Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in my life as a musician and an educator

Throughout my life, the musical world has gone through many changes that have left an indelible mark on how we perceive our mission as musicians. Not all of them have been instantly accepted by all, nor all of them have become the norm without some scrambling and some (mostly) constructive (and at times a little more passionately) discussions, as it should happen in a society where we respect each others' opinions even when we disagree. From my little corner, I have always firmly believed that artists should lead the way and inspire our society to move forward, toward a more just world, where prejudice and discrimination have no space, and where we can express ourselves with our voices without being judged for who we are or how we look or for what we believe in. 

Yet, I realize that music, like history, is not defined by a clear straight line that goes, say, from Monteverdi to Higdon through an infinite motion toward progress; I also realize that musicians, like all regular people, have different ideas at different times and stages of their lives, and cannot be expected to accept and live change at the same time and in the same way. I also believe that some of the achievements made on the front of social justice should become a staple of what we are and represent as human beings, and as a long-time musician and educator, I believe that it is up to us to find the way for change and to inspire change through our work with the young generations. 

This is why I have decided to create this page, not as a showcase of my achievements or a place to pat myself on the back, as there has not been a single day in my life in which I felt like I had accomplished all I was hoping for or in which I felt there was nothing else to learn. This page is just a reminder to myself that change is not a straight line and that it needs both continuous work and continuous inspiration to become meaningful; I also hope (dream?) that this page can be an inspiration to myself and to others that we can truly make a difference in many ways with our actions and also that little progress is more important than no progress at all, and that even in those days in which we fail to move forward as much as we wish that day was an important one to realize that more work is needed if we really believe in what we do. 

As a conductor, I can foster change in the way we look at music and see it for what it should really be: an orchestra of different voices where all the instruments are needed to create the marvelous "whole." For me, there is no classical music without Beethoven or Mahler, in the same way as there is no classical music without Saariaho or Price, or without Gomes and Marquez. For one, I was lucky to be exposed to the absolute variety and excitement of Latinx classical music while I was still a student, and to discover the music of Florence Price and Grant-Still through family concerts in the backyards of Chicago. Since those days, I have never stopped my quest for great music, both that I had never heard of or that I rediscovered, along with the music that is being written every single day, and that makes the world of classical music richer by the day. An art without continuous creation and progress is a dead art, and as the world keeps rotating, musicians from all over the world keep creating and adding their voices to this marvelous whole. 

In the same way, as an educator, I discovered that my call was to help young musicians find their identity and to make their voices heard through their talent as performers or music teachers. In particular, as an immigrant who has learned from experience what meant to be treated "differently," I felt that my personal mission was to dedicate some extra energy to help those students who were discriminated against as I was when I left my country to find a better future and better opportunities in other corners of the world. Of course, being an educator, like being a musician, is a continuous work in progress, and there are lessons to be learned every single day we spend with students who see the world in a different way from the way we see it, as we used to see the world in a different way from our parents and teachers. And that is the challenge but also the special beauty of working with young artists.

All in all this page (which is a work in progress and which I will keep updating every time I have a sec) is dedicated to those students whom I am so proud of, as they made it through these challenges, as it is dedicated to the incredible music that I have discovered in the past dozen years and that have made me realize that in a lifetime there is time to listen to much more music than just that of Bach and Beethoven. And although for me Verdi and Brahms struck my chords in a way that no other composer can, and although I am a deep lover of Italian opera, as that is what I grew up with and what I really find "my own," I am also so immensely grateful that there is so much music in the world worth studying, listening to, playing, and enjoying beyond just the music of my favorite composers. And my life would not be as fulfilling and colorful if it wasn't for this great variety.

Some beloved rep by diverse composers I have conducted (or am about to) during this year:

S. Okpebholo: Kutimbua Kivumbi "Stomp the Dust"

J. Montgomery: Soul Force

W. Grant-Still: Danzas de Panama

S. Coleridge-Taylor: The Song of Hiawatha, Overture

S. Revueltas: Homenaje a FGL

G. Walker: Lyric for Strings

A. Hailstork: Essay for Strings

Plus, a couple of videos: