["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Welcome back to another episode of the PianoPod,
here, tradition meets innovation.
We bridge the timeless beauty of the piano
with a dynamic pulse of today's world.
I am your host, Yukimi-san.
Today, let me take you on a quick trip
to the enchanting land of Bolivia,
a country nestled in the heart of South America,
boasting diverse landscapes
that range from the majestic Andes Mountains
to the lush Amazon rainforest,
where you will find rich cultural heritage.
For this episode, I invited pianist and educator
and my colleague and friend, Walter Aprecio,
who is also the founder and president
of the Foundation for Bolivian Artists.
So let me just quickly read Walter's bio.
Known for the warmth and conviction of his performances,
Walter explores cultural background and identity,
weaving a rich tapestry of music,
referencing dance, language, and folk traditions.
Walter's impressive career includes appearances
at renowned venues from Lincoln Center to Carnegie Hall.
He has graced international stages
in St. Petersburg, Beijing, and Barcelona.
Walter is a dedicated advocate for Latin American composers,
as showcased in his debut album,
Iris Indios' Piano Music of Bolivia.
Recently, Walter added,
the founder and president of the Foundation
for Bolivian Artists to his resume.
This nonprofit organization is dedicated to discovering
and promoting Bolivian musicians
through the Cantuta Concert Series
and aims to create a vibrant community,
providing musicians with exposure on prestigious stages
and propelling their careers.
Committed to artistic growth, collaboration,
and connecting with professionals,
the foundation emphasizes empowerment and cultural exchange
to uplift these musicians globally.
So here we are today to explore
Walter's multifaceted contribution
to the world of classical music,
including his role in empowering
and promoting Bolivian artists
through his Impact Folk Foundation.
Before we dive in, a warm welcome to new listeners
and big thank you to our faithful TPP fans.
Please don't forget to rate and review the show
on your favorite podcasting platform.
I am thrilled to welcome my dear friend,
Mr. Walter Aparicio, to start our conversation.
Please stick with us till the end
for a reflective discussion on keeping classical music
relevant in today's changing world.
Please enjoy the show.
["Piano Music of Bolivia"]
You are listening to the Piano Pod,
where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry
about how they are bringing the piano into the 21st century.
["Piano Music of Bolivia"]
Here we are today with special guest
whom I get to call my colleague and friend,
Mr. Walter Aparicio, pianist, educator, founder,
and president of Foundation for Bolivian Artists.
Welcome, Walter, yay.
Thank you, Yukimi.
Thanks for having me.
So excited to be here.
Thank you for being here today.
So we go all the way back.
You are actually one of the very first group of people
that I met when I first moved to New York to attend NYU.
Yes, yes.
And I don't exactly remember where and how,
but probably through one of the studio classes
by Dr. Dejah Donahue, right?
That's right.
I do remember that, yeah.
Yeah, and we both had a privilege
of studying with her while we were there.
Yeah, she is incredible.
She is filled with knowledge.
And every time you need a question
about any questions about piano literature,
she's a go-to person, right?
That's right.
She's like a fountain.
I know.
Amazing.
And of course, after graduation, you
invited me to be part of this nonprofit organization out
of New York City, Piano Teachers Congress of New York.
At the time, you were the president.
And I had the privilege of serving
as a VP for several years.
Yeah, so since then, I've been really following your career.
And I've attended a few concerts you performed.
And by the way, congratulations to the recent milestone
that you achieved.
You performed at Lincoln Center, Futuras,
New Ideas in Composition curated by New Latin Wave.
Tell us what's all about this.
It was such a really extraordinary and fun event
for me to be able to participate in because this organization,
New Latin Wave, really is on the forefront of curating
and programming different kinds of not just music,
but art by Latin A and Latin X artists and musicians
and composers.
And this particular series, Futuras, New Ideas
in Composition, Futuras means futures.
And that's really exactly what it is.
It's new ideas.
And how are these composers who are either mid-career
or just starting out or really well-established,
how are they pushing the composition forward
and also looking into their Latin A identity, right?
So it was three nights at the David Rubenstein
Atrium at Lincoln Center, which is already actually
a really fun space because during the day,
it's a community space.
So you can go in.
You can have your coffee.
There's a coffee shop there.
You can have a gathering.
I saw even in our soundcheck, there
were these older women playing chess.
Or no, maybe they were playing cards.
Anyway, we did our soundcheck, and they were just listening.
And it was so fun.
So already that community aspect,
which is actually one of the ideas
that the New Latin Wave wants to promote,
is the community aspect of musicians, Latin X composers,
and people in general.
That idea is already in the atrium.
And so it was three nights, and each night
with just incredible artists.
And I was so fortunate to be a part of the third night.
And I performed a set of about 30 minutes of music
by all Latin X living composers.
And a couple of them were actually from Bolivia,
which I was in a way, I was really adamant about including
music from Bolivia.
But yeah, it was really incredible, and I think
it was just a nice evening.
Yeah, yeah.
And then it's just a perfect performance or recital for you.
You've been really such an out of get and an influencer.
Recently, you have to say influencer.
That's a correct terminology.
Yeah, but you are in many ways of contemporary music,
especially Latin American music.
And then your career as a performing artist and educator
is really dedicated to the genre, of course,
as well as traditional genres and eras as well.
And you're one of them, also the organizers
of the 20th, 21st century Piano Festival at the Piano
Teachers Congress too.
So well before the recent surge in promoting diversity
within our industry that sparked in 2020,
you were already a fervent promoter and supporter
of diversity in music, and particularly focusing
on Latin American music and composers.
I don't know if Latin American piano literature itself
is considered diversity these days still.
In many ways, I hope it's a really big genre, right?
Sure.
I think that Latin American music in general,
let's just talk about popular genres.
I think it's less in that realm of being othered, right?
Because we have a lot of artists in popular genres
becoming much more popular in the mainstream.
But in terms of classical music or art music,
whatever you want to call it, I think
people still don't know about it.
When I was in school, when I went to do my masters,
we had a piano literature course.
Of course, we studied the Western,
Ken, Western European composers, which are, of course,
really important.
And in a way, that's where most of this music started.
But I remember very specifically,
we spent one day, we spent one class
on Spanish-speaking countries.
And most of it was from Spain.
Yeah.
So that gives you, I mean, of course,
this was quite a number of years ago.
But it gives you an idea of not even
that there's a lack of knowledge or a lack of music.
It's a lack of interest.
And so that's partly why I started playing music
from all these different countries,
and specifically Bolivia.
So of course, I mean, there are outliers.
There are composers like Ginastera,
that we know via Lobos, Piazzolla.
But even then, they're almost considered
this little novelty.
And people play them for something else,
or they want to fulfill a jury requirement.
And so that's a little sad to me.
But I think little by little, it's starting to change.
And even like Piazzolla, the music is great, wonderful.
But so much music from Argentina in general.
There are tons of composers.
It's such a huge classical music hub in South America.
And people only know this one tiny aspect that, oh,
Argentina is tango.
But there's actually even such a huge part of the country
that is actually more in line with Bolivian culture,
because it's in that geographical area
that it's in the mountains.
So there's a whole world out there.
And there's almost too much music to cover in general.
Yeah, I'm sure.
I'm sure.
So that's why within our really limited time,
it's hard to talk about all these things
that we're about to cover.
But just in the sense that you are
going to introduce our listeners about what it is
this Latin American music is about,
and also specifically Bolivian music,
I'm very, very interested.
So let's start and continue our conversation
with the topic of piano literature of Latin America.
And later, we will be focusing on piano literature
of Bolivia.
So what's the current global reception?
Well, we kind of talked about it,
but Latin American piano music, have there
been notable shift in initiatives
to bring this music to wider international audiences?
What hurdles or triumph have emerged?
Now that I'm a little bit more connected with musicians
and educators from Latin America,
I actually do see that there are a huge push
to make this music known to the world.
And we're so lucky at this time in our lives,
actually, that we're able to, even
if you're in a small country like Nicaragua,
you can go on YouTube.
You can go on Instagram.
You can make something so that the world can see.
