The Bloomington Symphony Orchestra will soon stage a concert that intends to combat the notion Latin American music can only look or sound a certain way.
“Scene Change: Music of Latin America,” debuts 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater and will feature the premiere of Juan Orrego-Salas’ yet-unrevealed piece, “Ash Wednesday.” The show will be put on in connection with the Latin American Music Center.
Christine Wisch, BSO violinist and coordinator for the Latin American Music Center, said the night will be a celebration of all types of Latin American music, and working on the pieces for the show has been a process of learning and enjoyment.
“It’s been really worthwhile and musically satisfying to learn about and learn how to play these different styles and composers,” Wisch said. “It’s also been really fun to watch the other members of the orchestra discover these composers. I’ll be willing to bet most of them didn’t know at least one.”
The show includes pieces by composers from across Latin America including Orrego-Salas with a Chilean perspective, Celso Garrido-Lecca from Peru, Guillermo Uribe Holguín of Colombia and a few more.
Orrego-Salas, the founder of the Latin American Music Center at IU, will attend this show and hear his piece successfully performed for the first time in history. Wisch said the group has united to take on the new experience of playing through the challenges of “Ash Wednesday.”
“We know, understand and appreciate the importance of Orrego-Salas as an ambassador for music in his country,” Wisch said. “A bunch of other orchestras have attempted to stage this piece, and it’s challenging putting together the different instrumental and vocal lines. We’ve taken a point of pride to be able to present this to an audience. It truly is an honor.”
Javier León, director of the Latin American Music Center, said the goals of the Latin American Music Center have included spreading awareness about and sharing Latin American music with the campus and the community, and this partnership with Bloomington Symphony Orchestra is a step toward larger community engagement.
The ability to spread Latin American music within IU is simpler than the larger goal of spreading across not just the state, but the country as well.
“Being able to partner with Bloomington Symphony, we can introduce this music to a larger group of people,” León said. Alejandro is an advocate of this kind of music. We’re kindred spirits and it’s made it a fun collaborate, looking through pieces, different things we can do.”
Alejandro Gomez Guillen, the conductor and director of Bloomington Symphony Orchestra this year, has been vocal about the need to widen the scope of how Latin American music is perceived versus the true diversity within the category.
This concert aims in part to celebrate that sonic diversity, to reach through to the audience and paint a more complete picture of the complexity that exists outside of just folk or Billboard Top 40, León said.
“Our goal is for people to realize that, for a couple of centuries now, maybe longer, there have been composers writing classical music, not just for the upper class, but combining folk and popular music,” Leòn said. “Latin American classical music is just classical music played by an orchestra, some of that folk or top 40 is represented in the concert, but there are also radically different types of music.”
When people walk away from the concert, there should be a sense of interest in learning more about the musical styles, Wisch said.
“I would love for them to have a curiosity sparked about the symphonic repertoire from Latin America, and walk away saying, ‘This is really cool, I want to learn more about it,’” Wisch said. “Hopefully this inspires them to pursue it and ask to get it programmed more often.”
Working as a group on putting together this show has been educational and a good exercise in bonding as an orchestra and a community, Wisch said.
“It’s been really satisfying and really fun, above all,” Wisch said. “The orchestra has really enjoyed coming together and we’ve worked really hard on this. It’s fun and intellectually and emotionally satisfying to promote this music. To work with both the center and Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, we’ve really gotten a sense of this music and the diversity within the different countries represented.”
