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FRESNO, California, March 2-4, 2001 … In March of 2001 I journey to California State University/Fresno, at the invitation of resident composer Jack Fortner. It was a complete pleasure from start to finish,
because Jack is not only a fine composer and musician, but an adventurous and imaginative concert presenter, through the series of his chamber ensemble Orpheus, now in its 22nd
season. Jack's initial invitation was to play Bach and music of México. From this small seed grew a two-day miniresidency. I did indeed play Bach – JS and CPE – and music of Montes de Oca, Márquez, and Ibarra … and through the miraculous generosity of CONACULTA (the National Council for Culture and the Arts of México), Federico Ibarra and Arturo Márquez were able to attend the Friday night concert and participate in a symposium and roundtable discussion the evening following the concert. The whole weekend was a fabulous cooperative effort: David Fox, child psychologist, member of the Orpheus board, and dedicated amateur chamber musician (he is a 'cellist), generously offered his hospitality to the two visiting composers; Arte Américas, an organization which promotes Hispanic arts and culture, pitched in with a reception before the symposium, and to top things off, the concert was partially sponsored by Keyboard Concerts of Fresno due to the generosity of their president, the fine pianist Andreas Werts.
The whole story is too long to tell here, but suffice it to say that this miniresidency was the next step in a long history. It was composer Ramón Montes de Oca who was responsible, in 1998, for introducing
me long distance to Jack Fortner, whom he'd met almost exactly ten years before! The only thing left incomplete was that Montes de Oca was unable to be part of the weekend. The concert: Muchas Voces
changes yet again, just a little … I begin with the Emanuel Bach Sonata which I played several months ago in Guanajuato and in México DF, and follow with the third Partita
of JS Bach, my first public performance of this wonderful work. After this music so inspired by dances, the equally dance-inspired Días de Mar y Río
of Márquez, closing the first half as it always does, seems completely appropriate. The second half begins with Fortner's für Eloísa, an exquisite small work full of delicate nuances and veiled references to the
famous bagatelle of Beethoven, among other works. It points both ways in musical time. For me its transparency, subtlety, wit and tenderness are so clearly connected to the textures and spirit of Emanuel Bach; and its
sense of fantasy, its wise and eloquent use of the piano's registers, make it a wonderful prelude to the Dos Estampas
of Montes de Oca, which follow. It is a pleasure to again start and end a concert with a sonata, as Ibarra's Third
ends the concert. I love the symmetry of this programming, and I love even more the opportunity to let the audience hear how this form continues to be so rich for a composer as powerful and imaginative as Ibarra. The next morning we hang out in the spacious living room of Jack and Phyllis Fortner's house and do what musicians do in their time off: listen to music and talk about it! Maestros Arturo and Federico have both
brought CDs of their music, and we listen to that and to some of Jack's recent recordings. Some of them feature Phyllis Perry Fortner: she is a wonderful soprano whose most recent premiere of Jack's music is some spectacular
settings of Emily Dickinson poetry for soprano and piano. In the afternoon we go to the Arte Américas reception, in a historic building in downtown Fresno; in the gallery space the current exhibition is a
group show of Chicano and other Hispanic painters. As the guests wander off Arturo Márquez sits down at the piano and starts to play danzones; this leads to one of those games which only musicians love, as all three
composers take turns playing licks from various pieces and the rest of us guess the works and their composers! Then back to the Music School for the symposium. I ask Maestros Arturo and Federico
for comments about last night's performances and we have a few minutes to go over their suggestions at the piano before the participants arrive. It's a gratifyingly mixed crowd: some of Jack's younger composer colleagues,
some members of the wonderfully loyal "Orpheus" audience he's nurtured over the years; historian Manuel Peña, and David Fox of the Orpheus board. We listen to music of Ibarra and Márquez from the recordings they've brought;
Peña, Fox, and Fortner ask provocative questions which generate active and participative discussion; it's a wonderful evening. Unfortunately there is no photographic record of it, as I ran out of film and forgot to get more
(anyone in the market for a gig as assistant to an itinerant piano player?)! The next morning, it's time to say Hasta luego. We have breakfast together in Beto's Restaurant and all go our separate
ways. Márquez has a recording session the next morning in México DF and must return that afternoon; Ibarra is stealing a couple of days in San Francisco to buy scores. Jack had hoped to show me Yosemite, but it's chilly
and raining. David Fox takes Márquez to the airport and Jack and I drop Ibarra off at the train station. I leave at the crack of dawn the next morning; I'm in DF by early afternoon. I have a couple of appointments
and head back to Guanajuato to put the finishing touches on the next adventure, for which I leave in a scant ten days … the Muchas Voces DC residency ... (read on …)
Big smiles from the composers after Friday's concert …
As the Arte Américas reception winds down, Arturo Márquez sits down at the piano and starts to play
danzones while Fortner, Ibarra, and historian Manuel Peña (from the CSU/Fresno Latin American Studies department) look on.
