Concertmaster Profile: Chase Spruill in Conversation with Christian Baldini

Meet Chase Spruill: The New Concertmaster of the Camellia Symphony Orchestra

Christian Baldini: Chase, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Camellia Symphony Orchestra family as our new concertmaster. It was a real pleasure to work with you last season as one of our guest concertmasters, and based on the wonderful feedback we received, I know I speak for our orchestra members as well when I welcome you with open arms into your new position.

Chase Spruill: Thanks, Maestro-- it's really a joy to be joining you all this season.  It was a pretty special feeling stepping in as a guest last season.  There's always a little bit of nervousness for me when I'm doing something like that because you feel like you're walking into somebody else's home, but everybody was so warm and open during that time, and so committed to joyful music-making and doing their best...when you see something like that, it's hard to pass up the opportunity when you're given a reason to stay with that community longer!

CB: After having developed a fruitful career in the East Coast, you recently returned to the Sacramento region, and it's wonderful to have you with us sharing everything you bring into your position from your experience as a seasoned chamber musician and orchestral musician. What are some of the experiences you remember most fondly from your time working with folks like Philip Glass, Steve Mackey and the Kronos Quartet?

CS: Always the rehearsals.  Performances should stand out for me, but it's the rehearsals which stick out in my mind.  There's so much dialogue and conversation in the rehearsal, and the endeavor to draw something out of the music we were playing felt so shared, I don't think I knew when I first started working with those kinds of artists that it was okay to be human and spirited and inquisitive.  In my musical life, I grew up listening to and admiring those artists, and in my imagination, I thought playing with them would mean I had to walk some kind of ultra-prepared, uncompromising line, and that they would somehow like me more if I did things the way I assumed they were used to other musicians doing them, and I couldn't have been more wrong.  They knew I respected their work and wanted to be with them and learn from them, yet they never implied that I should be quiet.  I was always shocked at the amount of times questions would come my way about what I was hearing or thinking, or whether I could think of any new approaches.  Working with them really solidified in my own spirit the kind of human being I wanted to work to be in the music world.  

CB: Tell us Chase, how did you begin your musical path? Was there a person or a few people that were particularly influential and inspiring to you?

CS: Like a lot of young people, I started music in public schools when I was 10 years old.  I'd always been drawn to film music, so when the offering came around, I chose violin, and I was getting pretty serious about it.  Unfortunately, when I was 12, I suffered a pretty life-altering injury which left me bedridden, wheelchair-bound, and in-and-out of surgeries for the next two years, which also meant I had to come in-and-out of school.  I have a very close relationship with my parents, and they don't know the meaning of the word "Quit."  During that time, getting me back to health and while supporting my rehabilitation, they were the ones who tried to create as much normalcy for me as possible, and they saw that I was serious about violin and music, so they figured out a way to get the arms off my wheelchair, got me set up so I could play and practice, hired a private music teacher named Matthew Grasso whom I still learn from and play music with to this day, and the rest is history.  I've never stopped.  I'd have to say if there were people who were particularly influential and inspiring to me, it'd have to be my parents.  Musically, Matt continues to inspire me, my other longtime teacher and friend Anna Presler, the lot of people from the Philip Glass camp such as longtime director of the Philip Glass Ensemble Michael Riesman, and my good friend Richard Guerin.  I knew of them long before they knew of me, but I'm really happy we know about each other now.

CB: What are some of your musical dreams, ideals or plans?

CS: I've had a longtime, healthy obsession with British composer Michael Nyman.  I've wanted to play in the Michael Nyman Band for as long as I can remember--like the same way David Bowie knew he wanted to play sax with Little Richard's band.  The good news is that it seems closer as a possibility now than it ever has before.  I keep asking Nyman if I can pay my way to play just one show with them.  Just one!  I think he thinks I'm being flattering and borderline ridiculous, but occasionally when we talk, he hints that maybe that dream will get to come true for me soon.  I keep hoping!  And practicing.

CB: In your opinion, what could we change or add to the concert experience to make it more inclusive, more welcoming, and even more special than it currently is?

CS: That you and the Orchestra are even asking that question I think makes a world of difference to the community you're serving.  Discovering the best functions for what Camellia Symphony Orchestra does for the immediate and surrounding community is huge.  Keeping the transparency and presence of the orchestra in places where more people have access.  I'm blown away and love the idea that the orchestra occasionally plays concerts on a rooftop.  I love that schools and young people and their families have access to live performances.  Staying in that gear and doubling down on those efforts goes such a long way, and I'm looking forward to joining in those efforts while we're together.

