Musical magic
Local woman to bring her gift to Mexico as Fulbright scholar
  By Michael Maugeri
  Princeton Packet Staff Writer
  The Packet Group
  Tuesday, July 20, 1999

ROOSEVELT — Ever since she was a young child, borough resident Ana Cervantes has been experiencing joy in the power and grace of music.

Never selfish, the accomplished pianist and music teacher has been giving that joy to other people in various incarnations, be it through concerts, teaching music or committing her work to compact disc.

Now Ms. Cervantes is preparing for the latest adventure in her personal relationship with music's magic.

Next month, Ms. Cervantes will be heading to Mexico for 10 months to work with Latin-American composers, teach music and give concerts and seminars.

The United States and Mexico are providing the funds, in the combination of a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award and a Fulbright Garcia-Robles Award.

One of the ultimate goals of Fulbright scholarships is to promote education and understanding between people of various cultures and countries through in-person exchange.

The daughter of an American mother and a Mexican father, Ms. Cervantes said she has been increasingly playing the music of Latin-American composers for the past five years.

"Mexican composers in particular," she said. "The chief reason why I was turned on to this music is because there's a lot of skillful unity of older and newer sources of music in their compositions.

"Sure, you can hear the influences of Bach and Beethoven in the music, but at the same time, there's a lot of original voice too and interesting uses of the instruments.

"Federico Ibarra is one such composer. Whether it's his operas, chamber music or solo pieces, his music is skillful and passionate. He really grips you."

While she has made trips to Mexico in the past, and established contact with some Latin composers, Ms. Cervantes said the award will allow her to strengthen and nourish those contacts.

"It's a prestigious award to receive," she said. "I decided some time last year that I was going to apply. It's a lengthy process. You have to fill out the application and then forget about it. Otherwise, the wondering if you'll receive it will drive you crazy for months."

In December of last year, Ms. Cervantes learned her application was approved on the American side.

"What happened after that was my application was sent to Mexico to be reviewed," she said. She received conformation of the award in March of this year.

Ms. Cervantes will be living and teaching in the city of Guanajuato at the School of Music of the University of Guanajuato.

"I'll be doing some music teaching and conducting workshops and seminars for both students and for the piano faculty," she said. "I'll also be learning composers' repertoires and collaborating with Mexican musicians."

Ms. Cervantes said a major priority is to bring a feast of this music back to Americans.

"It's basically unknown here," she said. "When and if people in our country hear music from Latin America, it's usually in the form of a one-week festival in some major city. Then, you don't hear it again for another year. I'd like to see it played on a regular basis.

"And I'd like to play it all over the country. It will be nice to play the music of Latin composers in New York, but I'd also like to play it for the people in backwoods Idaho."

But Ms. Cervantes doesn't want to stop there.

"I don't want to just blow into a town, play, and then blow out of that town," she said. "I'd like to go into the community in each town, perhaps collaborating with local arts councils and playing in schools and nursing homes. Really establish relations with the community with the music.

"I don't just want to play my music to people in mink coats, but also to people in (Grateful Dead) T-shirts. Whether you're playing for people in mink coats, kids in school, prisoners or people in a nursing home, it's important to play with integrity. What we should do as artists is become more community based so that everyone can share the music.

"Many presenters are looking for artists who have imagination. If more concert artists could do this, there'd most likely be a lot less moaning about the sad state of classical music."

She described the town of Guanajuato as architecturally beautiful with old buildings and a good sense of "feng shui."

"It's a lovely place about 250 miles north of Mexico City, up in the mountains," she said. "And, unlike Mexico City, the air is as pure as anything you can imagine. I was in Guanajuato about a month ago on my own and also last year, establishing some of these musical relationships.

"It's a very happy place, although the happiness is intangible, hard to describe. The city is not at all the stereotypical Mexican border town and not at all like the stereotype some people have of Mexico. It's a university city and the capital of the state of Guanajuato."

She said the town is the venue for the annual Cervantino International Music Festival.

"The festival features all kinds of music," she said. "Classical music, primarily, although there's a lot of folky stuff now."

The piano entered Ms. Cervantes' life at an early age.

