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Em Português

Por Gabriella Ibarra

Mientras el mundo enfrentaba los embates de la pandemia, las artes buscaban también cómo sobrevivir, cómo expresarse... cómo conectarse. La música no fue la excepción y también sigue experimentando este fenómeno de búsqueda incesante por conectarnos a pesar de estar aislados. Fue así como entonces las distancias se acortaron más que nunca y en todas las latitudes, las voluntades alrededor del mundo se unieron para crear lo que jamás pudiéramos haber imaginado.

Desde Brasil, dos cornistas de la OSPA -Israel Oliveira y Nadabé Tomás (compañeros de fila)- sintieron la inquietud de hacerle frente a los estragos que estaba causando el Covid19 en los colegas y alumnos y que también afectaba la cotidianidad de sus labores docentes. Ellos estaban decididos contra todo pronóstico a mantener las actividades con sus alumnos, así fuera de manera virtual. De manera casi inmediata, esta idea creció y en menos de un mes, tomó forma gracias a las sugerencias y colaboraciones de otros profesores brasileños que se sumaron al proyecto como fue el caso de Marcelo Das Virgens, Radegundis Tavares y Evandro Neves.  La existencia de una comunidad organizada y muy entusiasta con unas ganas inmensas de compartir y de conocer, ya era una realidad. Rápidamente el trabajo se intensificó y diversificó con las 6 reuniones semanales incluyendo todas las actividades en nuestras redes sociales. Para poder cumplir a cabalidad todas las tareas era necesario ampliar el equipo organizado por lo que entonces pasaron a tomar responsabilidades en el trabajo Gabriella Ibarra, Verónica Guardia, Gleice Viana y Paula Guimaraes.

¿Quién imaginaría que las reuniones virtuales pudieran sentirse tan reales? tan humanas? tan cálidas? Cada entrevista ha estado llena de emociones y aprendizajes a través de cada relato, de cada experiencia e historia de vida -que en muchos casos han sido sorprendentemente aleccionadoras!-... Muchos momentos nos han tocado el alma pero sobretodo es admirable ser testigo de cómo cada invitado ha demostrado su pasión genuina por la música y por el instrumento!

La alegría colorida y singular que nos identifica también la hemos podido imprimir cálidamente en cada encuentro, por lo que de algún modo, podemos decir que nos sentimos en casa y eso ha sido una imagen grata que la mayoría de nuestros invitados se han llevado en sus memorias. La espontaneidad y ocurrencias también han sido parte de la “chispa” que mantiene nuestro ambiente cornístico con aire latino sin importar las barreras del idioma! para una muestra de ello ha sido la rápida adaptación de la audiencia con el “portunhol”.

Desde el inicio contamos con la participación de diversos invitados, todos dignos representantes de nuestro amado instrumento en Alemania, Italia, Portugal, España, Estados Unidos, México, Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Venezuela, Uruguay, Perú… solistas, jazzistas, ensambles, pedagogos, artistas online…todos -sin excepción!- nos han honrado con su presencia y como muestra de agradecimiento nuestras puertas siempre estarán abiertas para apoyarles en sus proyectos! En Coronahorns compartimos ese mismo sentimiento de contribuir para nutrir y cohesionar a nuestra comunidad y eso nos impulsó a crear lo que fue el 1° Concurso Online Latinoamericano para cornistas Coronahorns y el Concurso Latinoamericano de Composición para Corno. En ambas propuestas obtuvimos resultados maravillosos y vale destacar que sin el apoyo esencial de nuestros patrocinantes y de los maestros que gentilmente sirvieron de jurados, todo esto no hubiera sido posible. De igual modo fuimos pioneros al propiciar la 1° Charla de Mujeres cornistas Latinoamericanas con casi un centenar de inscritas del Brasil, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Perú, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador,Paraguay, Panamá, Puerto Rico, España, USA y Canadá.

El alcance y el trabajo que Coronahorns  ha quedado expresado en las estadísticas alcanzadas en tan sólo 6 meses de existencia. Ahora, el sueño de conectarnos como una comunidad latinoamericana de cornistas finalmente se ve realizada en un proyecto que avanza con miras a seguir creciendo de manera consolidada y gracias al esfuerzo de todos! Celebramos con inmensa emoción y alegría todo lo acontecido y todo lo logrado con la certeza de continuar construyendo el camino para las futuras generaciones de cornistas latinos con nuestra transición a Latinoamericahorns!

by Gabriella Ibarra

While the world faced these hard times of the pandemic, the arts also were in the search to keep alive, to keep their expressions  ... to keep connected. Music was no the exception and it also continues experimenting this phenomenon of incessant search to connect despite being isolated. That is how distances were shortened more than ever and in all latitudes, wills around the world came together to create what we could never have imagined.