And so I think that's amazing.
And so this is actually how I'm finding so many of my sources,
because very little of this music is published,
and there are very few kind of professional recordings,
if you can call it that.
But no.
So I see that there are strides.
There are strides being made for this music
to be pushed out into the world.
Last March, I attended actually a conference.
It was called La Frontera International Piano Conference.
And La Frontera means the border.
And it actually is, it takes place
in Brownsville, Texas, which is a border town in the US.
And it's on the campus of University of Texas, Rio Grande
Valley.
And this was the original, well, it was the inaugural year,
and they focused on music of Latin America.
And it was amazing, because there were so many kind
of like-minded people in this conference.
And I was lucky to present and perform
the music of Bolivia, which I think
was pretty well received, because it's not too well known.
You know, bigger countries and kind of more economic powers,
if you could say that, get the highlights like Mexico,
Argentina, all these bigger countries.
And even like Venezuela, because of all the sistema
and all this stuff.
So anyway, the conference was amazing.
But in a way, we were all like preaching to the choir.
You know, it's like all these people
who are researching and are wonderful
and promoting their music, we're promoting it to each other.
So I think our responsibility is to go out and bring it
to the world.
So I learned so much about music from Costa Rica,
from Nicaragua, from all these places, even Mexican composers
I had never heard, who are actually,
all these composers are popular in the countries,
but they don't make it out.
So I think this year their topic is women,
but every other year it's going to be Latin America.
And that's kind of like its main focus, this conference.
So I think and I hope that there will be more kind of endeavors
like this.
I've seen people make recordings.
There's a very particular recording by a Spanish composer,
sorry, a Spanish pianist from Spain.
His name is Antonio Ollar Sabel.
We can maybe put that in the program notes
because it's a very, very good recording.
It's called El Fin del Silencio, The End of Silence.
And it's all recordings by women composers from Latin America.
So it's even more niche.
It's even more smaller, right?
So that is like what a gem of a recording.
And he's touring it everywhere.
It's a really good listening.
I really do appreciate he does include one Bolivian woman
composer, the only one that is of note right now.
So there are things.
There are incredible resources out there.
So you just have to be willing to find them.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So in many ways positive things are really slowly happening.
Absolutely, absolutely.
But as I said before, there has to be an interest
because you have to look for it.
It's not in front of your face.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally.
And then I think we still have to make the constant effort
to choose the repertoire wisely.
As classical musicians, we have to present in such a way
that you bring awareness and interest from the public.
Yeah, so next couple of questions
are for those who are yet to learn and discover
the world of Latin American music, piano literature,
and composers.
So considering the diverse cultural and historical
backgrounds across Latin America,
amidst the push for diversity, is there
growing interest in specific cultural styles
rather than the broader label of Latin American music?
I don't know if we're actually there yet.
I think very much it's still on the fringe.
And but I'm hoping that little by little, people
will start to take an interest in being a little more aware
that they don't lump Latin America as one thing.
That's like saying Asian composers.
It's like, what is that?
There's so many countries in Asia.
There's so many countries in Latin America.
And look, yes, there are obviously similarities.
There are obviously cross-fertilizations,
cross-influences.
But in a way, mostly every country, more I would say,
every little smaller region has their own identity.
And I think it takes people who are more connected to it
to highlight those differences because those people would
know more.
So yeah, I think it's about taking an interest.
The difference between Mexico and Argentina
is so vast that they have nothing
to do with each other, really.
So besides the language, that's some of the only things
that they have in common, if you think about it.
And Latin American music often blends
indigenous and African and European influences.
And tell us how these diverse cultural elements manifest
in piano compositions across the region.
Well, for example, much of the Bolivian music that I play
is inspired by the Andes.
Much of the piano music that I play
is inspired by the Andes, indigenous life in general,
indigenous music.
In fact, Bolivia is one of the countries in South America
that has the most percentage and population of indigenous people
still thriving and active today.
So there's an obvious, even in everyday life,
but there's an obvious inspiration from the music
because it's kind of surrounding you.
Yeah, and for example, I don't know, in Brazil,
you have the choro.
Sometimes they call it a Brazilian tango.
But it originated in Rio de Janeiro.
And it's a very fast, lively, happy rhythm piece.
And there's a really famous one by Ernesto Nazareth
called Odeon.
So that's an example of a very specific genre that's
only specific to Brazil.
Yeah, so there's influence from all over the place.
There's, depending on what region you're in,
also it changes little by little, right?
Right, yeah.
Are there overarching themes, rhythms, melodies
that are commonly found in Latin American piano music,
transcending national borders, what elements
unite the music across this continent of Latin American,
or the genre?
Well, if you think about it, it's South America, right?
Plus the Caribbean, and then Central America, and then
Mexico.
It's huge.
But I think one of the things, so it's hard to say,
because it's not a one kind of answer thing.
But obviously, the most blanket answer
can be that there's a European influence from colonization,
right?
So first, the colonization aspect.
So they brought in their music.
And also, so many musicians and composers
would go to Europe to study, because that was the place
to be, specifically Paris.
So it's hard to say if there's an influence that
encompasses them all.
But I guess there's some European influence that
can cross genres.
But that's like the canvas, you know?
Because when we're thinking about piano music,
it's already an European instrument, right?
So already, we're thinking in the 12 half steps.
And so we can't have microtones, or things
like this, or different kinds of scales
perhaps that are more present in indigenous music.
So that European influence is obvious.
But it's hard to say, I think that I
don't want to talk about countries particular.
But it's more like regions.
And in regions, you can say that Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador,
and some parts of Colombia, they have very similar styles
because of where they are.
And even that part of Argentina, like Jujuy,
where I was talking about.
And so yeah, if you have different pockets of regions
that have similar, a lot of the Caribbean music
is very similar.
I mean, those are tiny countries.
So depending on where you are, there's
a rhythm, or a dance, or ways to construct
the melody that can be unifying to a region, a smaller region.
Right.
But it just has such a complexity.
It's hard to talk about.
Oh, yeah.
No, it's incredibly complex because even
within the countries, there are elements that are different.
I mean, what comes specifically to mind, of course,
is the idea of dance.
And dance is obviously a unifying force for everybody.
So in Latin America, or in South America, or in the Caribbean,
dance music is very popular.
And a lot of the piano music that's written is dance music.
Of course, it's not dance music to be danced to.
It's piano music, much like stylized Chopin, Waltz,
et cetera.
Sure, mazurka, too.
Yeah, absolutely.
All these kinds of dances.
But one thing I can say is if you have a 6'8 rhythm, something
that's pretty common within all the,
and it may actually be the same influence, maybe
the Spanish influence, or maybe some African influence.
But it's the idea of 6'8, and there being a dichotomy there,
almost like a duality between feeling it in three
and feeling it in two.
And within the same piece, it's constantly
changing that is actually what gives some of Latin American
music some kind of personality, right?
So that's something, I mean, also changing from major
to minor, back and forth without any kind of warning.
That could have even been influenced by Arabic.
So there's so much history that is hard to actually know.
But there are potential in many ways,
like in the near future, each artist
can really dig into one particular region
or one particular culture within the Latin American genre
and focus on that topic, just like you
do with the Bolivian music, right?
Absolutely, yeah.
There's a wealth of very specific genres of music
out there, and some of which I'm not even aware yet.
And I'm still learning.
I mean, I'm teaching a course at Manhattan School of Music
at the pre-college, and one of the levels of the class
is undiscovered piano music.
And I'm pushing these students to find
music from different places.
And right now, actually, we're in Latin America.
So what I do is I give each student a country,
and I make them do the research.
I make them find piano music that's interesting.
Of course, you don't want to just play anything,
but interesting music.
And why is it interesting?
And what does it say to the country?
Does it, or is it just European sounding?
And I'm actually finding their finding composers, rather,
that I've never heard of.
So that's even better for me.
Sure, sure.
Then I have this roster of amazing music.
So yeah, it's overwhelmingly, and it's incredible, actually,
how much there is.
Yeah, sure.
