Cervantino 2012: Talking with Saul Bitran

What a treat for me to talk with the first violinist of an important string quartet, a group I have heard play many times. Expecially a musician about my size with a quiet but engaging manner.

Saul Bitrán, along with his brothers Saul and Alvaro and violist Javier Montiel, are in Guanajuato for two Cervantino concerts,last night a 30^th anniversary concert in the Auditorio de Minas and tonight, together with the Woodwind Quintet of Mexico City, a program of contemporary music, same hour and place.

So what did we talk about? About our families, migration and Shostakovich. We are both descended from Jewish emigrants who came to the Americas in the early 1900s. On his mother’s side he is descended from Russian Jews, on his father’s side he is a Sefardi, a Turkish Jew whose ancestors had gone there from Spain five centuries before, during the era also produced the voyages of Columbus. Both sides of his family went to   Chile, but they left years later in 1974 when the military junta took over. 

When I told him I had recently been in Turkey, that the younger Jews are leaving. Bitrán asked me where they were going..  I remembered meeting a forty-year old man at a ferryboat stop who said he was torn between staying in Turkey where he had a business or going to America. "Probably the U.S. and Israel," he nodded.

Before long, I had told the violinist about attending many Cuarteto Latinoamericano concerts, going to a Quartetto Italiano concert when I was eighteen (I listened to an LP record fourteen times; the group performed from memory) and recently reading Music for Silenced Voices about Shostakovich and his quartets. He said he had read reviews of the book, it was a good one, and asked how the author’s last name was spelled. He mused that we can see the development of Shostakovich and Villa-Lobos in their many quartets over the years. (Villa-Lobos is a Cuarteto favorite, on their program last night.)

Bitrán said he had lived in the United States for a number of years.“Where?”

“Boston.”

“That’s where I heard the Quartetto Italiano!”

Would I be coming to the evening’s concert?

“On Sunday, I’ll be at the Minas.”

He frowned a little, “The contemporary concert,” he said.

Sounded as if I would miss the Cuarteto's personal picks marking their anniversary. Such is the abundance of the Cervantino. 

Cervantino 2012: Riccardo Muti, Chicago Symphony Conductor

Riccardo Muti as Adept with the Press as on the Podium

Below, the Chicago Tribune photo announcing the CSO's Mexico Trip

When the Chicago Symphony, arguably one of the three finest symphony orchestras in the world, played Franck and Brahms in Teatro Juarez,  we Guanajuato folks in the elegant venue framing the musicians were as comfortably at home as if in our own salas. I was lucky to have a seat in the second box on the concertmaster’s side so could glimpse the conductor Riccardo Muti at work relaxed but alert. At times I even saw him change expression.

Even so for me Muti’s press conference was as exciting as the crisp, clear sound of the orchestra. First he explained how he had decided  to take the job in Chicago (“A beautiful city and I’m a Neapolitan!”) after the woman on his right in the photo, the President of the Symphony, followed him to many of his concerts, finally inviting him to consider the Chicago Symphony.

 

Responding to selected questions from reporters, Muti stated firmly that life without music would be barbaric. Asked how he develops his approach to a piece, he quotes Mozart’s comment that music is the space between the notes and a mentor’s advice, not to think too much, adding he studies each score carefully.

Muti believes the human body is adapted for tonal music, but that new composers should be heard. As for present audiences, he said that In Verdi’s time, a day or two after a new opera, people in the streets would be singing the tunes. He laments that our electronic means of hearing music may be dumbing us down.

At least some of the time, Muti would like to see the barriers between performers wearing formal garb and the audience dissolve.[This is just what happens when someone drops in on an OSUG rehearsal.] Muti is clearly proud of concerts he has led to promote peace in Sarajevo, Istanbul, Yerevan (Armenia). Without going into detail, he mentions yearly park concerts in the main Latino barrio in Chicago.

I’ve nearly forgotten to mention Muti’s ready sense of humor and ability to laugh at himself. Here's one example: “I’m glad I’m the age I am, with a whole crop of Chinese conductors on their way up.” Laughter, but Muti sees a woman with a startled expression: “What you’re Chinese?” Pause. “No of course not,” he says. “Mexican.” Laughter once again.

Cervantino: State Auditorium tickets now available

at the ticket office on the side of the Teatro Juarez.  Tickets for individual events at the Auditorio are available, with discounts for city residents and holders of INAPAM cards. The only tickets not on sale yet are the abonos (undiscounted season tickets, about 500 pesos) for the Auditorio del Estado. The abonos, for five events, can be shared for any event the purchaser is not attending. If that's not clear, ask at the ticket office.

