2007.11.07: November 7, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Peru: Music: The Record: Hailed as one of today's most exciting composers, Frank shares her unique music
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2007.11.07: November 7, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Peru: Music: The Record: Hailed as one of today's most exciting composers, Frank shares her unique music
Hailed as one of today's most exciting composers, Frank shares her unique music
Though Frank is now hailed by many critics as one of the most exciting American composers of her generation, her method remains essentially the same as ever: she travels, listens, interprets and composes. Much like the kid in Peru. "I was mixing classical music with Latin music when I was really young," she recalls. "It just seemed natural, like the way kids play around not knowing the rules." Gabriela Lena Frank's musical influences come from her own polyglot background. Her mother is Peruvian, her father is descended from Lithuanian Jews, and she grew up in Berkeley, California. Her parents met when her father was a Peace Corps worker in Peru in the 1960s.
Hailed as one of today's most exciting composers, Frank shares her unique music
A world of inspiration
November 07, 2007
COLIN HUNTER
RECORD STAFF
It was in Huanuco, a city nestled deep in the Peruvian Andes, that the composer met the kid.
The composer was Gabriela Lena Frank, a Californian pianist on one of many trips to South America to learn about the music of her ancestors.
The kid was a local farm boy who, in his own way, was also doing a survey of musical styles.
The kid wandered from one district to the next, listening to the musical traditions unique to each area, and recorded such melodies on a cheap Casio synthesizer he had bought in Lima.
He was excited to play those melodies for the visiting American composer, although he didn't realize how deeply the fleeting experience would affect her.
In the kid, Frank saw a reflection of herself. She, like him, had spent her youth digesting and reinterpreting musical traditions.
Born to a Peruvian mother and a father of Lithuanian descent, Frank was raised amid diverse musical influences.
By age five, she was already composing rudimentary piano tunes that blended Latin and classical music traditions.
And she never stopped.
Tomorrow night, as guest composer and pianist in a concert with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Frank's cross-cultural musical journey will continue.
Though Frank is now hailed by many critics as one of the most exciting American composers of her generation, her method remains essentially the same as ever: she travels, listens, interprets and composes. Much like the kid in Peru.
"I was mixing classical music with Latin music when I was really young," she recalls. "It just seemed natural, like the way kids play around not knowing the rules."
Tomorrow's concert, titled Latin Currents, is the second instalment of the symphony's new Intersections series, which explores the connections between seemingly disparate musical genres.
"Latin music is much more than what we often get in North America, like mariachi, salsa, or meringue," Frank says.
Over the past dozen years, Frank has travelled to South America "as often as possible" to connect with her family roots and immerse herself in indigenous forms of music.
After each trip, she goes back home to San Francisco and begins the difficult process of writing music that is both classical and Latin, but also entirely unique.
It was in San Francisco where Frank met Edwin Outwater, who was then working as assistant conductor for that city's renowned symphony. Each admired the other's sense of musical adventure and they quickly became friends.
So when Outwater was hired last year to breathe new life into the faltering K-W Symphony, he knew Frank would be a perfect fit for the daring Intersections series.
And Frank didn't need much convincing:
"I was familiar with Edwin's programming sense because he was really innovative with the San Francisco Symphony. What you're seeing here is what was already playing out for years in San Francisco."
With Frank at the piano, the orchestra will perform two of her pieces: Compadrazgo (meaning camaraderie) and Leyenda: An Andean Walkabout.
Between pieces, a slideshow depicting scenes from Frank's travels in South America will be projected on a big screen behind the orchestra, while she and Outwater talk about the Latin sounds she has studied south of the equator.
Frank's pieces will also be bookended by works of two Argentinian composers, Osvaldo Golijov and Alberto Ginastera.
"It will challenge how people define the Latin sound," Frank says. "We take Latin music and put our own spin on it, to stretch even further what the Latin sound can be."
chunter@therecord.com
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: November, 2007; Figures; Peace Corps Peru; Directory of Peru RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Peru RPCVs; Music
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Story Source: The Record
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