Well, you're teaching at MSM pre-college,
so you're part of this big educational institution now.
Are there initiatives to preserve and promote
Latin American piano music?
And obviously, I consider you are the front runner
of the initiatives.
And later, we'll be discussing about this.
But you recently started the foundation,
Foundation for Bolivian Artists.
So besides you and other artists individually,
how are educational institutions, like MSM,
for example, contributing to this effort?
I think it really does come down to the faculty
to push students to learn this music.
Although, Manhattan School of Music
has done some really good things about Latin American music.
I'm not really so sure yet maybe there
should be a course on Latin American piano music.
Because right now, there is a course
by a wonderful Dr. Lisa Yue, which I know
you know from New York and Piano World,
and you've also interviewed her here on this program.
She created a course on music by composers from Asia,
a whole semester course, which is, I mean,
that's just so enriching for the students,
not for something to be glossed over.
For there to be this course, I think
that's really, really having a step in the right direction.
There should be one about African composers.
There should be one about Latin American,
and all the regions.
And I don't think it should replace
the regular piano literature.
Obviously, all these more mainstream composers
are important.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been around for 200 years
or more.
But I do think that students need
to have a choice to be given.
Because if there was no choice, I wasn't given a choice,
so I had to find it myself.
Right.
And actually, I just saw a posting from a university.
I think it was one of the University of Texas.
But there was actually a call for a piano faculty,
and that's not piano faculty, a music faculty
for the Latin American music department.
So they have a Latin American music department.
And there are very few, I think Indiana University has one too.
And they were looking for someone who was
an expert in mariachi music.
So that's not like classical music,
but it's a very important aspect of Mexican music.
So of course, that can tie into any Mexican composer, Manuel
Ponce, who really based much of his compositions
on popular song.
If you don't know mariachi music or popular song,
you don't understand Manuel Ponce's music.
So little by little, I see little things here.
So hopefully, there will be more and more courses and ways
that students can be able to discover this music.
What trends or developments do you
anticipate for the future of Latin American piano music?
I think the more people can find that they can play music that
connects to them, then there will
be a resurgence of people playing music
from their own cultures, music from their own backgrounds.
If you very, very dearly and intimately connect with Chopin,
by all means, play all the Chopin in the world,
in which I love Chopin.
But I feel like an outsider looking in
through a little window on Chopin's world.
That doesn't make it any less amazing to me.
But it's just like a separate, like removed way
of experiencing the music, right?
So I think the more people can find the music that specifically
connects to them, music that they relate to,
music that is about them, then I think in Latin America,
that music will be pushed forward.
And when people find music that connects them,
the audiences also connect with it.
Totally.
You can really tell.
Yeah, even like students performance, you hear,
oh, this is someone that the teacher told this person how
to play this piece versus the student play really
from the heart and how she or he is connected to the music.
You really can tell.
Yeah, no, it's incredible when you're sitting at a lesson
and a student plays something, you
know instantly that they like the piece.
Yes.
You know?
Yes, I know.
It's immediate.
And then sometimes when I'm teaching,
I make it a specific point to be like,
this is how everything should feel, just so they don't think
that this is like this grand anomaly or this thing that
happened that is so beyond them.
No, no, no, this is how everything that you play
should feel.
So I always try to give them choices.
But even for us, there is Bolivian music
that I don't connect to, so I don't play it.
Because it's a Bolivian composer,
it doesn't mean I'm connecting to it.
Right, right, right, right.
So speaking of Bolivia, you were born and spent your really
a few couple of years in your early childhood years
in Bolivia until your entire immediate family moved
to the United States, correct?
Yes, yes.
So I was born in La Paz, Bolivia, which is the capital.
It is an incredible place.
It is one of the most unique cities, I think, in the world.
And in the way that one, it sits about 13,000 feet
above sea level.
So it's very, very high.
It's the highest capital in the world.
Already, that makes it interesting,
because we don't even have a fire department,
because there's not enough oxygen.
Anyway, so it's really, really high.
It's really, really high.
And yeah, so I was born there.
I spent about five years there.
And then we moved to kind of the New York metropolitan area
in North Jersey.
At first, I thought maybe you moved to the United States
when you were in your teenage year, but it was much earlier.
It was much earlier.
Yeah, I'm so American in my upbringing.
And as a child, as someone growing up here,
and we also didn't move to a community
where there were a lot of Bolivians.
And there are very few.
There's one in Alexandria, Virginia area, that area.
There are a lot of Bolivians.
And we didn't move to Queens.
And even in Queens, there are much fewer
than there is in the DC area one.
So we didn't move to a Bolivian community.
And the community that I grew up was mostly,
it was very Spanish-speaking, Latin American, or mostly,
I'm going to say, 99% Cuban.
And those were my friends.
Those were the people growing up.
So I didn't relate to them at all.
By the way, I was an outsider in the outsider world,
which is why I think most of my childhood and up to my teen
years, I rejected the whole, I'm not from here.
I'm American.
It was very inculcated by my parents
that, no, you're from Bolivia.
You're this.
And it's amazing.
And living in the tiny bubble of our apartment,
it may as well be Bolivia.
It may as well be in La Paz.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah.
But with some groceries from the US.
But no, but the music, the cooking, the dancing,
all the decor, everything, it was like we were there.
But I left the house, and I was like, no, I'm American.
That was kind of my mindset for a really long time.
Wow.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, it's a coping mechanism, I guess.
Of course.
And I kind of sort of can relate to that.
I'm Korean, but born and raised in Japan.
So plus coming here, I was like a young adult
coming to the United States.
But I had to totally immerse myself
to this culture in order for me to blend and being accepted.
Also succeed, right?
Because I mean, keeping all your traditions and everything
is great, but you have to adapt to what's happening.
And so I feel like there has to be a fine balance between making
sure that you keep your traditions and your culture
and your integrity as a person from somewhere else,
but also make sure that you're able to succeed.
And I think in a way, my family was like, yes, you
should do all the American things so then you
can succeed.
Of course, yes.
So your early years of piano lessons,
so that started in the United States then.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
And I don't know anything about the education there,
like pedagogy and things like this.
I'm not super aware of.
But tell me what's like to be a piano student,
early years of piano lessons.
And you just briefly told me about your upbringing at home.
So piano lessons and maybe a little bit later on training
at MSM and NYU.
So my first piano teacher is, I mean,
it was like a craziness to me now that I think about it
as a piano teacher.
It was this wonderful, very nice Cuban old lady.
And she was very sweet.
She must have been 80.
And so we went to her by the recommendation of a neighbor
or something like this.
And so she taught group lessons, but they weren't really
group lessons.
They were private lessons, but at the same time.
So there was like three uprights in one room.
And she would go to me, and then she
would go to the next person.
And then she would be like, OK, now you practice.
And she would rotate around the room.
But we were all playing totally different things.
And they were uprights.
So it's not like you can be in your own little personal world.
It was kind of chaos.
And in the other room, she was teaching ballet.
Anyway, so it was like a whole little art center,
whatever you want to call it.
But I kind of outgrew that quite quickly.
Then I went through various teachers until high school
or so where I kind of settled on a teacher nearby.
And he was great for me.
He gave me a lot of inspiration and kind of set me up
to prepare me for college auditions, et cetera.
And then you entered MSM as an undergrad?
No, undergrad, I went to NYU.
NYU was actually a really interesting and wonderful place
back then.
I mean, I don't know it too much now.
I know the department has grown huge.
And they're doing innovative things and wonderful things.
But when I was there, it was very small.
And everybody knew each other.
I was only one out of three piano majors.
I was the only one to graduate because maybe the other people
went to different things.
Or anyway, so it was a very small program.
And it was very kind of everybody knew you.
And that was very special.
And I really liked that you could take classes here
and over there and kind of get a well-rounded.
But you could be curious about other things.
And I think that was a really good.
I'm sure it's still that way in a certain sense.
But it's grown so much that I think
it may be very piano music-centric now.
So no, it was great.
So I did that.
And that's when I met Dierdre O'Donoghue.
And she was wonderful.
And she encouraged me to audition for Manhattan School.
