Detroit Symphony Orchestra Music Director Jader Bignamini returns from Italy to conduct a program on Friday that will highlight works by Jessie Montgomery and Richard Strauss, and feature Beethoven's Third Symphony, the celebrated "Eroica." The Detroit News caught up with Bignamini via Zoom to chat COVID-19 restrictions, having to travel without his family, and why the "Eroica" is a turning point in musical history. You've been back home in Italy since September. When did you return to Detroit? Jader Bignamini: "I arrived back here two weeks ago." Did you have to quarantine? "Yes. It was probably my fourth or fifth quarantine. I spent my two weeks in the apartment here studying, cooking and eating. It’s OK. It’s life now, and it's very important for the orchestra that I follow the rules like them."