| ||||||
A dash of spice
by Judith Reynolds Question to Guillermo Figueroa: A little fresh pepper on your musical salad, sir? Answer: Just a little – this year. Figueroa, the new music director and conductor of Music in the Mountains, will soon open the festival’s 22nd season. In the next three weeks, some 40 concerts will bring together 350 musicians from all over the country to perform in 10 different venues. Figueroa will conduct five orchestral concerts and perform in one as a soloist. In addition, he will participate in one chamber concert. Everything starts this Fri., July 11, in Pagosa Springs and concludes with an Aug. 3 gala in the Festival Tent at Purgatory. Figueroa was most recently the music director and conductor of the New Mexico Symphony and replaces Mischa Semanitzky, founder of the festival and music director for the last 21 years, and the organization has been buzzing with news of newness. But in an interview last week, Figueroa made it clear he will honor the table as set. “You don’t fix something that isn’t broken,” he said. In the last 35 years, Figueroa has combined a career as a violin soloist, chamber player, orchestral musician and conductor. He arrived in Colorado with a strapping resume and a record of collaborating with contemporary composers. It might be legitimate to expect some reshaping of what he calls the “formula,” but that can wait. The 2008 Music in the Mountains menu looks just fine, Figueroa said. Long on classical standards, Column A features perennial favorites such as Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” Beethoven’s Third Symphony, and Dvorák’s “New World Symphony.” Generous side orders of chamber music have been organized by Greg Hustis, festival artistic director and chamber music guru, not to mention a huge, open salad bar filled with small recitals and large concerts by Arkady Fomin’s Conservatory faculty and students. Figueroa said the mix seems to be working, so why make any changes – at least for now. “Mischa deserves all the credit, along with Greg,” Figueroa said “Greg will continue to take care of chamber music, and he’s brilliant at it.” A year ago Hustis asked Figueroa to come up with a dream sketch for orchestral concerts. There was one caveat and one given, Figueroa said. “Greg asked me to perform in some of the concerts, and one was set.” Figueroa agreed to solo in and conduct the July 19 concert – Vivaldi and Dvorák. He will also play in the July 22 chamber music program – Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. The remaining orchestra concerts filtered through Figueroa’s dreamtime. “I worked up a first draft,” he said, “and gave it to Greg. He looked it over, looked at me, and said: ‘This is great.’ That was it.” Figueroa said he could hardly believe his ears. “In Albuquerque, programming is a much more complicated process. It begins when I sketch in a plan, then we get input from everybody – musicians, staff members, the marketing department, the artistic community. Then it gets revised and revised. I can’t believe that I handed a sketch to Greg, and he said: ‘OK.’” Sounds easy, but a draft involves a lot of research. Figueroa said he surveys what’s been played before, not to mention what’s possible with the festival’s smallish orchestra and limited rehearsal time. He also looked over soloists’ repertoire to see what appealed to him and what might work with other pieces.
“When I saw Korngold’s Violin Concerto in Vadim’s repertoire, I said: ‘Wow, we have to do it.’ Korngold was a master of film music, the John Williams of his time. People have heard his music; it’s familiar, but probably not this piece.” Two works never heard by MM audiences may constitute that pinch of spice in Figueroa’s inaugural season: “The Chairman Dances, Foxtrot for Orchestra” from John Adams’ opera “Nixon in China” and “Fandangos” by Roberto Sierra. “Sierra and Adams,” Figueroa said, “are two of the most important contemporary composers today – in the world – on the planet.” Having collaborated with Adams and knowing Sierra since student conservatory years in Puerto Rico, Figueroa knows whereof he speaks. “I’m pleased to introduce this new music to our audience – this year,” he said. Sierra, like Figueroa, is in the midst of a blossoming career. Orchestras around the globe have commissioned Sierra’s music. The Milwaukee Symphony hired him as composer in residence. He’s served as professor of composition at Cornell University. “Fandangos,” the one Sierra piece local audiences will hear Aug. 3, has its own colorful background. The BBC Symphony premiered it in 2002 at the opening of the famous London Proms. Then there’s that mysterious “given,” which Figueroa learned about right after he signed his contract: The Verdi Requiem, scheduled for July 27 in the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. “I barely got in the door, and there it was,” he said, noting it was Jim Foster’s big idea. “Jim is one of our most important supporters,” Figueroa said. “He’s been involved with Music in the Mountains for many years, and he comes to all of the New Mexico concerts. Two years ago he was so taken by our performance of the Verdi, that he asked me to consider doing it here.” Foster went on a campaign to get funding and is responsible for the PBS connection. “And that’s the bonus. Rocky Mountain PBS will record the concert for broadcast later as well as produce a DVD. Jim went to Chevron and The Glacier Club and got the funding. This would never have happened without him.” Too large for the festival tent, the massive Requiem will be performed in the Community Concert Hall on July 27, with the Festival Orchestra, four soloists, and 114 singers from the Durango and Telluride Choral Societies. In addition, ringers from Santa Fe will salt each section. Figueroa said he got the soloists he wanted, his “Puerto Rican dream team:” soprano Yali-Marie Williams, mezzo soprano Gabriela Barcia, tenor Rafael Davila and bass Ricardo Lugo. “I purposefully haven’t given any thought to next season,” Figueroa said. “My sense is the orchestra is tremendous. Musically, this is a very difficult season. I don’t want the musicians to be too mad at me. A summer festival is not a normal series of concerts. People want some time off to enjoy this beautiful place. I’m also waiting to see what the new venue will be like.” When pressed, Figueroa allowed one small peek into the future. He said he’d like to increase the size of the orchestra. “To play many works ,” he said, “we need a bigger body of strings. We’ll see what the board says.” •
|
The Independent Weekly Line on Durango and Beyond