CB: Thank you so much for sharing all this about yourself. We look forward to wonderful collaborations together with you and the Camellia Symphony Orchestra.

CS: Maestro, this is great, thank you.  I love what the orchestra's been doing.  I'm excited to get to work!

Violinist Chase Spruill is forging unique paths connecting contemporary chamber music, music education and public service. He was an artist-in-residence and founding violinist of Sacramento State University’s contemporary chamber music ensemble before accepting a residency at the Nationally celebrated not-for-profit organization Community MusicWorks in Providence, RI where he served as a core faculty member and resident musician from 2012-2017, and was appointed a visiting professor of violin at Wheaton College in Norton, MA from 2015-2017. He’s performed with and collaborated closely alongside notable artists in the field such as Kronos Quartet, Emmanuel Ax, Steven Mackey, Johnny Gandelsman of Brooklyn Rider and the Silk Road Project with Yo-Yo Ma, and currently tours as a duo alongside pianist and longtime director of the Philip Glass Ensemble Michael Riesman. Spruill’s Philip Glass recordings can be found on the composer’s label Orange Mountain Music, where he will be featured on Riesman’s forthcoming album Philip Glass Soundtracks, volume 2 available May 24, 2019.

In 2018, he joined the independent record label Supertrain Records alongside a roster of artists including William Bolcom, Dennis Russell Davies, and Zbigniew Preisner. His first release with the label celebrates the violinist’s ongoing collaboration with award-winning British composer Michael Nyman (notable composer of such films as The Piano, Gattaca, and The End of the Affair...) whom turned 75 in March of 2019. YAMAMOTO PERPETUO is a beautiful, fiery marathon of a score written for a fashion show in Paris during a collaboration with lauded designer Yohji Yamamoto. It is the first widely-available recording of the 12-movement virtuoso work in its intended form (it later became the entirety of the first violin part for String Quartet no.4, a basis for Strong on Oaks, Strong on the Causes of Oaks written for chamber orchestra, and his Violin Concerto no.2) and is the violinist’s solo debut album. Nyman raves that Spruill’s recording,”...is played with fierce dedication...” In the summer of 2019, Chase Spruill was appointed as the new Concertmaster of the Camellia Symphony Orchestra in Sacramento.

Composer & Soloist Profile: Xavier Beteta in Conversation with Christian Baldini

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On April 27, our program "Exuberant Energy" with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra will feature works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Xavier Beteta and Mozart. Below is an interview with pianist and composer Xavier Beteta.

Christian Baldini: Xavier, it is a pleasure to feature the US premiere of your Piano Concerto "Tomás de Merlo" in Sacramento with you as our soloist. You performed the world premiere of this piece a few months ago in Guatemala, your home country. What can you tell us about the genesis of this piece, and your inspiration in the painter Tomás de Merlo and his stolen paintings?

Xavier Beteta: First, thank you Christian for the invitation to perform with the Camellia Symphony and for featuring the US premiere of my piano concerto. The concerto is inspired by three paintings by XVII century Guatemalan painter Tomás de Merlo. De Merlo was one of the most important colonial painters with a distilled and very original style. In his paintings some characters have “mestizo” and indigenous features, thus, representing the traditional Christian themes in the entourage of the New World. In 2014, six of his paintings were stolen from thechurch “El Calvario” in Antigua Guatemala. When I read the news, I felt frustrated and was confronted with the impossibility of doing something about it, thus, I decided to write a piece of music that somehow could connect with these paintings. I chose three of the stolen paintings, “The Prayer in the Garden, “The Pietá” and “The Crowning with Thorns,” which depict scenes of the passion of Christ. To write this piece I requested high resolution pictures of the paintings and used them to improvise at the piano. Each movement comes from a process of first improvising and recording musical ideas at the piano, and later giving it final form as a three-movement concerto. The plundering of colonial art in Guatemala is a raising problem. While in law school, one of my research topics was precisely the protection of cultural heritage and I wrote a paper about the different international conventions that protect colonial art. I hope writing a piece of music about this topic could help create awareness of this problem, and hopefully inspire authorities to do more to protect the artistic treasures of different countries.

CB: And how was your experience performing it with the National Symphony in your own country? After living in the US for pretty much half of your life, how does it feel to go back to your origins and share everything you've learned as an artist, composer and pianist with your community?

XB: It was a rewarding experience. I think a lot of good and interesting things are happening musically in Guatemala, there is a new generation of young talents willing to perform contemporary music. While in Guatemala this past November, I had the opportunity to teach some master classes and give a talk about my aesthetics as a composer. I was also able to reconnect with friends and students and to talk about possible projects for the future. Regarding the premiere of my piano concerto, I think it was well received. The main figures of the musical and artistic scene in Guatemala were there that night. It was a memorable concert because it also had first performances of works by Manuel Martinez-Sobral and Ricardo Castillo, two Guatemalan composers of the early 20^th century that are rarely heard. Thus, in a way, it was a concert that opened horizons to perform more Guatemalan repertoire. 

CB: Tell us about important figures that have inspired you in your education and training. Who are those people that you will always be grateful to, and why?

XB: I would mention three, my piano teachers Sylvia Kersenbaum and Sergei Polusmiak and my first composition teacher Rodrigo Asturias. Kersenbaum was a teacher that knew basically all the pianistic repertoire by heart, and I was fortunate to meet her at a time in my studies where I needed to develop technique and a sense of originality. Polusmiak studied with Regina Horowitz (sister of Vladimir) and through him I learned the basics of the Russian school of piano: the importance of good sound, impeccable technique, and musical expression. My composition professor Rodrigo Asturias was probably the most influential. I was his only composition student, and he taught me composition because he believed in me. He introduced me to a lot of contemporary music but also, to literature and philosophy. Our meetings were full of discussions of Proust, Musil, Mallarmé, Celine, and many others, and lots of listening of the main masterpieces of the 20^th century. He introduced me not only to the main figures like Boulez or Stockhausen, but also to figures like Bernd Alois Zimmerman, Koechlin, and Jolivet. He set a good example for me.

Now that time has passed and I look back, I can see that, in the three of them, there was, above all, a deep humbleness, and that’s what I admire the most in them. I think the greatest an artist is, the humbler he or she becomes because they are conscious of how long the road is. I think that sense of humility is something we don’t see anymore, especially nowadays where facebook and the social media outlets have created a culture of egocentrism.    

CB: In your opinion, what is the role of art in society nowadays? We keep hearing or reading these dark comments that classical music audiences are aging, do you believe in this, and if so, what should or could be done to reverse this trend and invigorate our audiences?

XB: I believe the role of art in society should always be that of questioning and formulating critique. It is in art where we first sense the ethos of a time and a culture, thus, it is extremely important to create new art, and also propose new trends that can formulate a critique to the current discourses, always informed with a sense of tradition and what has been done before. True art is not entertainment, it is a window into the transcendent and points toward the deepest nature of humanity.

Regarding the dark comments you mention, I believe good music will continue to be done and people who appreciate good music will continue to ask for it. So, I think there will always be people interested in classical music, but it is true that audiences are shrinking. Changing this is not an easy task, but a good start could be to learn “how to feel.”

CB: Thank you for your time and for your very interesting answers, we look forward to featuring you both as a composer and our soloist for our upcoming concert!

XB: Thank you Christian, it is a pleasure to collaborate with you.

Xavier Beteta (composer and pianist)

Born in Guatemala City, Xavier studied piano at the National Conservatory of Guatemala with Consuelo Medinilla. At age 18, he was awarded the first-prize at the Augusto Ardenois National Piano Competition and third-prize at the Rafael Alvarez Ovalle Composition Competition in Guatemala. He continued his piano studies in the United States with Argentinean pianist Sylvia Kersenbaum and with Russian pianist Sergei Polusmiak. He also attended master-classes with pianists Massimiliano Damerini and Daniel Rivera in Italy. Xavier has performed in different venues in the United States, Europe and Latin America and has been a soloist with the Guatemalan National Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Augusto Ardenois.

As a composer, Xavier did most of his studies privately with Rodrigo Asturias. In 2013 he won the Second Place at the fourth International Antonin Dvorak Composition Competition in Prague. Xavier studied music theory at the University of Cincinnati where his thesis about the music of Rodrigo Asturias was ranked no. 4 in the National Best-Seller Dissertation List. He recently finished his Ph.D. in composition at the University of California San Diego with Roger Reynolds.  

At UCSD he also studied with Philippe Manoury and Chinary Ung. His compositions have been performed in diverse festivals such as Festival Musica in Strasbourg, France, Darmstadt Composition Summer Courses in Germany, June in Buffalo, SICPP in Boston, Opera Theater Festival of Lucca, Italy and by ensembles such as Accroche Note, Ensemble Signal, and UCSD Palimpsest.

