"Composer and Community"
An Inter-Disciplinary Colloquium
Excommunicated community:
Where did all the composers go?
Ricardo Lorenz
Visiting Associate Director
Latin American Music Center
Indiana University
Associate Professor of Music and Humanities (On Leave)
City Colleges of Chicago
Abstract:
Towards the middle of the 20th century, Latin America was on its way to becoming a major player in the concert music scene. A generation of composers from the continent had already achieved international status and Inter- American initiatives during the 1950s and 1960s were granting visibility to up and coming ones. Everything seemed to be in place for the arrival of an era in which Latin American composers would play a significant role in the international music community. Today however, half a century later, Latin American concert music shines for its absence from concert programs around the world. What went wrong?
A diagnosis of the current state of the continentís concert music uncovers a great disparity between this musicís abundance and quality and its scarce presence on world stages. I argue that this disparity is a result of the way Western music has been conceptualized and mapped out and how poorly Latin America fairs within the boundaries of this conceptualization. The paradigmatic style in which Latin American art music is interpreted and represented leads to shortsighted concert programming and, ultimately, to this repertoireís exclusion from the musical canon. This talk considers not only the disadvantages but also the advantages of this predicament and it ponders over alternative world communities where Latin American composers could feel welcomed.
Please email questions or consultations
to |