Maria Guinand is the director of
Schola Cantorum de Venezuela and the dedicatee of Osvaldo Golijov's
La Pasión según San Marcos, a piece she has been
involved with from its inception. The Schola Cantorum de
Venezuela has performed La Pasión según San Marcos more than
forty times throughout the world, and she has been instrumental in
guiding Carnegie Hall's creative learning project for high school
musicians in the 2012–2013 season. The performance of La
Pasión según San Marcos in Stern Auditorium on March 10,
2013 will mark the first time that a choir other than the Schola
Cantorum de Venezuela has sung the complete oratorio.
While she
was in New York recently for a rehearsal of the upcoming performance, Maestra Guinand sat
down with Carnegie Hall staff to discuss her history with La
Pasión según San Marcos.
What would you like to share
with us about La Pasión según San Marcos?
La Pasión según San
Marcos is a piece of our days. I think it's a piece
that really speaks to the mind and the ears of people today. In that respect, Osvaldo Golijov captured the emotion that comes
from the popular traditions that are absolutely alive in Latin
America today; this is why the piece is so appealing, so moving,
and so intense. It's a piece that was composed out of
emotions and out of experiences of artists who are alive, who are
sharing ideas and incorporating new elements into their work all
the time. This is why, in a way, it's also so hard to put
together! You need the know-how. It's not only a matter of
reading notes and reading a score. It's a matter of knowing
how to do it and how to live it in your skin. This is
something the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela has enjoyed very much
every time we do this piece since its premiere in 2000. We
are a family of singers and I don't know how many singers have sung
this piece throughout the years. Some singers have sung all
45 or 48 concerts around the world! It's very vivid for us
each time we have the opportunity to recreate the music, to recreate
the atmosphere. We identify with the piece because it really
represents the soul of the Caribbean people. All these
traditions from Cuba, Venezuela, and Brazil are very much a part of
our daily life.
What I really want to share is the
joy of being able to do this piece over and over again and to see
the way the audiences receive the music and react to it. Because in the end, we are artists, we are on the stage to bring a
message to the people who are listening, to create emotions, to
create beauty. I think all these elements are really are in
that composition, and we feel very grateful to Osvaldo Golijov that
he dedicated La Pasión según San Marcos to the Schola
Cantorum de Venezuela.
What does it mean to be
adding these high school singers to that family of
singers?
I think it's a wonderful opportunity
to add high school singers to the family that has sung this
piece. In Venezuela, the Schola Cantorum works to develop
choral programs for children of deprived backgrounds in the
community through the Youth Schola. When I saw your young
singers yesterday, I immediately thought I was working with our
Youth Schola. I felt the same reaction and the same
interest.
I love to see the openness and the
interest of all these young people in rehearsals. They were
very engaged and very moved. When I met them individually
they were telling me how much they are enjoying the piece, what it
means to them, and how hard they want to work. Yesterday, we
were working for six hours, and they were doing everything I asked
for. They were very patient with me! I love that and even
some of them who were a little distracted at the beginning, once I
looked at them directly and said "sit up and hold your score up,"
they came up to me afterwards, hugged me, and said "Thank you. I want to be part of this and I want to be the best." It's
great because we are giving all these kids the sense of doing
something very important and of being protagonists in a performance
where they can try to be at their best. When you have this
self-esteem really working inside of you and you understand that
you are earning this possibility because of your own efforts,
that's a great educational tool.
Anything else you want to
add?
I love every minute of every
rehearsal. If I didn't rehearse, my life wouldn't make
sense.
Related content:
Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair: Osvaldo Golijov
Voices from Latin America festival
La Pasión según San Marcos: March 10, 2013