So actually, it was the only audition I did.
And then you got in.
Well, yeah.
But I wasn't going to audition for my master's.
I thought maybe I need a year to practice or something.
Anyway, I took the audition.
And they accepted me.
So that's where I met Philip K. Wynn.
And I worked with him for two years at the school
and also a number of years afterwards.
And that was a very different kind of experience.
But also, I think I was ready for it and kind of
gained to work really hard.
But when I met you, was it when you were at NYU
so you were undergrad?
I must have been undergrad, yeah.
I must have been like a junior or a senior.
OK, OK.
Yeah, that's school.
And then you later realized that school isn't real life.
Yes, the real life is.
So what was it like after you graduated
from this all glorious NYU and MSM?
And then was it all red carpet ready for you?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Next day, I had my Carnegie Hall.
No.
But I was a person who, like, I'm an immigrant.
And we didn't have any money really growing up.
And so to put my way through school, I worked.
And at NYU, I worked at the music office.
And by the time I was at MSM, I was teaching piano lessons
at certain little studios.
But also, I had some private students.
So it was very different from maybe a lot of my colleagues
who just could practice all day.
So in a way, I graduated.
And I already had jobs because I had been working for a number
of years already.
So I find that kind of lucky, but also, the hustle mentality
was real.
You had to say yes to every job.
I'm glad that I did it because I felt like I got so
many random experiences.
And you're just always better for it.
And afterwards, not only obviously,
you already had the sort of like a street smart kind of skills
you already had, but also you had amazing concert
experiences, Carnegie Hall solo concert, and many others.
But what led you to be in touch with your heritage?
I had never played Bolivian music.
And in a way, as I said, it's about access.
It's about information.
It's about curiosity.
No one told me to be curious.
No one told me you should.
I mean, not even my parents because my parents
didn't know about piano.
I taught them about classical music in a way.
It was kind of that.
They learned as I, when I played a Beethoven sonata,
they're like, oh, now that's Beethoven.
And it was actually incredible to see their growth.
By the time I was like, I don't know, let's say 24, 25,
we would be in the car.
And they're like, oh, the Vivaldi.
I love this Vivaldi.
And to me, that's incredible.
Anyway, so no, I think it was at MSM, actually, Mr.
Kewin said, is there any Bolivian music
that you could play?
And I thought, well, I don't know.
So the next time I did go to play a concert there,
I found, well, I went to the conservatory, La Paz,
and I went to the library.
And I was like, give me all your music.
So I found specific composers.
I found specific.
Wait a minute, I got a lot of music.
And I didn't touch it for a long time.
And I was like, oh, maybe this is good.
But I did play a couple of pieces that are actually
on my recording by Eduardo Cava, which
is one of the foremost nationalist composers.
To me, they sounded like the most Bolivian.
They were a nationalist.
And so I did play that.
And that was 2007 when I did this kind of Carnegie Hall
concert, a solo recital there.
So I did include, actually, from then,
music by Bolivian composers, which I'm actually
very grateful that I did that.
Because there's a timeline, a stamp of when I started that.
And then, to be honest, for the next couple of years,
I wasn't really playing all that much music from there.
But little by little, I started thinking,
maybe I should do something different.
And in a way, I just started connecting more to the music.
When I was in NYU and when I was in even high school,
I really connected with music that
had rhythm, very specific rhythms.
My piano teacher from high school,
his name was Philip Deco.
He was actually amazing in the way
that he tried to find pieces that were of interest to me.
So he gave me pieces from Latin America.
So he gave me Le Cuona from Cuba.
He gave me Ginastera pieces.
And I actually did really, really connect with them.
But I'm like, oh, this is nice.
I must like rhythmic music.
So then I started playing some Bartok.
And I was like, oh, this is great.
Oh, I love Bartok.
Oh, it's Bartok.
I must love folk music.
And then finally, when I started playing more Bolivian music
and when I heard it, I'm like, oh, the reason
I connect with the other composers
is because they're closer to what I know.
There's a folk music aspect.
There's the rhythmic aspect of some kinds of pieces.
There's like pentatonic scales.
It's like an imitation of different kinds of folk
instruments in Bartok and Ginastera, all this stuff,
the guitar.
And so there was a moment where I was like, oh,
it's because this is the music that I know from growing up.
So then, yeah, I mean, I've just been more and more delving
into it.
Sure.
And just going back a little bit,
when you mentioned about the capital of Bolivia, La Paz,
and how the altitude was so high in many ways,
so that's kind of like isolating from many other towns
and cities, right?
Because it's hard to get to and hard to get out of the town
because it's right.
And then plus, that element itself, like,
preserve the culture?
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, yeah, that's a very interesting point.
I mean, because the city is like it's a Bol-like kind of place.
It's like in the part of like an Amazon basin.
Then it's surrounded by all these huge, tall mountains
in the high plains.
Yeah, and there's always one particular mountain
that we call, it's like a three peak mountain.
It's called the Ilimani.
And it's like a national symbol of, well, particularly La Paz,
but Bolivia in general.
And actually, the logo to my foundation
that we'll talk about later is based on that mountain.
That's what I thought.
I just, yeah, it came to my mind.
Wow, that's clever.
That's really good.
I had a very good graphic designer work on it.
We're going to talk more about that.
But yeah, so I'd love for you to take us
on a trip to Bolivia right now.
What are some distinctive cultural traditions
and celebrations in Bolivia that particularly resonate with you
and that find fascinating?
In general, so much of the culture, as I said before,
has to do with indigenous life.
So a lot of the indigenous traditions,
I think, are really interesting.
Even there's a kind of reverence for nature.
That nature and the earth and the sky
are really important.
Of course, that comes from indigenous gods,
that they have the inti and the gods.
And they call the earth, they call it Pachamama,
which is like mother earth.
And you give to mother earth so that it gives back to you.
So those kinds of things to me are really beautiful.
In terms of cultural things, I think Bolivia is special in the way
that we have so many of these dance troops that
dance in parades.
Actually, here in New York City, there's a ton of that going on
right now.
So all these dances have beautifully elaborate costumes.
The music, of course, for each dance
group is a very specific dance, you have all these,
there's a morenada.
I mean, I can go into so many of these kinds of dances.
And actually, the piano music does reflect some of that.
Yeah, so those kinds of traditions.
And of course, every culture is centered around food.
So of course, the food always brings me back.
Besides that.
Tell me more about food, sorry.
OK, well, actually, you can try some Bolivian food
at Bolivian Lama Party in Queens.
Shout out to them.
Let's make a date to go to Queens.
We can have some.
Yeah, so the main staple there is a salteña.
If you think about a mix between an empanada and a soup
dumpling.
So it's like an empanada shape with a very delicious kind
of thick dough.
And inside is like a stew.
So it's perfect for the kind of climate of the high,
all the mountain region.
And typically, you have it at like 10 AM.
It's like your before lunch snack.
And so that's really amazing.
And they have actually a very good menu
at Bolivian Lama Party.
So the salteña is really wonderful.
And also, one of my favorites, which
I'm going to make, I think, very soon because of this cold
weather, is the peanut soup, which is quite unique.
So it's not a, if you think about peanuts
in other cuisines, maybe you think about like Thai
or like peanut sauce, things like that.
And that's sweet.
But this is a very savory, like creamy soup
that you can put meat in or not.
And that's one of my favorites.
So those kinds of two things.
But you know, it's a mountain country.
And we actually have like 300 different kinds
of potatoes, all these different kinds of potatoes.
So it's a potato country, of course, very like mountain,
rice and meat and potatoes.
And so very hearty for climbing the altitude.
Sure, sure.
Wow.
Makes me really hungry right now.
I'm hungry too, yeah.
Now, so that's one way of being expression.
So other culture expression would be like, for example,
visual arts, dances, yeah.
Are you familiar with?
I know you have another Instagram account
besides your main account about this Andean culture.
Right, well, mostly there,
I like to promote music from Bolivia
because like all the sounds are from the Andes.
So it's mostly there.
If you wanna check it out, it's called Andean sounds.