You've probably heard Arvo Part's best known work

as it has been used for many movies. Whether or not you know its name Spiegel im Spiegel, you can listen by clicking the link. The composer will be in Guanajuato  when Estonian musicians perform works by Part for chorus and orchestra at the Juarez  Friday, October 19, 9pm. The International Cervantino Festival will be honoring him, of course.

International Cervantino Festival program presented early

Tuesday just before dusk, eager Guanajuatenses filled the main floor and lower balconies of Teatro Juarez, where they sat through a half dozen official speeches, watched the projected names of events followed by a supersonic video of the performers, and at the end rushed outside to eat the succulent seafood snacks provided by the invited state, Mazatlan. Our mayor, perhaps for fear of mispronouncing the name of Mme. Polish Ambassador to Mexico, skipped mentioning her entirely, but otherwise the affair went off without a hitch. The other honored countries Switzerland and Austria. I give top marks for oratory to our own governor's planned and impromptu remarks and the governor of the honored state, Sinaloa (think Mazatlan), who spiced his talk with vigor and humor, waking everyone up.

Tickets are already on sale daily at the ticket office on the left side of Teatro Juarez.

Later, I'll be posting my take on selected Cervantino events (October 3-21), will mention for now that you can see the complete program including updates by clicking FIC. This year's 40th anniversary will offer an almost overwhelming array of performers, etc. with something for every taste and monedero. 

Word has it that season tickets for the Alhondiga have been eliminated this year but there may be offers for tickets to the Minas / Salon de Consejo (chamber music).

2 Cervantino 2011 Blockbusters & A Pleasing Surprise

First news of this year's International Cervantino Festival (FIC) program

Tuesday was the day Guanajuato residents were waiting for - the announcement of this year's Cervantino which will run from October 12-30. The ambassadors of the invited countries Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland to Mexico were on the podium as was the governor of Nayarit , the invited state. This year's event has as an ecological theme "The Gifts of Nature" threading through some offerings.Believe me, the Swedish ambassador with her blonde hair and long lets stood out as much as Ayla did in the movie version of Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear.

I'm especially looking forward to the Mexico-US co-production of Daniel Catan's opera Il Postino, based on Skarmeta's popular novel about Pablo Neruda and his mailman. Russia will bring two standout events, the St. Petersburg Symphony and a theater troupe performing Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, with the director giving two public lectures as well. Miguel Rios will sing at the closing event at the Alhondiga.

As always there will be more jazz, dance, classical, pop and world music, and indoor and street theater from a host of countries than any one festival-goer can attend. Events at the Alhondiga are free (a season ticket for chairs at the front can be purchased) as are the art events, movies and street theater. Tickets for other events are for sale at the ticket office (taquilla) on the left side of Teatro Juarez and through Ticketmaster. Stay tuned for more information

And if you'll be making a first trip to Guanajuato, click on my recent article available by searching Rochelle Cashdan at www.redroom.com.

International Cervantino Festival 2010 Keeping Me Busy

More to come but for starters here's a great link to clock to see 360 degree views of the places where the  Cervantino events take place.  My favorite so far, the view of the ex-hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera.


http://www.festivalcervantino.gob.mx/Public/MainVisitaVirtual

Cervantino Festival Begins Tonight and a Suggestion

I'll be at the Alhondiga tonight with 1500 others to see giant puppets from Quebec dancing to Ravel's Bolero. If you're not in Guanajuato and have time to spare, go to www.associatedcontent.com to check out articles I've written on Guanajuato.

Several Cervantino Photos (& please read the post below too)

Everyone I know who goes to the Cervantino shakes the kaleidoscope a different way. The man deliberating in front of the posted Cervantino schedule, well that's half of what the Cervantino's about. I didn't take my own photos at the big events like the National Ballet of China or the opera Orfeo by Monteverdi staged by a hero of mine, Jonathan Miller.

All my senses were working at the workshop on Chinese cooking where the chef is shown with his interpreter, a man from the People's Republic of China who works for the Asian Marketing Division of Bimbo, but I've had trouble placing the photo where I want it. The chef, who mads cooking look like ballet, heads up the cooking staff at the Chinese Embassy in Mexico City. That's Esther Boles of Guanajuato interpreting for Dulcinea Langfelder, a Canadian actress who can mimic spanish better than she understands it. Circolio had audiences laughing wherever they went.