 700 attendees at the halftime show. During that call, Guerrero learned that 31-year-old Bad Bunny (born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) had not only requested a Hispanic conductor, but specifically Guerrero.
“Apparently he knew about my career,” Guerrero said.
Guerrero, 56, was born in Nicaragua but grew up largely in Costa Rica. His family emigrated to escape the Cold War proxy conflicts that ravaged the country from 1978 to 1990.
He eventually attended graduate school at Northwestern University and became a fixture on local podiums, not only in his position at the Grant Park Music Festival, but also in frequent appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. (The organization confirmed Guerrero is expected to return this fall.)
Guerrero’s appearance at the Super Bowl was expected to remain top secret until Sunday — other than, of course, telling his wife and two daughters, who are “big (Bad Bunny) fans.” His eldest daughter, who lives in Chicago, even traveled to Puerto Rico last year to attend the megastar’s comeback concerts.
“When the girls get in the car, as you can imagine, they control the radio. So I was very aware of his music,” Guerrero said. “As soon as I received the invitation, we FaceTimed our two daughters. It took them a while to realize it wasn’t a joke.”
Guerrero flew to San Francisco on Tuesday to begin rehearsing his role in the show. When he had the chance to meet Bad Bunny one-on-one, Guerrero learned that he was a fan of classical music.
“That’s why he didn’t just want to create some kind of fake string orchestra. He wanted a real string orchestra, with a real conductor,” Guerrero says.
Guerrero is on camera for about 30 seconds as he leads a corps of San Francisco-based musicians in the opening of “Monaco,” from Bad Bunny’s 2023 album “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana” (“Nobody Knows What Happens Tomorrow”).
Bad Bunny took the opportunity to address the audience directly for the first time, introducing himself by his legal name.
“I’m here at Super Bowl 60, and it’s because I never stopped believing in myself,” he continued in Spanish. “You also have to believe in yourself: you are worth more than you think. »
The pan-American message of Bad Bunny’s set resonates with Guerrero’s own programming at Millennium Park. Music by American and Latin American composers is central to the conductor’s repertoire, not only at the Grant Park Music Festival, but also at other stations in Sarasota, Fla., and Nashville.
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In Grant Park’s upcoming season, he will conduct new works like Peruvian-American composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Conquest Requiem” and American composer Julia Wolfe’s “Liberty Bell,” as well as classics like Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances from ‘West Side Story'” and Charles Ives’ “Variations on America.” Last season – Guerrero’s first as Grant Park’s artistic director and principal conductor – his roster included music by Brazil-born, Chicago-based Clarice Assad and hit Mexican composer Arturo Márquez.
Guerrero and Bad Bunny share another overlap: both have won six Grammys. Guerrero’s last win was in 2021 for best orchestral performance for a Nashville Symphony recording featuring Ives’ “Variations on America.” Bad Bunny reached that total after the last Grammys, where he won three awards, including album of the year for 2025’s “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” (“I Should Have Taken More Pictures”).
And just like the young Puerto Rican sensation, Guerrero is in demand around the world. He took a 3 a.m. flight after the show to go to Florida, where he is also music director of the Sarasota Orchestra. His future commitments will take him not only all over the United States, but also to Poland, Germany and Portugal, before summer begins at Grant Park.
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Guerrero sees parallels between Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance and what he and others are doing in classical music.
“I mean, this guy can go from one style to another without blinking. It reminded me a little bit of what we do, going from contemporary music, to baroque or romantic music,” he said. “That shows you the talent level of this guy.”
Hannah Edgar is a freelance writer.