And it's really just me promoting the music
of Bolivian composers.
Of course, visual art, I mean, there's like,
all these visual artists are always inspired by the land,
really the culture.
There's a specific one, he's in Aymara.
There are like two main indigenous groups,
which are the Quechua people and there's Aymara.
Of course, there are like actually like 34 other
indigenous languages that are official languages
in the country, but those are the two most popular ones.
Yeah, some of them are just like very small.
So, but to kind of preserve the indigeneity of it,
that they make them official languages,
which I think is actually really beautiful too
for preservation.
But anyway, this Aymara artist, his name is Mamani Mamani.
And his work is very significant and he uses a lot of like
Aymara indigenous traditions and symbols.
And his work has really been kind of exhibited
all over the place at this point, all over the world.
So he's basically, I would say that the most important
visual artist.
Of course, there's a lot of like textiles
and all these kinds of like very kind of trade
artisanal traditions too.
My impression is that Bolivian art or even fashion
so colorful, just like the flag of Bolivia, right?
There is likely original flag.
I can't say original.
It's the like the flag, if you look on Wikipedia,
that's the flag.
It's red, yellow and green, which is like,
in a way the colonial kind of flag, very bright colors.
But there's also the Wipala.
And the Wipala is the indigenous flag.
And that's actually more colorful.
And it's like little boxes, it's hard maybe,
I don't know, it's hard for me to explain it,
but it's a lot of little boxes, all different colors,
and they represent different like forms.
I'm not really actually too knowledgeable
about what each color and things represent,
but it's a square flag and it represents
the indigenous people.
So, you know, we talked about food and art.
Let's talk about piano music of Bolivia, finally.
So what distinguishable characteristics or themes
can be found in Bolivian piano music
compared to other Latin American countries?
You know, when I was talking about my recital debut
a long time ago, where I wanted to play music
that was like Bolivian sounding,
I chose these pieces by Eduardo Cava,
the nationalist composer, which was Aires Indios.
And so those particular pieces have a number of elements.
You have different kinds of scales,
different kinds of harmony.
You have like pentatonic scales.
You have some modal scales.
There's definitely a sense of imitation of instruments.
So the piano, as we know, is the greatest orchestra.
And so it's a almost every instrument.
So it imitates the pan flutes, which you may know of.
It imitates like the small guitars.
We call this like a 12 string guitar called the charango.
Yeah, there's in terms of like melody,
there's like ideas of like rhetoric.
So there's a lot of like speech, like melodic aspects.
And then even the way composers play with register
can be important because that could represent
perhaps the earth and then the high register
can represent the sky.
So there's a lot more kind of in a way references
besides just the actual notes, right?
So yeah, those are the kind of ideas.
There's ostinato, you know, many of the aspects
that are present in folk music in general
are present in this kind of music.
Yeah, even like, you know, when composers use
like grace notes in rhythms, in melodies,
that sometimes signifies like a micro tone
because, you know, we can't play between the notes
so we do a grace note.
Almost like blues does that too, right?
Makes sense, yes.
So, and of course, like all the dances,
all the specific dances that are referenced
are more specific to Bolivian music
than let's say it's something else from Latin America, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, if you want, I can demonstrate a couple of things.
I would love to hear it.
These pieces, Aires Indios,
the translation is actually Indian airs, right?
Aires Indios.
So already knowing what we know about the landscape
of the particular region of the Altiplano,
which is the high plains, the mountain region,
you already know that there's no air.
So it's about air, right?
So we think about the natural quality of air
and Indios meaning like Indian,
but also that just means indigenous really,
like the, you know, indigenous person,
like the natural air.
But also, of course, we know that the reference to an aria,
which is like a vocal piece.
So in a way, to me,
I don't know if it's what the composer necessarily intended,
but to me, they have the aspect of the natural element of air
plus the vocal quality.
So this first excerpt is from one of those Aires Indios,
and you'll hear a lot of like quintal harmony,
lots of open fifths, lots of beautiful melodies.
Also, there's changing meters
because that's irregular meters
are a part of folk music, right?
["Aires Indios"]
So that's-
Nice.
I think.
It's so beautiful.
And you hear like kind of a, there's a serenity,
there's like a wandering aspect perhaps.
There's a sense of repose.
This one's a little different.
I think this in the next excerpt is like the ground,
the earth, the pachamama, and the sky.
["Aires Indios"]
So you get kind of the hollowness in the unison.
["Aires Indios"]
It's kind of hollow, empty, austere,
and then you get a complete opposite.
So much harmony and beautiful color
["Aires Indios"]
when we have the contrast there.
One last one.
Here we're imitating instruments.
To me, this is imitating a sampoña,
which is like a pan flute,
like those pan flutes that you see.
["Aires Indios"]
So those open fourths like a sampoña.
And actually, it's more true today
because my piano's out of tune,
so these instruments are very rarely exactly in tune, right?
It's more, actually a lot of composers,
actually more modern composers
would probably give it a dissonance.
["Dissonance"]
Or something like this,
just to actually highlight the fact
that these instruments are very rarely in tune.
I mean, they also use different scales.
So that's just like a little bit of a sample
of what kind of sounds I'm talking about
when we talk about Bolivian music, you know?
Wow, gorgeous.
What a gem.
Oh, just to even get to know.
Oh, so beautiful.
Now, and then that's the Iris Indios you mentioned.
And did you play that in your album, right?
I did record these almost like eight years ago.
I put out this recording actually.
So there are, it's a set of pieces,
10 Iris Indios, but I only recorded six,
because at the time, the other four hadn't been found.
So the recording has the six Iris Indios,
like the original Iris Indios,
but I think 2019 or 2018,
one of the kind of the foremost pianists in Bolivia
and researcher and expert on Eduardo Cava
found the other four and has since published them.
So I do play some of the other ones,
but they're just not in my album.
["Iris Indios, Bolivia"]
And on the CD is also eight motives of folklore
from Bolivia, right, right?
Also by Eduardo Cava, and those pieces are very interesting
because they are actually inspired
by the valleys of Bolivia,
totally different from the plains
or from the altiplano, from the highlands, right?
So they're like more easygoing,
there's like a sunniness to them.
So it's interesting how the topography,
how that climate even will elicit something different
from a composer.
Really, I enjoyed listening to your pieces,
the pieces that you played in the album,
and I loved all of them.
It was just took me to a quick trip to Bolivia.
Exactly, yeah, and in a way,
that was my intention with the album originally
because people don't know this music
and I wanted exactly, that's a nice way to put it,
I wanted to send them on a quick trip to Bolivia.
What kinds of sounds are there,
from where are they inspired?
What will you experience?
What kinds of sounds can you experience from there?
That was the intention,
so I'm glad that kind of came through.
But also, since then, I've started,
I play a lot more of like kind of current
and modern music from Bolivia,
which is in a way always inspired by the culture,
but maybe not in an overt way.
If I want to play this piece, where can I find the score?
Yeah, okay, that's the trouble, right?
Yes.
So you contact me.
Okay, okay.
No, no, no, there are a number of ways to find this music,
but it really is like a community of the people who are like,
I know the woman who sells the Aides Indios
and the volumes of these,
so anytime somebody wants to play those,
any piece by Eduardo Cava in general, I send it to her.
She has a WhatsApp and she'll send you a digital copy
with a small fee.
And so that we're maintaining copyright
and I do find that that's important
because that is her research.
Other than that, if it's in public domain,
I'm happy to share the music,
or maybe a lot of, obviously,
a lot of living composers are very generous,
they'll just send you the music.
So tell me just a little bit about Eduardo Cava
and then also you performed pieces by Thymian Ronca
and then Marvin Sandi.
Yeah, that's right.
So Eduardo Cava is the first or in a way
the most important nationalist composer.
He's an early 20th century, late 19th century composer.
He studied in a number of places in Argentina,
but also Spain, he went to Spain.
I mean, that's what I'm saying,
is like all these people went abroad to study
and they brought back with them salon music.
So that's why, you know, a lot of,
actually this woman who does the Eduardo Cava editions
also has a whole volume of salon music by Bolivian composers.
