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Minsky Recital Hall was filled nearly to capacity Halloween night as chattering audience members prepared to enjoy combined efforts of the Orquesta Juvenil Municipal de Guatemala and the University of Maine orchestra. The sounds of instrumental tweaks and tunings filled the recital hall as student musicians flipped through their music and assembled.
The concert featured music by Antonin Dvorak, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Aaron Copland and was guest conducted by James Ball of Albion College. The concert began with Dvorak’s “New World” symphony followed by Korsakoff’s “Capriccio Espagnol” and Copland’s “Hoe-Down” from Rodeo.
A cross-cultural connection between the Orquesta Juvenil Municipal de Guatemala and the UMaine orchestra has been further strengthened during the past week as UMaine hosted 12 Guatemalan student musicians.
“Es muy bien. I mean it’s exciting and we can learn a lot,” said Orquesta Juvenil Municipalde violinist Jeanyfer Campos of the exchange experience.
The 12 exchange students attend the Orquesta Juvenil Municipal de Guatemala, a school and orchestra in Guatemala City founded in 2006 by director and conductor Bruno Campo and of Isabel Ciudad-Real, president of the Music and Youth Foundation. Campo is an internationally renown musician. In 1998 he was honored with the title of UNESCO Artist for Peace and currently serves as president of the Commission for the National System of Orchestras, Choirs and Youth Bands of Guatemala.
Campo’s passion for music and its beneficial use for social development is evident and contagious. Since his school’s establishment, Campo has seen student registration rise to approximately 900 students and plans to clone his educational model across his country. Campo explained that there are already four metropolitan youth orchestras in Guatemala, with two more in the works.
“We give the schools to [students] in their own towns,” said Campo of his program. During the performance he could be seen, video and digital cameras in hand, documenting the concert. Campo understands the capacity music has in improving the quality of life and hopes to spread this valued understanding not only throughout his homeland, but internationally as well. His youthful energy and enthusiasm cannot help but spread to those around him.
Anatole Wieck, UMaine music professor and orchestra conductor, first experienced the power of Campo’s program when funded by a Fulbright grant. He mentored young musicians in Guatemala and witnessed Campo’s work first-hand.
“He does an amazing job … starting [the school] from scratch,” Wieck said.
He described his hope for continued exchange opportunities between UMaine and Campo’s student musicians:
“We’re working on it. Right now it’s on an informal basis, but it would be pretty easy to form,” said Wieck of a formalized music exchange program between the two schools.
“I had a swell time over there … the kids are so sweet,” Wieck said of his own experience in Guatemala.
Between Campo, Wieck and both schools’ student musicians, there have been a total of five exchanges with four UMaine orchestra members visiting Guatemala last spring. UMaine Assistant Conductor Christopher Keene described the overall cultural experience as “very exciting” and explained the music choices were meant to celebrate and represent the fusion of cultures. The performance was characterized by bi-cultural influence, ranging from Native American-inspired beats in “New World,” Spanish melodies in “Cappricio Espagnol” and plunky American Western sounds in “Hoe-Down” from Rodeo.
“[The concert] will be a lot of fun,” Keene said prior to the show.
Violinists Rodrigo Alarcon and Luis Mijangos, excited for their first visit to the United States, explained that because their flight from La Guardia to Bangor was delayed, they and fellow student musicians were able to spend extra time in Manhattan. In addition to Manhattan, Campo’s students visited Bangor, Field’s Pond and Audubon Center in Holden, during their weeklong stay at UMaine. Various hosts have offered their homes to the student-musicians, including Wieck and his wife, Maria Tijan-Wieck, a modern languages professor at UMaine.
“Everyone is very friendly, very, what’s the word … kind. We like it here,” said Alarcon as he, Campos and Mijangos laughed over lingual differences and helped each other with English terms. Having studied English since a young age, their consummate grasp of the English language is apparent. Their musical talent is even more so and allows them a more comprehensive cultural understanding.
“I think the principle objective is the sisterhood [and] friendship between the students,” said Campo, as he turned to Wieck.
“It’s wonderful, the push first came from the directors,” agreed Wieck, “but now it comes from the students.”
Wieck and Campo described how it was student interest that sparked the exchanges. Mutual appreciation and musical passion inevitably led to friendship which, in turn, inspired UMaine student musicians to host Campo’s student musicians this week.
“We have to keep it a tradition,” Campo said, as he smiled at Wieck.
Both conductors emphasized the need for continued interest, support and donations.
“We’re looking for old instruments,” said Campo as Wieck expressed the importance and value of donations of any form. The burgeoning success of Campo’s program needs assistance in order to continue what it aims to achieve and on the scale it has become.
The social impact of a cross-cultural musical understanding is fast becoming a tradition at UMaine and in Guatemala City. All involved seek its permanence and continued success.
“Music speaks louder than words,” said Wieck.
