As the latest successor to the prestigious post of Music Director of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Guillermo Figueroa seems, like others who are seamlessly talented at their careers, perfect for the job.
Not only as a conductor, but also as a talented violinist, Figueroa has traversed the globe - appearing as guest conductor for the likes of the Iceland Symphony, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and the New York City ballet, among others.
Kicking off the season with powerful debut concerts on Sept. 28 and Sept. 29, Figueroa proved that he is well worthy of the task. Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down to talk with Mr. Figueroa about the role music plays in his life, his thoughts on popular music and his brief stint in a rock band.
Daily Lobo: How did you first become interested in music and when did you realize that this is what you wanted to do with your life?
Guillermo Figueroa: Oh always! - I come from a musical family and that helps a lot. At one point, there were about 11 performing musicians in my family - and my father always played, conducted. So I saw that from day one. It was always there, I always knew that was what I was going to do.
D.L: What are or were some of your greatest challenges as an artist? How do you struggle to perfect your craft?
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G.F.: The struggle is always the same. You have to work extremely hard - it's not the kind of profession where you achieve a level and you're there, you did it.
It's a daily routine, it's a daily grind to learn and to stay at whatever level that you arise to. And certainly with the violin its like that - you can't not practice and say, "Oh, I learned to play and that's it." No, it's not like learning to ride a bicycle where you don't need to practice it anymore and you learn how to ride and you do it. It's not like that in music.
So that's the greatest challenge, which is to find the discipline - knowing that you have to put in you're work otherwise you deteriorate very rapidly. Not only do you not improve, but you lose it in a second - especially with conducting where you have to learn so much music, so many scores.
I love to practice and I love to work but there are times when I don't feel like it, like anything else.
Even with the most pleasurable things in the world you find that you don't want to do them sometimes - but you have to. And that by far is the greatest challenge of all.
D.L.: What are you're favorite musical pieces to perform?
G.F.: I like most music. There are very few pieces that I don't like. The music of Berlioz - he's one of my hero's as composers; I always try to do as much as I can of him. But what I'm generally playing at the moment is what I like to do.
D.L.: How about the most difficult pieces to perform? Are there any pieces like the Rachmaninoff 3 that are just incredibly difficult for you to play?
G.F.: They're all difficult in a different sense. That particular piece (Rachmaninoff 3) happens to be tremendously difficult technically, in that it has thousands of notes each second. But there are other kinds of difficulties. Mozart is written much more simply, but you can really sound terrible if you play it badly.
Where as in the Rachmaninoff you can miss one third of those notes and the piece will still sound great. But it depends on which is more exposed and which is more refined and there are varying degrees of difficulty. I can't really say one is more difficult than the other.
D.L.: Who are your favorite artists?
G.F.: Well I like a lot of things. I like to read a lot. Actually, I read a lot of mystery novels - I love Tony Hillerman, I've read every thing he's written. In the musical field I'm attracted to the early Romantics and the early 20th century, and maybe because of that I'm also drawn to that particular school of art.
I really like a lot of Picasso and the Impressionists-that's something that I'm always going towards because I find that it relates to music in a very, very clear way.
D.L.: Do you listen to popular music much?
G.F.: I used to a lot more, not that I don't like it, but I just don't have time to do that. And I'm dealing with so much music in the course of the day that when I get home I don't want to hear anything - I just want to clear out my ears. I love classic jazz as opposed to modern jazz. That's something that, whenever I can, I put on to cleanse my ears.
I'm not a great rock fan, but I did play in a rock band when I was a teenager, but your taste changes. I always say that there is no good or bad music, its just music played badly or played very well. There's great rock `n' roll and there's really lousy rock `n' roll.
D.L.: How do you feel music is able to move people emotionally? I mean, even though it's intangible, it still has such a visceral appeal to nearly everyone. Why do you think that is?
G.F.: I really don't know. Maybe it's something that's genetically built in or something, but I feel that everyone hears sounds in their head. And some people have more sensitivity to it than others.
It is an unanswerable question, but it is true that it has a great appeal to everybody. I think it has to do with what you learn or what you're exposed to and how other influences affect you that determines the kind of music you're going to like.
D.L.: What affect do you feel classical music has on the maturity of children?
G.F.: Oh, it's the best possible effect. It is so basic that it's absurd sometimes - of course giving them the best possible of everything that its going to develop their brains for the better. And it has been shown that perhaps it helps with the way the brain makes mathematical connections.
It definitely helps every part of development. But I don't see why people think music has to be a tool for something else. It's an end in itself. It's a great art; it's something people need for their spirits and for their lives and for their betterment.
