Handel in Bolivia

An article from the Guardian about music in Bolivia caught my eye....

Bolivia's soaring symphonies

One of Kurt Masur's mentees, American conductor David Handel's novel approach and ongoing fame fills concert halls wherever he works. Eleven years ago he moved to La Paz, Bolivia, where he's been radically transforming the local Symphony Orchestra. Since his arrival audience attendance has rocketed and he has achieved an extraordinary reputation among conductors in Latin America. He describes what music means to him and Bolivian society

Guardian Weekly
Thursday 30 April 2009 09.00 BST

I grew up in Buffalo, New York and went to the University of Michigan before becoming an assistant conductor at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. I was there with Kurt Masur, who made an enormous impact on my way of thinking, especially in the sense of an orchestra's role in a community. Now I am totally dedicated to the orchestra in La Paz.
An orchestra is a team effort, everybody is involved and everybody has something to contribute. My contribution during the course of these years has been mostly directing it, trying to professionalise the ensemble – the intention is trying to professionalise the institution so as to reflect other orchestras in other parts of the world.
Of course an orchestra is not a Bolivian invention, it is not a North American invention either, it comes from a certain part of the world at a certain point in time and the idea in La Paz was to create the finest orchestral organisation we could.
The orchestra was pretty rustic but now I'd say we have a dignified group. We have a longer rehearsal cycle because we have musicians that have other jobs. Many of them are professors at the National Conservatory, some give private lessons, some divide their time between chemistry and the symphony, and we even have a doctor in the orchestra. It's a professional symphony orchestra, but one that is still in a state of transformation.
Musically it is at a completely different level. In part because we have more musicians on staff and musicians of a higher level, but also because we have inculcated a sense of discipline and order and work ethic. Having said that we have been doing so with a really wonderful and open spirit, a collegiate spirit between friends and colleagues.
The environment we've created allows my colleagues to express themselves, and have reason to challenge themselves, and dedicate themselves to the music they rehearse and perform every week.
Bolivia is a demographically and geographically diverse country. We play in every part of it; we have annual tours to every region, as well as an annual festival in southern Bolivia which involves musicians from all neighbouring countries, and from Europe and North America. This offers our musicians the opportunity to make contact with other musicians, and that has really contributed to the level of the group.
We de-centralised the orchestra from the state bureaucracy. This means we created a legal structure where we have economic independence, the liberty to hire musicians and to grow the organisation. We created the National Symphony Foundation, a private sector organisation which raises money and helps with volunteer activities. The biggest contribution during so far has been the building we are in now, the Centro Sinfonico, of which we are very proud, and we are one of the few orchestras in Latin America that has its own concert hall.
Our repertoire is diverse and innovative, in the sense that we've tried to project the aspirations of our musicians and the aspirations of the public, as well as open doors and reflect musical backgrounds from all parts of Bolivia. In that sense we've grown our institutional library, with more than 100 new works – either original commissions or arrangements of traditional Bolivian music.
If we think about Beethoven's country dances and Mozart borrowing from affectations of Turkish music, you can see that the idea of borrowing from other musical and cultural sources has always been around, it was a question of applying it here. Think about 20th century musical figures: Alberto Ginastera and Lopez Bouchardo in Argentina; Leonard Bernstein and George Gerschwin in the US. All of them were very important musical voices and important, let's say, expressions, orchestral expressions of their respective cultures, so why not, try to create that dynamic here.
When I arrived there was no connection between the orchestra and the contemporary composers who were living and working here. So one of my tasks was to launch an open call to all composers, announcing that, 'works are welcome, the orchestra will perform them'. By starting that way we have created a very dynamic relationship with all our composers.
I think the orchestra reflects the diversity of the country. If one analyses what an orchestra is beyond its musical role, it's an idealised social paradigm, that is to say it's a little bit authoritarian in its structure, a little bit vertical, but when the public attends a concert they perceive right away that it is a paradigm– a dream of how a civil society can work.
The audience sit down in front of the music stands and have ideas put in front of them but they have different interpretations of how it might be brought together. We have a conductor, a concert master, and various leaders in the orchestra, who bring it all together through coordination and hard work in concert – and we hopefully arrive at the harmony and conclusion the composer hopes for.
We have musicians from all different backgrounds, whether it's Quechua, Aymara, Spanish, North American, Chinese, Brazilian, and we have a young lady from Uzbekistan; and I think that is inspiring for the public in a society where there are so many, let's say, intercultural tensions.
I think a symphony orchestra has a role in any society. Bolivia actually has a long tradition of orchestral music and ensemble play, obviously dating back to the Spanish colonial times. Archives found in several parts of the country reflect this tradition. In fact, I think it was 'L'elisir d'amore' [The Elixir of Love by Donizetti], a very important nineteenth century opera, that was first performed in La Paz, Bolivia, before Buenos Aires, I'll tell you. So there is a long history.
The country today has over nine million inhabitants, and growing, so we tend to repeat all the programmes, three, four, five, times. So our work is relevant. Statistics demonstrate that a symphony orchestra has a place beyond anyone's assumptions.
• David Handel talked to Andres Schipani during a rehearsal in La Paz. Handel has twice been a fellow of the prestigious Fulbright Program, and is laureate of the Chicago Artists International Program. He has received numerous awards including two Rackham awards and the UNESCO/Pro-Santa Cruz National Prize in Culture.