Xavier also holds a law degree from Salmon P. Chase College of Law and his diverse interests include art law, copyright, poetry, and tango.

Composer Profile: Gabriela Lena Frank in Conversation with Christian Baldini

In preparation for our performance of her Elegía andina in Sacramento with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, I had the pleasure of asking composer Gabriela Lena Frank a few questions about her music. Below are the answers:

Christian Baldini: Thank you very much for agreeing to answer some questions! In your program notes to the Elegía, you note that you "continue to thrive on multiculturalism", and I find this fascinating, especially considering what a rich cultural background you possess as the daughter of a Lithuanian-Jewish father and a Chinese-Peruvian-Spanish mother. Can you tell us more about how this influenced your upbringing, and your music in particular?

Gabriela Lena Frank: Well, my first exposure to music from my mother’s homeland came through Berkeley’s La Peña when it was in its original location at the Julia Morgan Theater on College Avenue.  In the 70s and 80s, there was so much turmoil in Latin America that many refugees were fleeing to the US, bringing their cuisine and music.  At these concerts, I could see Peruvians that looked like my Mom, playing instruments that she had described to me, and I was transported, mentally and emotionally, to a mystical place that beckoned a cultural homecoming.  I loved the music and would come home, trying to make my piano sound like what I had heard in the concerts.  Now, I do this for a living!  

CB: You are an extremely successful artist, nowadays Composer-in-Residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra, previously with the Detroit Symphony, and you were included in the Washington Post's list of the 35 most significant women composers in history (August, 2017). We are performing your Elegía andina, which is your very first orchestral piece, written in 2000 for the Albany Symphony and dedicated to your older brother. Did you imagine that you would have such a phenomenal ride when you started composing? 

GLF: No. Way.  I thought that the lack of representation for women and especially women of color was symptomatic of an industry that would never fully welcome me, but I was determined to explore my nerdy ideas, anyway, with as much joy and fervor as I could muster.  That I’ve been able to overcome quite a few hurdles for many years to slowly make my way to this point is pretty astonishing to me.  I’m delighted to see that my emerging colleagues are generally benefiting from the progress that folks my generation were able to make, and I hope they can go even farther than me.  

CB: You have done so much to help young musicians, especially composers, through your "Creative Academy of Music". Could you tell us how this incredible project started? How did you come up with such an idea? 

GLF: My husband and I took a cross-country trip during the final months of the 2016 presidential election, which was a truly dispiriting affair.  During that trip, we drove through areas that were culturally desolate and economically impoverished, and I could see for my own eyes why certain violent messages of division and hatred were appealing.  All the ideas that had been fomenting in me over many years regarding art and arts citizenship really came to fore, and I felt that I simply had to do something.  So, GLFCAM was born, and we try to give a richly diverse array of voices a potent boost, artistically and professionally.  Their voices need to be heard.  

CB: Who are some important figures that have inspired you in your education and training? Are there any people that you think you will will always be grateful to, and why?

GLF: I’ll always be grateful to certain private teachers — Piano teachers Jeanne Kierman Fischer and Logan Skelton, and composers Sam Jones, William Bolcom, and Leslie Bassett.  They saw what I could be, and are in every word of advice that I now speak to my mentees.  

CB: In your opinion, what is the role of art in society nowadays? 

GLF: To reveal connections in startling new ways; to build character through the art of story-telling; to inspire people to create rather than to make war; to bring people together in the same space to really see one another.  

CB: Sometimes we read or hear depressing comments that classical music audiences are aging. Do you believe in this, and if so, what should or could be done to reverse this trend and invigorate our audiences?

GLF: I’ve heard this since I was a teenager and I think we’ve been mistaking seismic shifts for the very death of our industry.  Change is not death.  Change is how an art form continues to live even if it’s unrecognizable from before.  That said, efforts to retool’s people’s instant reaction to the words “classical” are needed.  That will only happen when it is no longer elitist but available for everyone.  

CB: What do you seek to achieve with every new piece that you write? What is your main motivation for writing music?

GLF: I write to tell stories, and stories exist to enlarge our reality so that we can really be human, not merely a reactive organism.  Sometimes the stories are clumsy or new to me — Elegia Andina, as you note, was my first orchestra work, and I was sweating bullets the entire time I was putting notes to the page.  Yet, even then, my motivation was the same — To touch people and remind them how large this beautiful world is.  I humbly ask to be that messenger.  