So all of those pieces will be waltzes,
mazurkas, polkas.
I mean, nothing to do with Bolivia.
They went to the places, mostly Paris, came back,
started writing in that style.
But Eduardo Cava did study in Spain.
He studied actually, he was a student of Joaquin Turina,
who is pretty well known Spanish composer.
He in a way was the first nationalist composer.
So he, in kind of an intuitive way,
he wasn't intending to mimic sounds, you know,
or be like, this is this dance, this is this dance.
But he would, as you heard, those were all pieces by him.
They are inspired by so much of the culture,
the instruments, the folk music, the landscape,
the indigeneity of the Pachamama perhaps.
That, and he does have a lot of other pieces.
And he does have some salon music as well.
And then the other composer, Simeon Roncar,
around the same era.
You know, I love that piece, Rosa.
Oh yeah.
Adorable, so beautiful.
Those pieces are cuecas,
and a cueca is a very specific dance.
That is from Bolivia, but I mean,
also they danced in Peru, they danced in Chile.
It actually is kind of a blend of a Spanish dance
that kind of came from the, called the Sama Cueca.
Well, originated like mostly in Peru,
but it is a kind of an evolution of the Fandango.
And so, but because of the indigenous people,
there was like some elements that got mixed in.
So eventually it became a cueca.
And so this is a very good example
of when you have a six, eight piece
that goes between three and two all of the time.
And it's actually a courting dance.
And the courting dance between, in this case,
a man and a woman with like handkerchiefs in their hand,
they're courting each other.
And the man is trying to like overtake,
or like woo the woman rather, not overtake, woo the woman.
And so there are three sections.
And in a way, some, what's interesting is a lot of the,
a lot of the dance motions resemble like a rooster
and a hen.
Really?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So you get some of that, like a kind of like
the proud rooster and like this kind of more
a coquettish perhaps.
Anyway, so that, those are the cuecas.
And the last composer on the album is Marvin Sande,
who we don't know too much about,
but he was like a real big proponent
in the early 20th century of modern music.
And he was also like a philosopher
and was into all these other things.
But these pieces reminded me so much of the music
that I loved growing up with Bartok.
So there's like a Bartok barbarism aspect,
which very cool.
Honestly, I heard that Bartok-like elements.
Yeah, so even if, even that word like pantheistic rhythm.
So it's not the idea of like a, of a colonizer religion,
but the pantheism of like indigenous people, you know?
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Now let's continue with the show.
Now I would like to know the foundation you built,
Foundation for Bolivian Artists.
So before asking you specific questions,
what is this all about?
Just give us the brief overview of the foundation, please.
Foundation for Bolivian Artists is a nonprofit organization
that we just started.
This is our first year, really.
And so this is all very new to us, the nonprofit world,
but it's exciting.
And the organization is dedicated really
to supporting classical musicians
of Bolivian backgrounds specifically.
And the reason it's not a Latin American foundation
for artists or Spanish speaking
or Andean foundation for artists
is because I truly believe that Bolivia, the country,
the people, its music is completely overlooked
all the time.
You see that in every aspect.
And so people don't even know where it is on the map,
for example, forget about what it stands for,
what kind of people come from there,
what language do they speak?
I've gotten so many things.
People think I'm from Africa.
People think I'm from Europe.
I mean, I've gotten it all.
And I mean, it's not their fault necessarily,
but it's just not in the pop culture.
You know?
I mean, people know, I mean, obviously it's far away.
So like, obviously people know like more
about Mexican culture because here we have a lot
of Mexican immigrants, which is much closer, obviously.
So we understand.
And there's like a whole Tex-Mex and the food, dah, dah, dah.
So I understand, but also in other kinds of things,
it tends to be just a little bit ignored.
So there are a lot of, even in classical music,
there are people play Argentine composers all the time,
people play Cuban composers, all these things,
but it just tends to be always overshadowed by perhaps
like bigger economic powers.
People tend to leave Bolivia to go study classical music.
I mean, we just had three examples
of composers that we were talking about,
the ones from the recording.
They all studied somewhere else.
So the infrastructure for classical music is perhaps
not ideal, but there are talented people coming
out of the country.
Our mission is to provide all these wonderful musicians
with kind of like career changing opportunities for them
to present themselves, especially in New York,
because I see all these musicians, thanks
to social media, thanks to all these recordings and internet,
I'm finding musicians left and right.
And this is why I didn't want to call it something else.
It had to be something for Bolivians,
and I wanted them to know that.
So the eligibility would be only Bolivian pianists?
Well, yes.
So the eligibility is really, you
have to be of Bolivian background.
So for example, there was a participant
or an applicant this year who was very, very talented,
who had a Bolivian parent.
I don't remember which one, but she lives in Berlin, I believe.
Born in Berlin, speaks perfect German,
but actually speaks Spanish, too.
And she does Bolivian dances in Berlin.
It's like amazing.
And she was one of our finalists.
And so, yeah, completely eligible to participate
in our programs or apply to our programs.
And so we want to give these participants an opportunity
to come to New York City, and we're
going to give them an all expenses paid trip
to come and play a recital debut in New York City this year.
It's in Merkin Hall.
And this all started because I received, for me,
what was kind of like a life changing opportunity
in that Carnegie recital.
And there are very few opportunities
for specifically Bolivian musicians out there.
And they never come to me.
Maybe they're playing all over the world or maybe not,
but they're not playing here.
So it's going to be that source.
And our foundation is really dedicated to that.
Right now, just piano, but we'll see.
We're just starting out.
So we really want to eventually expand.
Just knowing you and learning more about you today,
this is just very touching, the whole motivation behind it
and the cause.
And you basically want to fill the gap, right?
Yeah, exactly.
No, it's filling the gap because every musician,
no matter where they're from, deserves a chance
to come here to, especially from, as I said,
an often overshadowed place.
And actually, more than that is the musical heritage
of Bolivia needs to be preserved, needs to be highlighted.
There needs to be a spotlight on it because there isn't one.
If you ask somebody what musicians from Latin America
you know, they'll never name a Bolivian musician.
So I want that to change.
I want them to name five Bolivian musicians
off the top of their head.
Do you have a specific repertoire requirement,
a mental requirement, for example, in order for them
to compete, do they have to play one or two maybe
Bolivian composers or composers?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that's part of, I mean, in a way, this whole idea
has so many layers to it.
And it's hard to wrap my head around it sometimes.
But besides promoting the musician,
giving the musician an opportunity
to play in a kind of a recital here on their own,
that's also something really important
that I wanted to mention is that this is a solo recital,
full solo recital.
So these musicians have to be kind of top notch.
We have to know that they're going to be reliable to play
this full amazing program.
But the requirements are vast in a way.
What I mean is that they can submit almost any video
regardless of video quality.
They can submit a concerto.
We've had so many concerti submissions,
which was very interesting.
But it showed us kind of the commitment to who they are.
But one of them, there has to be at least one Bolivian composer
in the requirements.
So that will already promote Bolivian composers
that we may not know to be performed in New York.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Perfect.
Exactly.
And so what we want to do is besides that,
they have to submit.
And actually, in a way, this is like the heart
of the application.
They have to submit a proposed program.
And so they will propose a program, of course,
including one Bolivian piece or, sorry,
minimum one Bolivian piece.
And they will elaborate on the reasoning for their program.
To me, that is the most important part
because we're giving them tools to succeed in the real world,
which is when you're asked to play a concert,
you have to give a program.
And it has to show who you are.
It can't just be, I'm going to play three Bach inventions.
And then I'm going to play the Liszt sonata.
And then I'm going to play a rag.
And then maybe I'll play Schumann.
What does that say about, to me, an artist?
What does that say about what you like, what you play,
what you play well?
So I think the important part is submitting something
and explaining it in a way that it is thoughtful.
We had many applicants who were very, very good,
but in a way that the program wasn't right for us.
And we want it to be about the person.
We don't want it.
We don't want, of course, we want you to play well.
But they do.
And the people who play excellent.
But I think that is the main thing with our requirements.
