Recendez begged her parents to play the flute. When she was 8, her mother finally took her to a reluctant music teacher who said she was too young for lessons. “He handed me a flute and said, ‘Here you go. Try to make a sound,’” Recendez says. “I made …

After besting over 130 applicants for the job as music director of the Carmel Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Maestra Janna Hymes has taken the helm as the CSO’s first female conductor. Her journey to the podium began as a teenager when a music teacher was t …