CB: Thank you very much for your time and for answering these questions in such a candid manner. We very much look forward to sharing your beautiful music with our audiences here in Sacramento!

GLF: You are very welcome.  I wish I could be there to join you!

Included in the Washington Post's list of the 35 most significant women composers in history (August, 2017), identity has always been at the center of composer/pianist Gabriela Lena Frank's music. Born in Berkeley, California (September, 1972), to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Frank explores her multicultural heritage most ardently through her compositions. Inspired by the works of Bela Bartók and Alberto Ginastera, Frank is something of a musical anthropologist. She has traveled extensively throughout South America and her pieces often reflect and refract her studies of Latin American folklore, incorporating poetry, mythology, and native musical styles into a western classical framework that is uniquely her own.

Moreover, she writes, "There's usually a story line behind my music; a scenario or character." While the enjoyment of her works can be obtained solely from her music, the composer's program notes enhance the listener's experience, for they describe how a piano part mimics a marimba or pan-pipes, or how a movement is based on a particular type of folk song, where the singer is mockingly crying. Even a brief glance at her titles evokes specific imagery: Leyendas (Legends): An Andean Walkabout; Cuentos Errantes (Wandering Songs); and La Llorona (The Crying Woman): Tone Poem for Viola and Orchestra. Frank’s compositions also reflect her virtuosity as a pianist — when not composing, she is a sought-after performer, specializing in contemporary repertoire.

Winner of a Latin Grammy and nominated for Grammys as both composer and pianist, Gabriela also holds a Guggenheim Fellowship and a USA Artist Fellowship given each year to fifty of the country’s finest artists. Her work has been described as “crafted with unself-conscious mastery” (Washington Post), “brilliantly effective” (New York Times), “a knockout” (Chicago Tribune) and “glorious” (Los Angeles Times). Gabriela Lena Frank is regularly commissioned by luminaries such as cellist Yo Yo Ma, soprano Dawn Upshaw, the King’s Singers, and the Kronos Quartet, as well as by the talents of the next generation such as conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin of the New York Metropolitan Opera and Philadelphia Orchestra. She has received orchestral commissions and performances from leading American orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony. In 2017, she completed her four-year tenure as composer-in-residence with the Detroit Symphony under maestro Leonard Slatkin, composing Walkabout: Concerto for Orchestra, as well as a second residency with the Houston Symphony under Andrés Orozco-Estrada for whom she composed the Conquest Requiem, a large-scale choral/orchestral work in Spanish, Latin, and Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. Frank’s most recent premiere is Apu: Tone Poem for Orchestra commissioned by Carnegie Hall and premiered by the National Youth Orchestra of the United States under the baton of conductor Marin Alsop. In the season of 2019-20, Fort Worth Opera will premiere Frank’s first opera, The Last Dream of Frida (with a subsequent performance by co-commissioner San Diego Opera) utilizing words by her frequent collaborator Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Nilo Cruz. 

Gabriela Lena Frank is the subject of several scholarly books including the W.W. Norton Anthology: The Musics of Latin America; Women of Influence in Contemporary Music: Nine American Composers (Scarecrow Press); and In her Own Words(University of Illinois Press). She is also the subject of several PBS documentaries including Compadre Huashayo regarding her work in Ecuador composing for the Orquestra de Instrumentos Andinos comprised of native highland instruments; and Música Mestiza, regarding a workshop she led at the University of Michigan composing for a virtuoso septet of a classical string quartet plus a trio of Andean panpipe players. Música Mestiza, created by filmmaker Aric Hartvig, received an Emmy Nomination for best Documentary Feature in 2015. 

Civic outreach is an essential part of Frank’s work. She has volunteered extensively in hospitals and prisons, with a recent project working with deaf African-American high school students in Detroit who rap in sign language. In 2017, Frank founded the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, a non-profit training institution that offers emerging composers short-term retreats at Gabriela’s two farms in Mendocino County, CA. Over two visits, participants receive artistic and professional mentorship from Gabriela as well as readings of works in progress by guest faculty master performers in advance of the works' public world premieres at the academy. In support of arts citizenship, the Academy also pairs participant composers and faculty performers with underrepresented rural communities in a variety of projects such as working with students at the Anderson Valley Junior/Senior High enrolled in basic music composition class.  