"My mother was an accomplished pianist," she said. "I grew up around the piano, hearing it as a very tiny baby.

"I remember a vivid memory about the piano. When I was 4, I went up to the piano and picked out the melody that my mom was practicing. Understand that the keyboard came up to the level of my chin. I guess that's when my mother decided that I should take piano lessons.

"I believe individuals have different affinities and aptitudes with different instruments. For me the piano is enchanting, it's sound creating an infinite range of voices and personalities. It can sound like a bassoon, a voice, a train, a bird, an exquisite spectrum of voices. I think of it as an orchestra."

The Washington, D.C.-born and raised woman knew she wanted to make music her life when she was 15.

"I decided to go to a liberal arts college because I had a lot of other interests like literature and history," she said.

She received a bachelor's degree in music from Bard College.

"I am very proud to say that I don't have a graduate degree in music," she said. "I don't think that a master's or a doctorate has a damn thing to do with being a performing artist.

"The greats of the past didn't spend all of their time in school. They were out there playing the music."

In a sense, Ms. Cervantes sees the experience as a homecoming.

"My father's family came from the area of Guanajuato, so I'm kind of going home," she said. "I find that miraculous and moving, in addition to also having an intimate connection with what's going on artistically there.

"When I first started playing Mexican music, I felt a tremendous affinity for it. It reverberated within me. And now I'll have a chance to live within the ambiance of the music both musically and culturally."

She said she really feels she has been moving toward Mexico and its music long before she became conscious that she was.

"In early 1997, my sister Madolin died unexpectedly which I think galvanized me into making that home connection more profound," she said.

In December 1998, Ms. Cervantes released a CD titled "Amor de la Danza" (Love of the Dance) on the Lawrenceville-based Affetto Recordings label owned by John Baker.

"I've been mulling over the idea of making a CD for a long time, the past couple of years really," she said. "I would perform a concert and I'd feel like an idiot when I had to tell people after the show that no, I didn't have a CD they could purchase."

She said the CD will be distributed nationally in a couple of months. It features works by Bach and a world-premiere recording of New Jersey composer Olga Gorelli's "Serenade: i carry your heart with me." The piece is based upon a poetry work by e.e. cummings, read aloud on the disc by Roosevelt poet Dina Coe.

The recording also features the world-premiere recording of Joaquin Nin-Culmell's "Twelve Cuban Dances."

Elaine Strauss of "US One News" said, "...Cervantes reveals that she can hold her own against any interpreter of Bach on the piano, combining clarity of line with roundness of phrasing. Her sense of timing lends excitement to the music. 'The Cuban Dances' incorporate the subtle but vivid elasticity that gives authentic Spanish music its tension.

"The total effect of the CD is that of having spent time privately with a knowledgeable musician who decides to share with the listener some of her favorite pieces."

Ms. Cervantes also has served on the artist faculty at Rider University's Westminster Conservatory and currently is a member of the adjunct Fine Arts faculty of Hightstown's Peddie School.

She teaches independently in the Princeton area and serves as a consultant to Lawrenceville's "Arts for Anyone," an arts-in-education service organization.

She said living in the borough for the past 25 years is a great gift in a variety of ways.

"We have a real community here, not just a bedroom community," she said. "People live here, not just sleep here. A place like this is increasingly rare and precious."

She said Roosevelt excludes no one.

"If a party's thrown in Roosevelt, it's multi-generational," she said. "People from 2 to 92 will be there. The elderly and children are full participants in life here.

"It's an inclusive place. A neighbor once said about her 12-year-old son, 'He's everybody's grandson in Roosevelt.' We don't quarantine the young and old here."

Because a large concentration of those involved in the creative arts live in Roosevelt, Ms. Cervantes said that helps to give a feeling of mutual support and encouragement.

"The borough has not only those who live more of an artist life, but also those who work on a 9-to-5 schedule," she said. "It's good to know we have such a diversity here. We're all interacting and enriching each others' lives. We all gain from this way of living."

For more information about Ms. Cervantes' CD, e-mail at laquijotepiano@yahoo.com.

Reprinted with permission - Story is copywritten Packet Publications June, 1999.

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