Interview with conductor and composer Juan Trigos.

Fans of contemporary classical music in Orlando last saw Juan Trigos in town in 2012, conducting the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Guanajuato (OSUG), hosted by Accidental Music Festival. The Mexican-American composer and conductor was born in Mexico City and now lives in Miami. His search for a personal musical language led him to a concept he calls Abstract Folklore — a process in which he abstracts and assimilates various literary and vernacular musical traditions into a modern compositional rhetoric. Applying this concept, Trigos has composed music for ballet, opera, cantata and chamber, among other genres. He received the 2020 Fromm Commission of the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University.

In this Interview, Esteban Meneses catches up with Trigos, ahead of Alterity.co’s Divergent Pulsations concert on September 17. The program includes his Suite for Ensemble, which was commissioned by the Cantus Ensemble, from Zagreb (Croatia), and premieres in 2020. Alterity.co will present the United States premiere. Following are highlights from the conversation:

What are some of the highlights of your career since we last saw you perform in Orlando, some 10 years ago?

I’ve had several activities as a composer and as a conductor. After being principal conductor of OSUG, I was principal conductor of the Oaxaca Symphony and formed two chamber groups: one again in Guanajuato called Sinfonietta MIQ, and The Last Hundred Ensemble in Miami, which is where I live. Except during the pandemic, I have also conducted several groups and orchestras as a guest conductor, such as Nodus Ensemble, Bent Frequency Ensemble (U.S.), Icarus Ensemble (Italy), Nuevo León Symphony Orchestra OSUANL, State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico OSEM (Mexico), Sergipe Symphony (Brazil), and Heredia Symphony (Costa Rica), among others.

As a composer, I wrote several works and had several premieres, performances, and recordings. Among the most notable is my Symphony No. 3, Offering to the Dead, which was commissioned and premiered by the Houston Symphony; Cantata Concertante No. 3 Phos Hiron (premiere and recording); Clarinet Concerto (premiere and recording); Symphony No. 4 Nezahuacóyotl Icuicahuan (premiere and recording); Conversiones, for clarinet and piano (commissioned, premiered, and recorded by Vincent Dominguez); Ricercare VII, for guitar and percussion (commissioned, premiered and recorded by Duo Hennings-Vaillancourt); El Divino Narciso, Auto Sacramental in two acts (premiered by Opera Offenbach and Opera Cinema), to name a few.

The program for the upcoming concert with Alterity.co is based on pulsation. Can you explain? How does the notion of pulsation show in these four pieces?

“Pulsation” has always been of great interest to me. In my opinion, each work proposes a different sound and pulsation concept. Two of them are related to dance: Dance Mobile, by Augusta Read Thomas, and my Suite. In the case of the first one, which is a ballet, the perennial pulsation that runs at a fast metronome of 1⁄4 = 144, is very evident. This is interrupted by moments of immobility in the orchestra, indicated by the slower metronome changes. My work (Suite) alludes to the ancient form, which is made up of a set of different dances, in this case, abstract ones.

In Rodríguez’s Double Concerto for flute and guitar, the powerful dance rhythms (even if it is not a ballet, properly speaking) are inherited from Caribbean folklore, especially in the second movement. In addition to the virtuosic writing for the soloists, the use of piano and percussion stands out in the orchestration. In Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum, Harrison Birtwistle (1934 – 2022) makes a cluster with mechanisms on top of rhythms and instrumental interlockings that generate complex gears and therefore a mechanical but asymmetrical pulsation. It gives the impression of a large piece of machinery that moves quickly but sounds rusty and uneven.

Your work develops the concept of “abstract folklore,” which features in your Suite’s references to Spanish and Italian music. What are some of the musical traditions that you’re abstracting into this particular composition? And in general, how does the piece fit in your body of work?

In each movement of the Suite, I make references, with an oneiric touch, to the Spanish “Cante Jondo,” the old “Tiento,” and to the classic ostinato, but with constant metric modulations. I also refer to the Passacaglia, using a very simple sequence as the basis; to a Carillon that is heard in the distance, which suddenly approaches, creating a shock; and finally, a tribute to Franco Donatoni. This is not the first work where I use material from him; I also did it in the second movement of my Sinfonia Breve No. 2 (“Brief Symphony”), titled Scherzo Donatoni. It is worth mentioning that this adds to a series of homages that I have composed in honor of composers for whom I feel great admiration. The other two movements of my Sinfonia Breve No. 2 pay homage to Bartok (Mov. I; Allegretto Bartok) and to Poulenc (Mov. III; Poulenc alla breve). The same thing happens with my Brief Symphony No. 1, where the tributes are to Carlos Chávez (mov. I and II) and to Heitor Villalobos (Mov. III).

Speaking of Franco Donatoni, whom you tip your hat to in the Suite, what are some of the things you particularly appreciate about him, as a composer and as friend?

He was an absolutely generous and magnanimous person and teacher — I would say splendid. He never held anything back; he filled me with his knowledge and great creativity, a gift that cannot be repaid but I can always be grateful for. I would say that, among other things, I owe him my taste for writing and the internal musical structure.

As a composer-conductor, what are some of the things that you look for as signs of an artistically satisfying performance?

As a conductor, the first and most important thing I seek is the understanding and assimilation (as much as possible) of the scores I conduct, through hard study and reflection. This process requires a lot of time. The next step is to communicate to the performers the artistic ideas and vision that emerge from this process, and to work side by side in rehearsal (and with each performer individually), to be able to capture that vision. Finally, experiences and emotions are shared with the audience during the live concert.

To conduct my works, what I do is treat them exactly the same as any other. I study them as if they weren't mine and while rehearsing them with the orchestra, I work on them according to difficulty, duration, or whatever each one needs specifically. I avoid as much as possible to act with apprehension toward them. I don't mean by that that I treat them coldly — quite the contrary: By facing them with the same dedication and discipline as the others, the result is much better and more effective, artistically speaking.

Timucua Arts Foundation Presents

Alterity Chamber Orchestra: Divergent Pulsations Saturday, September 17, 2022 | 8 p.m.

Harriett’s Orlando Ballet Centre

PROGRAM

• Dance Mobile, by Augusta Read Thomas (U.S.)

• Suite for Ensemble, by Juan Trigos (Mexico/ U.S.)*

• Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum, Harrison Birtwistle (U.K.)

• Double Concerto for Flute and Guitar, by Alberto Rodríguez Ortiz (Puerto Rico)**

*U.S. premiere **World premiere

FEATURING

• Juan Trigos, conductor

• Eladio Scharrón, guitar

• Carrie Wiesinger, flute

Half-price tickets are available for students, teachers, frontline workers, veterans, and seniors. Harriett’s Orlando Ballet Centre is located at 600 N Lake Formosa Dr., Orlando, FL 32803

To get your tickets, please click here.

To learn more about Timucua Arts Foundation, and become a member, please visit timucua.com.