Artistic Director of the Minería Symphony Orchestra
At the Mining Symphony, making excellent music is more than a commitment: it is a responsibility. It is our social responsibility. I have always felt that orchestras, wherever they are from, play a very important role in their community. Their role goes far beyond entertainment. Orchestras are agents of music education. We have an essential role in awakening the interest of our environment in symphonic music of excellence, because it is something that enriches the lives of all people.
The Minería Symphony has very good musicians and I have been working with many of them for more than 25 years. It is a lot of time, a lot of dedication. I know them. They know me. It is easy to transmit my ideas to them. They are open to them. They are generous and enthusiastic. In general, I have seen that the people who play in this orchestra are open to new ideas. To listen to proposals.
In Minería we have always played music by people born in Mexico, and a lot of contemporary works that we ourselves commissioned (such as Gabriela Ortiz, Mario Lavista, Víctor Rasgado, Federico Ibarra, Joaquín Gutiérrez Heras or Luis Herrera de la Fuente). I am Mexican. I grew up in Mexico and live part of the year in Mexico. But my passion for music is international. But it just so happens that in Mexico there are very interesting voices in composition. And it has always been an incredible opportunity to collaborate with composers. I have done, for example, a week of music by Gabriela Ortiz in England and I also did a piece by her at Carnegie Hall. I can't imagine a Mexican orchestra not commissioning work from its living composers. Sometimes the limit in terms of programming has to do with other things, with financial or logistical issues.
At the beginning of my career I felt a very curious affinity for Finnish and generally Nordic composers. Then I left them for a while and now that taste is coming back to me with a vengeance. I'm talking about for example Nielsen and Sibelius. It's music that says a lot to me. So I feel that something mysterious is coming back. And that's why we have included in our seasons at Minería the presence of composers like Kaija Saariaho.
I see a very promising future. Full of excellent music and new challenges. The resounding success we had in the U.S. tour (October 2023) has opened the door to several invitations to return to participate in international festivals in the next three years. We have also started a project to record the entire orchestral works of Silvestre Revueltas, something that no other orchestra has done. So I would say that I see the future of Minería as full of new achievements and an impressive international projection. And we owe all this promising present to all the people who for 45 years have collaborated to make Minería an orchestra that has always, since the first season in 1978, been characterized by its commitment to excellence.