During the 2018-2019 season, Frank leads four composer residencies across the US, including performances of her recent works as well as large-scale commissions: composer-in-residence with Philadelphia Orchestra through 2021, visiting artist-in-residence with Vanderbilt University, a composer residency with the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, and is the featured composer for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Music in Color concert series. In 2017, Frank founded the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music in Boonville, CA which provides mentorship, readings-to-premieres residencies, and commissions for emerging composers from diverse backgrounds in addition to fostering public school programs in low-arts rural public schools.

Frank attended Rice University in Houston, Texas, where she earned a B.A. (1994) and M.A. (1996). She studied composition with Sam Jones, and piano with Jeanne Kierman Fischer. At the University of Michigan, where she received a D.M.A. in composition in 2001, Gabriela studied with William Albright, William Bolcom, Leslie Bassett, and Michael Daugherty, and piano with Logan Skelton. She currently resides in Boonville, a small rural town in the Anderson Valley of northern California, with her husband Jeremy on their mountain farm, has a second home in her native Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area, and travels frequently in South America.  

Gabriela Lena Frank's music is published exclusively by G. Schirmer, Inc. 

Wonderful Review for the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, Er-Gene Kahng & Christian Baldini

"It’s a challenging proposition for an orchestra to put forward a whole program of not-very well-known music, and the Music Director Christian Baldini, and the Camellia Symphony are to be applauded for their bold programming and excellent artistic execution."

"It all took great skill for the orchestra to navigate, and Kahng’s violin offered clarity and warmth of tone, as well as brilliant precision in the technical demands.  It was a completely thrilling performance, and I joined the audience in an energized ovation."

"the orchestra navigated the surprises of this new work with great skill, and it was definitely a thought-provoking piece."

"The orchestra’s performance was brilliant and energetic, and I completely enjoyed hearing it.  I am so thrilled to have been able to attend this wonderful concert by the Camellia Symphony Orchestra – and I look forward to hearing more from this orchestra!"

Liane Curtis, a musicologist and the President of the Women's Philharmonic Advocacy, an organization "leveling the playing field for women composers" has written a glowing review of the Camellia Symphony Orchestra's last performance celebrating Black History Month. Kudos to everyone involved in making this concert such a success!

Click here to read the entire review.

Christian Baldini in Conversation with Marta Lambertini

While I am getting ready to conduct the world premiere of Marta Lambertini's Angel apasionado II in Sacramento, California, I have the pleasure of asking Marta some important questions about her music. Here is the transcript from our interview (in English first, and then the original, in Spanish.) [para la entrevista original, completa, en castellano, vea más abajo]

Christian Baldini: Your music always has some kind of mystery around it. It is really like poetry painted somewhere in the music. The Angel apasionado II has much of this mystery, with sections seeming to be building into a climax, to suddenly turn a corner and go somewhere else. What can you tell us about that?

Marta Lambertini: I think you are right. In the case of Angel apasionado II I try to represent Mozart's mystery, and that is why these depths that stem from his string quartet "The Hunt" are always latent, but they never quite become evident fully. I try to show them, and to "unbury" these depths from the quartet, which in its surface shows a kind and gentle character. Measure 45 represents the 2nd part of the theme, revealed in all its dramatic strength. That is why this section must be performed in the softest possible way, as if it was coming from a different place, in which more than hearing it, you must guess it! So I wrote ppp (triple pianissimo), and I thought it would be too exaggerated to use more then 3 ppp, but if it was up to me, it could have thousands. I like for music to be guessed more then listened to.

CB: You have written many operas, and one could say you are a composer with a great dramatic streak, but also with a kind of sense of humor very few times seen in the musical environment. How would you describe your relationship with humor in your own works?


ML: Well, this is a difficult question. I consider myself a person with a good sense of humor. It is a feature that all of us in my family share: cousins, uncles, nephews, etc. It is kind of a defensive sensitivity, if you will. I think that it undoubtedly translates into music. But hold on, it is not the kind of humor that makes fun of just anything, sometimes in order to keep your sense of humor you must have a very serious face. I would define it with a more just word: absurdity. That is why I love Lewis Carroll, and my Alicias (Alices). The fact of maintaining a serious discussion on linguistics with an egg that seems to know a lot on the subject, or with a very philosophical caterpillar, completely exceeds every expectation about the absurd. In this place I choose to live.


