Beethoven in Cochabamba: The Power of Musician-Run Music Projects

 
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Beethoven in Cochabamba: The Power of Musician-Run Music Projects

Sergio Escalera, Bolivian pianist, composer, and arranger

11-06-2024

The new self-managed Ars Musica orchestra in concert under conductor Leonardo Alvarado. Photo: Daniel Mercado.

On August 24 and 25, 2024, my home city of Cochabamba, Bolivia opened a new chapter in its ongoing efforts to promote creative ventures. The chosen musical works for these concerts were Beethoven’s Piano Concertos No.1 and No.5, with plans to perform the remaining three concerti a few weeks later.

The performers for this ambitious project included a youth orchestra composed of students from the local arts high school and university programs, as well as some of their younger pupils. They were led by two enthusiastic young conducting students who recognized that no other orchestra or institution in Cochabamba, Bolivia’s fourth-largest city and an important urban center, would take on these challenging pieces.

The author during a rehearsal with the Ars Musica orchestra. Photo: Daniel Mercado.

Most of the young musicians had never played with a soloist before, and many were playing a large work by Beethoven for the first time in their lives. During the rehearsals, their enthusiasm was obvious—as was their nervousness. Not all musicians could be present until the dress rehearsal, due to their regular commitments in the city. A couple of brass players had mariachi or cumbia gigs around the same days, and some of the string players had to leave the project for personal reasons. As a result, the full orchestra was on stage together only for the dress rehearsal and the concerts.

But they rose to the challenge and delivered two exciting performances. It was only the second time in Cochabamba’s history these works had ever been performed.

As the soloist for the Beethoven’s Concerto No.5, the “Emperor Concerto,” I experienced a thrill as we dove into the music, navigating increasingly vigorous tempos. It is only on rare occasions that I get to play with an orchestra in Bolivia, so this concert was especially meaningful for me!

For the young musicians and their project manager, Erick Villegas, a music student at Universidad Mayor de San Simón, the success of the project was close to miraculous. Student musicians in Cochabamba face numerous challenges. There are no concert venues in the city that can accommodate a full-sized orchestra, and no concert grand pianos in decent condition. Typically, the municipal orchestra performs in an all-purpose event hall that lacks the necessary acoustics and stage setup of a proper concert hall. And there is no government support for music education.

So student musicians in Cochabamba are taking matters into their own hands. Erick and other like-minded emerging musicians are taking the initiative both to enhance their learning and to contribute to the musical landscape of their city. They are creating small, self-managed ensembles and projects that meet their needs and ambitions as developing artists at home. Reaching out to fellow musicians, renting the theater of the arts high school from which they graduated, and putting their conducting skills into practice—they realized this was all they needed in order to present Beethoven piano concerti.

Students rehearsing for the ‘Scherzando’ four-hand piano music festival. Photo: Daniel Mercado.

Something genuinely new in Bolivia’s classical music scene is happening here. The last decade has seen a new generation of enthusiastic Bolivian music students and teachers who are notably increasing the size of Bolivian audiences for classical music. As a result, self-managed orchestras have become commonplace not only in Cochabamba but across Bolivia. These projects fill a gap between the lack of state support for music education/orchestral infrastructure and the country’s growing demand for music events. Unprecedented numbers of Bolivians across the country can now attend semi-staged operas, Broadway musicals, and concerts of piano concerti, all funded by ticket revenues. This is quite remarkable for a country where Western classical music has historically been less prominent than other art forms, where only two public universities offer instrumental training at undergraduate levels, and where public cultural funds give little attention to today’s young generation of Bolivian instrumentalists.

During the same visit to Cochabamba, I took part in another grassroots event that created an unusual musical space, the kind that formal institutions can’t pull off. This was a festival of four-hand piano music run by Aleyda Alvarez, a piano teacher at Cochabamba’s arts high school, and funded through registration fees from students attending masterclasses and lectures by creative actors on the Bolivian musical scene. More than 60 piano duets (130 piano students) participated, filling the concert venues with families and friends of the young pianists. The fact that many families made big efforts to support their children shows the rising community demand for more numerous and diverse opportunities for music learning.

In Bolivia, few would question the rising popularity and necessity of the new self-managed orchestras. There will be many other creative, adventurous projects to come. Hopefully, these endeavors also represent a leap towards a fully professional level of high-caliber instrumental playing and remunerative salaries.

Our historical difficulties with socio-political instability and unequal access to opportunities don’t mean that we cannot dream of, and aspire to, richer artistic lives. It is our young people who are taking concrete actions to realize such aspirations, and we should celebrate them! They are our best hope for a top-notch, inclusive, vibrant musical community.

Beethoven Piano Concertos, Bolivia Grassroots Arts, Bolivian Arts High School, Bolivian Instrumentalists, Bolivian Music Education, Classical Music Accessibility, Classical Music Revival, Cochabamba Arts Scene, Cochabamba Classical Music, Community Music Initiatives, Creative Music Projects Bolivia, Cultural Infrastructure Challenges, Emerging Musicians, Four-Hand Piano Festival, Inclusive Music Education, Local Concert Venues, Local Cultural Growth, Music for Social Change, Musical Self-Advocacy, November 2024, Rising Music Audiences Bolivia, Self-Managed Ensembles, Sergio Escalera, Student-Led Music Projects, Youth Orchestra Bolivia, Youth-Led Artistic Movements

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