That is really part of the vision.
Now, so then this was the inaugural year.
And the first concert is coming up in March 1.
Tell us a little bit about the winner.
We've had 23 applicants for our first iteration of our program.
And right now, we're just focusing on piano.
We had really excellent applicants, really,
from all over the world, of course, from Bolivia.
But there are applicants from Argentina,
applicants who are studying and living here
in the United States, from Portugal, from Germany,
from the United Kingdom, really from all over the place.
And I was very impressed and delighted, actually,
that so many people were interested in our program.
So we had three really excellent adjudicators
who kind of painstakingly whittled down to three finalists.
And we went back and forth on who it could be,
because the three were really, really top notch
and all really, really deserved.
But our winner is Sergio Escalera-Soria.
And he's a really, really wonderful musician, very talented.
And to us, he really represents a 21st century artist.
He's had an amazing trajectory all over, really all
over the world, where he's worked in countless places,
playing piano, of course, with orchestras,
but also solo recitals and chamber music.
He's an educator.
And he's so interested in how to learn so much about the world
so that it can be nurtured in his art.
And I think that's really important
for a 21st century artist to not just, I don't know,
play all the Chopin etudes perfectly well,
but to have some kind of thirst for knowledge
for different cultures.
He spent some time in Armenia.
He spent some time in Palestine.
He spent some time in all over the place learning,
teaching.
And so we're really excited for him to come.
And his program is wonderful.
It is kind of like a journey through his life,
from Western European classics in the beginning,
because that's his foundation, to sounds of Bolivia
and other Latin American countries.
So he can tell you more about that.
So here we have Sergio Escalera-Soria, concert pianist
and the foundation for Bolivian artists
Earth Scholarship Recital Recipient.
Thanks for being here, Sergio.
Hello, Ukemi.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Congratulations on winning the scholarship
to perform at Merking Hall, one of New York City's
prestigious and finest concert venues in a few months, right?
Yes, exactly.
In a month and a half, exactly, from today.
I'm super excited and very honored.
So before we talk about the concert,
why don't you introduce yourself to the Piano Pods
audience, your current residence and then maybe
your current status or standing as a pianist,
like your performances, educational background.
Of course.
I'm Sergio.
I was born in Cochabamba, which is the third or fourth largest
city of Bolivia.
Although for the past 15 years, I've
lived abroad in many different countries.
Right now, I'm based in Portugal, in the city of Lisbon.
I think it's the seventh country where I've lived.
I'm not fully sure.
Oh, wow.
So I've been moving around a lot and like chasing
or being chased by musical opportunities.
And super fortunate, of course, for having done that.
And yes, at this moment, I'm very privileged to combine
solo playing, chamber music making, and teaching
like in different formats here in Portugal, in Europe,
in Latin America, and in the Middle East as well.
I'm not currently enrolled in school.
I've taught recently.
I'm not teaching like formally at school,
but I don't exclude that option for the next season.
Now, so what motivated you to enter this competition?
What specific aspects that really appeal to you?
Perhaps you're obviously you're of Bolivian heritage.
And so maybe the potential opportunities as a winner
that attracted to you?
Yes, of course, those things, anything
that has to do with Bolivians and with Bolivian music
is super appealing to me.
I am always eager to share my music
and to participate in the larger Bolivian musical scene.
Although it's not actually that large, it's not that big.
I'm afraid to say that Bolivian opportunities for Bolivians
are actually scarce.
And this is why the work of the foundation
is incredibly valuable.
And yes, having this opportunity is not an opportunity
for myself alone, but I feel for other people who
support my work and who work with me sometimes,
or students that I have seen in Bolivia that
can see what somebody can do with music
and what stages we can play at, this is very inspiring.
And I hope other people also can feel or receive
that message transmitted through me.
This foundation gives classical musicians
of Bolivian background access to the world's most prestigious
career opportunities.
But just tell us about your heritage,
but also tell us about the country,
the beautiful culture, musical maybe,
musical scene of Bolivia.
It's very interesting that a lot of Latin American countries,
including Bolivia, have a huge diverse ethnicity,
diverse population, a diversity of culture
that is even unimaginable sometimes.
And it's hard to count, hard to predict
how our culture is portrayed or is showcased sometimes.
So in my case, yeah, my Bolivian-ness, I guess,
comes from I'm fully Bolivian.
My parents are Bolivian.
We have indigenous roots from the different indigenous
communities that were there for a long time.
We also have Spanish blood as well.
That's the product of colonization.
So Europe has brought a lot of things to Latin America,
let's say the instruments, let's say some of the rhythms,
let's say some of the academia that is now present
in Bolivia and in Latin America to systematize our music.
But in fact, we are also very rich in other things that
are not fully part of the Western classical spheres.
For example, our folk music traditions, our instruments,
our modes, our own scales and ornaments that are actually not
very present or not visible at all, I would say,
in Western classical music.
So in a way, I took advantage of that,
of my heritage of having been brought as a classical pianist,
but actually benefiting from the other aspects of music making
Bolivia to actually come up with a unique and personal proposal,
which is play the great masters of Western classical music,
but as well, my own arrangements of Bolivian music,
all Bolivian composers' music as well to bring them to light.
And yes, I feel fully Bolivian, although I've
spent so much time abroad.
And actually, I dream of coming back home and living there
in the upcoming future, hopefully.
That's wonderful to hear.
Now, so speaking of Bolivian music,
so let's talk about the repertoire that you're
going to be presenting at Merkin Hall in March 1st.
So tell us the list of the repertoire, the pieces
that you're performing.
Well, I'm performing first, I feel
I need to speak about these two Bolivian composers
that I'm playing.
One of them is Matilde Casasola.
She's a woman, an 80-year-old singer and songwriter
from Sucre, from the historical capital of Bolivia.
I'm playing her music, seen through my own eyes
and through my experience of the past years.
So it's an arrangement that I'm doing at the moment.
And her style is, of course, emerging
from the popular traditions of folk dances, folk songs,
lullabies.
So I'm taking one specific song from her.
I'm taking then another composer who's
from my native town of Cochabamba.
His name is Manuel Rodriguez.
He was the founder of the first orchestra of My City.
And he's well known for that, but his music is actually
not known at all.
It has never been published or edited or performed even.
It was performed perhaps in a few casual occasions
by my former teacher from Cochabamba,
although my former teacher was not Bolivian.
She was Russian.
So she tried to rescue the work of this wonderful person
and founder of this musical movement in Cochabamba.
And I took over that.
I said, yeah, I want to play this music.
I go to that house of the Rodriguez family
to visit Manuel Rodriguez's daughters who
are still living there.
They are incredible people.
They facilitated the music to me so
that I could teach to other people or perform it myself.
So I'm playing two of these pieces in New York as well.
Wonderful.
And then, well, of course, those Bolivian pieces
are in the context of other Latin American genres.
Latin music is so vast and so huge.
I'm playing six Cuban sones by Carlos Farinas,
who is a very well-known composer in Cuba,
but not often performed in the format of solo piano.
And I'm playing Uruguayan composer Hector Tozar,
also very well-known and very important composer for Uruguay.
But again, because of the geography and the history
of our continent, it's not very visible
in the international music scene.
So I'm playing a brilliant, magnificent work
full of virtuosity and power by him.
It's the Creole dance by Hector Tozar.
Perhaps I could just say a few words
about the first half of my program that
includes Chopin and Debussy.
Of course, everybody will know these names, or most people,
right?
And they are inseparable for me because one
has inspired the other.
Chopin's music has inspired, of course, other composers as well.
But there's a direct link of pianism, the French school,
the touché that has actually been part of my life
in Switzerland and France.
I worked on this music with pianists that I admire a lot.
Pascal Roger, for example, and my very own teacher
and mentor, Ricardo Castro, who's playing,
I really admire a lot, and who has inspired me
to search in depth something in me that could ring
with this music, French music.
So Chopin's Second Sonata, which is one of my favorite pieces
of all time, and the masterpiece by Debussy,
Estampes, which I consider a revolutionary work,
forward thinking, forward looking.