CB: What is more important to you, opera or symphonic music? It is a difficult question. Perhaps there is no order of preference, but rather possibly priorities, or desires at different times in life.


ML: It is exactly like you say, just a matter of priorities. Or opportunities. There are themes or topics that lend themselves to a lyrical development, to a theatrical representation. There are also steps in-between, like musical theatre, which is very suitable to the chamber music genre. I name my works. There are other composers who are more austere or which have a narrower reach than me, and they call their works sonata, symphony, prelude. Instead, I like to give them an original name: it is a gift that I give the listeners, to give them a slight inkling, an idea about the content of what they are about to listen to. When you don't have a libretto, but just an idea, you write symphonic music. In my case, works like "Galileo descubre las cuatro lunas de Júpiter" (Galileo discovers Jupiter's four moons) or "Antígona", represent more than just an idea about the character. There is no narrative, but just ideas. I don't have preferences, but needs.


CB: Which are your favorite composers? And what would you recommend to people who might say that they don't like contemporary music (and who possibly have not listened to much of it)?


ML: Obviously Mozart. He is at the top of the peak. But he's not the only one. From past centuries I could mention so many composers that they would not fit here. And from this century I am still filtering. Nonetheless, the most contemporary one remains Mozart. With regards to the second question, I would tell people to try to come closer slowly, to assimilate gradually the multiple languages that we are using. I always say that one is what one eats, and if they eat a little bit more contemporary dessert, they will look a bit chubbier and prettier. Obviously, people prefer music that is well known, they always want the same tale, like children that go to sleep and ask their mom or dad to read them for the 11th time "Cinderella", and if daddy says that he would like to read a new tale that he just bought, the child will still want "Cinderella." That is the moment when the father needs to seduce the child to incorporate in their imagination a brand new tale. Old shoes are always more comfortable even if the newer ones are catchier to the eye.


CB: I thank you so very much for your time and for sharing your knowledge and so many experiences with is. I am very excited to present your beautiful music in Sacramento, and to share it with our audiences!


ML: And I am very proud that it will be you who will be conducting it for the first time.

Marta Lambertini

Marta Lambertini was born in San Isidro (Buenos Aires, Argentina). She studied composition in the School of Music of the Catholic University of Argentina with Luis Gianneo, Roberto Caamaño and Gerardo Gandini.She taught at the National University of La Plata, National Conservatory of Argentina, School of Fine Arts in Quilmes, and the School of Music of the Catholic University of Argentina, where she also served as Dean and Full Professor.She is a member of the National Academy of Fine Arts. She has received multiple prizes, including the 1st Prize in the National Music Award, the City of Buenos Aires Music Prize, Career Prize APA in 1972 and 1975, and the Konex Award (1999).She has been a jury member in international composition competitions in Brazil and Argentina.She is the author of the book "Gerardo Gandini, music fiction". She was nominated for Opera Theatres of the World for her opera "Cinderella", and for the Clarín Award as the most important figure in classical music.Her output includes diverse instrumental and vocal genres. Her operas "Alice in Wonderland" (1989), "S.M.R. Bach" (1990), "Hildegard" (2002), "Cinderella" (2006) and multiple symphonic and chamber works are worth mentioning. 

[the original interview in Spanish follows]

ENTREVISTA ORIGINAL (en castellano)

Christian Baldini: Tu música siempre tiene algo de misterio. Es realmente como poesía pintada en la música. El Angel apasionado II tiene mucho de este misterio, de secciones que parecen construir un climax y luego van hacia otro lado. Que nos podes decir al respecto? 

Marta Lambertini: Creo que tenés razón. En el caso de Ángel apasionado II  trato de representar el misterio Mozart, por eso surgen esas profundidades que están latentes en el cuarteto La caza, pero que no se manifiestan. Trato de mostrarlas, de desenterrarlas de las profundidades del cuarteto, que en su superficie muestra un carácter amable. El compás 45 representa la 2ª parte del tema, revelada en todo su dramatismo. Por eso debe tocarse todo ese segmento de la forma más piano posible, casi como si fuera algo que viene de otro lugar, remoto, que más que oírse se adivina¡ppppp! ahí puse ppp, me pareció una exageración gráfica ponerle más de tres, pero por mí podría tener miles. Me encanta la idea de que la música se adivine, más que escucharse.

CB: Has escrito varias operas, uno podría decir que sos una compositora con una gran veta dramática, pero también con un sentido del humor poca veces visto en el ambiente musical. Como describirías tu relación con la humorada dentro de tus obras?