At the Arte Américas reception … Cervantes, Ibarra, Peña, Marquez
Hasta luego … breakfast and goodbyes at Beto's Restaurant on Sunday morning: David Fox, Ibarra, Peña, Fortner, Márquez.
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Washington, DC … 18-24 March 2001 … I am the artist/organizer of Muchas Voces/Many
Voices-1 Piano, a group residency focussing on the music of Mexican women composers, sponsored by the Instituto Cultural Mexicano of Washington, DC; the Center for Graduate
Studies in Latin American Music of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of the Catholic University of America; the National Museum of Women in the Arts; and the Organization of
American States (OAS). It becomes one of the most extraordinary weeks of my life: five days of roundtable discussions, open workshops with students, complete with a living, breathing
Mexican composer, which begins with a Role Model Workshop for teenage girls at the Museum and concludes with a Clausura concert in which I play music of several generations of Mexican women composers.
" … Without a doubt, this is the most ambitious project I've ever attempted. I think it is also, of the
projects which I've organized alone, the most profoundly gratifying so far. There are times, approaching the 18th
of March, when I ask myself if for once in my life I have bitten off more than I can chew … but underneath all the myriad tasks which I must complete in order to have this activity be a success, the
feeling is running like a strong current within me that everything will be fine. " … As our week progresses, there is an increasing involvement and energy, a crescendo of excitement.
Now, by Friday I am sensing that everyone is really ready to listen to the Clausura concert. And indeed it is so. The beautiful intimate hall of the Instituto Cultural is full of people and the air is humming with
curiosity – this is all, except for the Sonata of Pilar Ortega whose US premiere I played last year in the Museum – music which has never before been heard in the United States.
" … A one-week residency for 2002 with the same partners, featuring the music of Marcela Rodríguez, was in the planning stages a few days after this Clausura concert; we are seeking funds to commission her
second work for solo piano, whose world premiere I will perform during that residency. I am now working on yet another, to be called Generations/Generaciones, which will feature two generations of
composers from México and the United States."
(from The Muchas Voces DC Residency … see WRITINGS) " . . . Sin duda ninguna, esto es el proyecto lo más ambicioso que nunca he intentado. Creo que también
es, de los proyectos que he organizado sola, lo más profundamente gratificante. Hay momentos, acercando al 18 de marzo, cuando me pregunto si no estoy intentando algo que de plano es más allá de
mis capacidades … pero debajo de todo las tareas inumerables que tengo que completar para lograr que salga adelante esta actividad, la sensación corre como una fuerte corrente dentro de mí, que todo será bien ...
" . . . Conforme que desdoble nuestra semana, hay un cresciente involucramiento y energía, un crescendo de ánimo. Cuando viene el viernes, tengo la sensación de que todos ahora estén listos para escuchar la
música del concierto de Clausura. Y así es. El hermoso foro de conciertos del Instituto está lleno de gentes y el aire está zumbando con curiosidad – este programa consta totalmente, sino la Sonata de Pilar
Ortega que estrené el año pasado en el Museo – de música que nunca antes se ha escuchado en los Estados Unidos … " . . . Una residencia para el año 2002, con los mismos patrocinadores, con enfoque especial en la música
de Marcela Rodríguez, ya se está planeando unos pocos días después de este concierto de Clausura; buscamos fondos para encargar a la Maestra Rodríguez su segunda obra para piano solo, cuyo estreno
mundial interpretaré durante esta residencia. Ahora mismo estoy trabajando en organizar aun otra residencia, que se llamara Generations/Generaciones, y en que se juntaran dos generaciones de
compositores de México y los Estados Unidos …"
The week begins on Sunday with a Role Model Workshop in the Museum …
[ The Inauguration at the Instituto Cultural, with residency partners Deborah Gaston of the National Museum
of Women in the Arts, Dr. Sofíaleticia Morales of the OAS, Minister Ignacio Durán of the Instituto, and Dr. Joseph Santo of the Center for Graduate Studies in Latin American Music of the Benjamin T. Rome School
of Music of the Catholic University of America.
Catholic University faculty member soprano Rosemary Ruíz Houghton joins Wednesday's open reading
session with a surprise reading of her own (one of Rodolfo Halffter's two Sonetos de Sor Juana), joined by visiting French pianist Jean-Louis Roblin.
Smiles on the faces of Joseph Santo, Rosemary Ruíz Houghton, and students at the conclusion of open
reading session (note scores of music, mostly published by Ediciones Mexicanas de Música!).
Maestra Marcela Rodríguez joins me on stage for a salute after the US premiere of her Como el Agua en el Agua, which concluded the Clausura concert.
After the Clausura concert: Juan Manuel Saldívar, Subdirector of the Instituto Cultural de México of
Washington, DC; Minister Ignacio Durán, director of the Instituto; Cervantes; Marcela Rodríguez; Deborah Gaston Associate Education Director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts; Mrs. Durán; and Dr.
Joseph Santo, composer and director of the Center for Graduate Studies in Latin American Music at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of the Catholic University of America.
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