And it's a long program, but I feel very demanding,
but full of passion and full of love, actually.
I really love the proposal I'm making.
Before promoting your concert, in what ways
will this opportunity contribute to your journey
as a musician, performing at Merking Hall?
Well, it's undeniable.
It's an incredible opportunity.
I am honored.
I'm thrilled.
I cannot be more thankful for the foundation
and to the incredible pianists sitting in the juries
and judging unanimously me as the winner.
Because as I said before, these opportunities
are not out there for Bolivians.
We are not that present or represented
in the classical music scene.
That's a fact.
And actually, I'm totally OK with that.
It's not our job to preserve Western classical music.
We have other things to preserve.
We have our own traditions and roots.
But of course, everybody has the right
to access the pinnacle of humankind creations.
And some of that is that music.
And it's really a privilege.
I feel this can only make Bolivian artists more visible.
This can put us and put our value somewhere,
like in a shelf, full of dignity and integrity
that is not often the case for a country that
has suffered a lot, whose history is actually quite hard
and whose present is also quite blurry in terms
of politics, social structures, economics, geography.
So it is a unique opportunity.
At the same time, I value this opportunity
as much as I value other instances of my playing,
which are not in those incredible halls,
but perhaps in other places, as I said before, in Venezuela,
in Brazil, in Turkey, in Iraq, or here in Portugal,
which I feel I commit.
I'm equally committed to any performance I give.
I try to do my best.
Wonderful.
And I can't wait to really meet you in person very soon
in March.
And then I can't wait to attend your concert.
As I'm speaking, I'm learning a lot.
I'm learning a lot, especially about Latin American music
and Bolivian music and such a rich history and legacy
that the music has.
And music is an amazing instrument
to connect people together.
Yes, exactly.
And Bolivia is full of music.
We have such rich and diverse rhythms, instruments.
Never heard of instruments, perhaps, for our audience.
So some of these rhythms, of course,
we are able to arrange now.
We are able to hear in concert settings.
But I encourage people, yeah, to discover more.
I hope that this recital and this episode
encourages people to discover a bit more of our rich Bolivian
music and culture.
So what musical aspirations or goals
do you have for the future following this triumph
in this competition?
It's a competition, after all.
I know the two other pianists who are finalists.
And they are equally, they deserve this opportunity
and many more, as much as I do, probably even more than I do.
Because they are in great shape.
And I admire them as well.
They are incredible pianists.
And a competition is just that.
It's an opportunity to show your work.
And I tend to do many competitions, more chamber
music competitions nowadays.
I like to share and to perhaps open
the eyes of those listening to my music
and to go a little bit beyond just, OK, we
can hear Chopin well and Rachmaninov well played.
But perhaps there is a step beyond that,
which connects this music to what's
happening elsewhere in the world.
Of course, Bolivia is very obvious.
But my aspirations go beyond Bolivia,
go to other parts of the world where
I'm learning the music from.
I see myself as a traveling musician
and never-ending learner.
And I'm going to do my best to do that.
Sergio, it's been a wonderful conversation.
I thoroughly enjoyed.
So for all the piano pods fans and listeners out there,
if you are in the New York City metropolitan area on March 1,
I urge you to attend Sergio's solo recital at Merkin Hall.
Walter has generously provided a discount code
for purchasing tickets to this fantastic recital.
Simply visit the link in the show notes
or visit kofmamusiccenter.org and search
Cantuta Concerts, Opus 1, and enter the promo code
CANTUTA, K-A-N-T-U-T-A, as you check out
to take advantage of a special discounted rate.
Thank you, Sergio, once again for being here.
And I'll be there on March 1 at Merkin Hall
to attend your recital.
I can't wait to meet you face to face afterwards.
Thank you.
It's my pleasure.
We can talk about music and piano and Latin American music
and Bolivian music forever.
But we're coming to an end of our conversation.
But any message, advice for young musicians
and piano students?
So I think my main message for young musicians and piano
students in particular is to keep doing it.
There is something really special
about honing a skill for the long term.
And there really isn't a replacement for that in life.
Seeing very slow incremental growth, to me,
that's the most fascinating part about seeing a student grow
and teaching students.
And I see it in myself.
We as humans are, hopefully, growing little by little
every day, and having something like an instrument.
It doesn't have to be an instrument.
It can be a dance form.
It can be a painting.
It can be a sport.
It can be chess.
It can be something that you are consistently.
It can be baking.
I love baking.
Little by little, you get better and better.
And to me, that's very satisfying and instills
and inculcates integrity.
So that's my main advice.
If you are a piano student taking an instrument,
you will always be frustrated because it's always hard.
But when it gets a little easier, that's the small win.
And I think that's very special.
Well said, my friend.
Thank you so much, Walter.
This has been a really fun and inspiring conversation.
I mean, after so many years, I'm getting
to know you even better today.
That's right.
This is great.
Thank you for having me.
So excited.
Yeah.
And then I'll be there for the concert, March 1st concert.
So I can't wait.
But before I let you go, we have one more thing
to do, which is the rapid fire questions.
And then, yes, here is a little twist.
As silly as these questions may sound, your answers,
they reveal who you truly are.
So ready or not, let's go.
Level one, what's your comfort food?
Salteñas.
How do you like your coffee?
Black.
Cats or dogs?
Dogs.
Sunrise or sunset?
Oh, you know, lately, I've been doing sunrise.
I've been getting up very early.
And it's very new.
Sorry, I know this is supposed to be just one.
It's OK.
It's very new for me.
And I don't think I get up by the sunrise,
but I'm getting up early.
And I think sunsets are overrated.
Summer or winter?
Winter.
Paper book or e-book?
Oh, paper.
Oh, OK.
I'm getting to know you better.
OK, level two, what skill have you always wanted to learn
but haven't had the chance to?
Capoeira.
What is that?
Oh, that Brazilian martial arts?
Yeah, the Brazilian martial arts slash dance.
But yeah, so I don't know about it in this lifetime,
but we'll see.
What is your word or words to live by?
Never, never, never give up.
What is the most important quality
you look for in other people?
Honesty.
Name three people who inspire you, living or dead.
Oh, OK.
Martha Argerich, obvious reasons.
Oing.
I'm going to lump all my friends because they all
do such amazing things.
And every day, they inspire me to keep going and doing
the thing.
Who's my third?
I'll say my husband.
Name one piece in your current playlist.
Arturo Marquez, Danso Number 2.
OK, I have to listen to it.
Oh, it's so good.
You'll love it.
Level 3.
What do you believe is the key to a fulfilling life?
To be honest with yourself.
Ah, yes.
Last question.
Fill in the blank.
Music is blank.
Enriching?
I don't know.
Great.
Thank you.
Beautiful.
Beautifully said.
So that concludes this episode of the Piano Pod.
Thank you, Walter, for joining my show today
and sharing your stories and insights and expertise.
So for the Piano Pod's listeners and viewers,
please visit walteraprecio.com and connect with him
via Instagram at WFaprecio to get the latest news about Walter.
You can also find out more about his organization,
Foundation for Bolivian Artists, and support it
through its website, bolivianartistfoundation.org.
You can listen to his recordings,
including Iris Indio's Piano Music of Bolivia,
on all major music streaming services, correct?
I also would like to extend an invitation to all my dear TPP
fans and listeners for the March 1st Cantuta Concerts
Opus 1 at Merkin Hall in New York City,
supporting the winner of Foundation of Bolivian Artists
of the Year, Sergio Escalera-Soria.
Use the exclusive discount code, CANTUTA,
which is K-A-N-T-U-T-A, to receive a special discount.
Great.
And all the links are listed in the show notes.
Thank you to my wonderful audience and fans for tuning in.
If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate and review it
on whatever podcasting platform you use.
Remember to hit the thumbs up button and subscribe.
Thank you to my channel.
If you are watching this episode on YouTube,
follow the PianoPod on social media
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and LinkedIn.
I will see you for the next episode of the PianoPod.
Thank you, Walter.
Thank you, Yukime.
Thank you so much.
Bye, everyone.
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