ML: Bueno, difícil pregunta. Me considero una persona con sentido del humor. Es un rasgo que tenemos todos sin excepción en mi familia: primos, tíos, sobrinos etc. Es un tipo de sensibilidad defensiva, si se quiere. Creo que inevitablemente se traslada a la música. Pero ojo, no es un humor que se ríe de cualquier cosa, a veces para conservar el sentido del humor hay que poner la cara muy seria. Yo te lo definiría con otra palabra más justa: absurdo. De ahí mi amor por Lewis Carroll, mis Alicias. El hecho de poder mantener una seria discusión sobre lingüística con un huevo que parece saber mucho del tema, o con una muy filosófica oruga, rebasa toda expectativa sobre el absurdo. En ese lugar elijo vivir.

CB: Que te resulta mas importante, la opera o la música sinfónica? Es una pregunta difícil. Tal vez no haya un orden de preferencia, pero posiblemente prioridades, o deseos en distintos momentos de la vida.

ML: Tal como decís, a veces es cuestión de prioridades. O de oportunidades. Hay temas que se prestan a un desarrollo lírico, a una representación teatral. Hay también pasos intermedios, como el teatro musical, que se presta más bien al género de cámara. Yo le pongo nombre a las obras. Hay otros compositores más sobrios y menos desparramados que yo, que llaman a sus obras sonata, sinfonía, preludio. a mí en cambio me gusta ponerles nombre: es un regalo que se le hace al oyente para darle un atisbo mínimo, una orientación sobre el contenido de lo que van a escuchar. Cuando no tenés un libreto, sino solamente una idea, hacés música sinfónica. En mi caso, obras como Galileo Descubre las cuatro lunas de Júpiter o Antígona, representan más que nada una idea sobre el personaje, no hay ningún relato, solo ideas. No tengo preferencias, sino necesidades.

CB: Cuales son tus compositores preferidos? Y que le recomenderías a la gente que dice que no le gusta la música contemporánea (y que posiblemente no ha escuchado mucha)?

ML: Obviamente, Mozart. Está en la cima. Pero no es el único, de los de siglos pasados puedo mencionar tantos que no cabrían aquí. Y de este siglo estoy filtrando todavía. Igual el más contemporáneo sigue siendo Mozart. Con respecto a la segunda pregunta, le diría a la gente que trate de acercarse lentamente para asimilar poco a poco los múltiples lenguajes que estamos usando. Siempre les digo que uno es lo que come, y si comen un poquito más de postre contemporáneo, van a estar más gorditos y más lindos. Claro, la gente prefiere la música más conocida, quiere siempre el mismo cuento, como los chicos que se van a dormir y le piden al papá o a la mamá que le lean por enésima vez La Cenicienta, y si el papá le dice que tiene uno nuevo que le acaba de comprar, el chico sigue prefiriendo La Cenicienta. Ahí es donde papá necesita seducir al chico para que incorpore en su imaginario un cuentito nuevo. Siempre son más cómodos los zapatos viejos aunque los nuevos sean más vistosos.

CB: Te agradezco muchísimo por tu tiempo y por compartir tu sabiduría y tantas experiencias con nosotros. Estoy ansioso por presentar tu hermosa música en Sacramento y compartirla con nuestro publico.

ML: Y yo muy orgullosa de que seas vos quien por primera vez la dirige.

Christian Baldini conducting the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra

Christian Baldini has conducted opera for English National Opera, Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Aldeburgh Festival, and as Music Director of the Mondavi Center's Rising Stars of Opera, in collaboration with the San Francisco Opera. He has been a guest conductor of important orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony, Munich Radio Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfónica do Porto (Casa de Música), Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Chilean Chamber Orchestra, among others. His CD recording "Mozart: Arias and Overtures" conducting the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and soprano Elizabeth Watts gathered multiple accolades such as the BBC Classical Music Magazine Recording of the Month, Classic FM CD of the Week, and 5- and 4-star reviews from the specialized media including Gramophone, Sinfini, The Guardian, etc. He's the Barbara K. Jackson Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the University of California, Davis, and the Music Director of the Camellia Symphony Orchestra. He is also a published composer, and his works have been performed all over the world by the Daegu Chamber Orchestra (South Korea), Memphis Syphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lorraine (France), New York New Music Ensemble, Munich Radio Orchestra, etc. He is fortunate to count Marta Lambertini as one of his main composition teachers.