Caracas #3

Montalban

Our second nucleo visit was a showcase of one fabulous performance after another, which left us all flabbergasted! A programme was carefully choreographed and organised so that we were able to see a variety of ensembles perform: a choir of French horns, three beginner French Horn players, a children's choir, a kindergarten xylophone class, beginner strings, a traditional Venezuelan ensemble, the children's and youth orchestras, big band, percussion ensemble and a chamber orchestra. Here were my immediate thoughts:

• The children were so at ease with performing to us and had been well prepared. Those who were in the same hall as other ensembles would sing or bop along to other performances. They obviously enjoyed watching each other perform and know the repertoire well.
• Exuberant playing and the confidence of the performer seems to be more important than the accuracy of the notes; we heard the beginner strings group play Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker so fiercely that I could see small clouds of rosin coming off the bow. This reminded me of seeing the hairs coming off the bow of several cello players whilst playing Shostakovich at the Guarenas nucleo.
• Youth leadership was again seen, but not to the same extent as at Guarenas. The six or seven year old French horn players were directed by a teenager in their performance of 'Ode to Joy' and the teachers of the traditional folk ensemble must have been in their late teens or early twenties.
• Members of the children's choir had recently sung in Mahler's Eighth Symphony in the Teatro Teresa Carreno under Gustavo Dudamel along with the Simon Bolivar and L.A. Phil Orchestras. Wow.
• The children's and youth orchestras were again so huge that we experienced an onslaught of high energy sound. We witnessed some great displays of technique and confidence from those who had been playing for a short time.
• The teacher who was directing the folk music ensemble performed on the maracas in a way that was truly spellbinding. I was dazzled by the variety of complex rhythms he played and began to understand how the maracas can be seen as a solo instrument capable of virtuosic playing.
• The big band and percussion ensemble simply looked as if every member was having a blast. They played some fun repertoire including Bernstein's 'Mambo', a samba version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and an arrangement of some TV themes. You could see them enjoying certain passages and exchanging looks and smiles, especially when they could see their audience swaying or singing along. These were great, informal performances.
   
  
  
  

Violin Festival 2013

The annual Violin Festival is a series of concerts where members of the violin academy (Academia Latinoamericana de Violin) are given the chance to perform concertos with some of the top orchestras. The Academy is headed up by Jose Francisco del Castillo, and based at the conservatory in Barquisimeto (Gustavo Dudamel also studied with Del Castillo from the age of 14). It provides the chance to have private lessons and masterclasses with exceptional teachers, and to study solo repertoire for their instrument more intensively. The students are also part of, or have been a part of the national orchestras. We attended the first half of one concert where concertos by Barber and Mendelssohn were played by a 16 year old member of the National Children’s Orchestra, and also a member of the first violins of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra.

The performances were not what I had expected from having seen many vibrant and confident performances at the Montalban and Guarenas nucleos. The soloists didn’t seem to have as much charisma, stage presence, freedom of movement and expression as their orchestral counterparts. Often when their solo melody was doubled up by the strings section, it was difficult to hear the soloist’s sound come through. It seems then, that the intense ensemble training in the orchestra that El Sistema is so famous for, might hinder the growth of the musician as a soloist, and I wonder how the academy might be addressing this.

Villa-Lobos Festival

As we toured the Centro Social, we were able to take a sneek peak at the Simon Bolivar Orchestra rehearsing for their concerts as part of the Villa-Lobos Festival. A large contingent of representatives from various Brazilian youth orchestras, and also Brazilian conductors and soloists were preparing joint performances with the Venezuelans. The festival was to finish with the Orquesta Sinfonica Binacional Brasil-Venezuela, but the concert we attended on Saturday was Brazilian repertoire conducted by Marcelo Lehninger from Brazil, and played by the Venezuelans. It was fabulous to see this exchange and strengthening of connections between the two countries through music. Of course, seeing the Simon Bolivar Orchestra live in the concert hall that was built for them definitely lived up to expectations.

And so ended the first part of our stay in Caracas. We will return at the end of our month here in Venezuela. On to Barquisimeto for a week…