From Brazil, two horn players from OSPA -Israel Oliveira and Nadabé Tomás (horn section colleagues) - felt the necessity of dealing with the damage that Covid19 was causing on colleagues and students and which also had affected the daily routine of their teaching tasks. They were determined -against any obstacle- to keep their teaching activities with the students, even in a virtual mode. Almost immediately, this idea grew and in less than a month, it came true thanks to the suggestions and collaborations of other Brazilian teachers who joined the project, such as Marcelo Das Virgens, Radegundis Tavares and Evandro Neves. The existence of an organized and very enthusiastic community with an immense desire to share and to learn, was already a reality. Quickly, the work turned intensive and diversified with 6 meetings a week, including all the activities in our social networks. In order to successfully accomplish all the tasks, it was necessary to expand the team work with new members: Gabriella Ibarra, Verónica Guardia, Gleice Viana and Paula Guimaraes which took responsibility with the same devotion and commitment.

Who would imagine that virtual meetings could feel so real? so human? so warm? Each interview has been full of emotions and learnings through every talk, every experience and life story - which in many cases has been surprisingly meaningful! -... Many moments have touched our souls but most important of all it has been to witness how every guest has shown their genuine passion for music and for the instrument!

We have also been able to warmly print the colorful and unique joy that identifies us in each meeting, so in some way, we can say that we feel at home and that has been a pleasant image that most of our guests have taken in their memories. Spontaneity and occurrences have also been part of the "spark" that maintains our “horn atmosphere” with our Latin flavor regardless of language barriers! A clear example of this has been the quick adaptation of the audience with the “portunhol”.

From the beginning we have had the participation of many guests, all worthy representatives of our beloved instrument in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, United States, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Uruguay, Peru ... soloists, jazz players, ensembles, teachers, online artists ... all of them -without exception!- have honored us with their presence and to express our gratitude our doors will remain open to support you in your projects! At Coronahorns we share that feeling of contributing to nurture and unite our community and that motivated us to create what was the 1st Online Latin American Horn Contest Coronahorns and the Latin American Horn Composition Contest. In both proposals we obtained wonderful results and it is necessary to mention the essential and kind support of our sponsors and the teachers who were judges, without them this would not have been possible. In the same way, we were pioneers in promoting the 1st Latin American Horn Women Meeting with almost a hundred participants from Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Paraguay, Panama, Puerto Rico, Spain, USA and Canada.

The reaching and work that Coronahorns has been expressed in the statistics achieved in just 6 months of existence. Now, the dream of connecting as a Latin American Horn community is finally realized in a project that is moving forward with a vision to continue growing in a consolidated project thanks to the efforts of everybody! Today, we celebrate with huge emotion and joy what has been lived and what has been achieved with the certainty of continuing to build the path for future generations of Latinamerican horn players with our transition to Latinoamericahorns!

Amy Gilreath: First of all, thank you so much, Lydia, for asking us do this interview for the International Horn Society. It’s always a pleasure to share with others and make new friends.

Lydia van Dreel: How did you all meet, and how did you all decide to come together as a chamber group?

Amy: The other co-founder of Stiletto Brass, Velvet Brown  and I originally met at the 1993 International Women’s Brass Conference. Afterwards we, along with IWBC founder and retired Principal Trumpet of the St. Louis Symphony, Susan Slaughter,  performed together in another brass quintet called Velvet Brass for a few years. Years later we found ourselves, again, together for a weekend performance in the Monarch Brass Quintet and began talking about how much we loved playing chamber music and how we had missed performing together. Not surprisingly, we formed Stiletto Brass Quintet soon afterwards. Our current members are myself- Amy Gilreath and Susan Rider on trumpet, guest artist Rachel Hockenberry on horn, Natalie Mannix on trombone and Velvet Brown on tuba. These ladies are not only great musicians but also great human beings. It is a joy to perform with people with whom you connect both musically and personally. 

LVD: Given that you live all over the US, how do you get together to rehearse? How often do you rehearse?

Amy: Yes, this can be a challenge! We approach it in a few different ways. Sometimes we get together for a music retreat at someone’s home: reading new music for possible future pieces, rehearsing our chosen program and then afterwards cooking amazing dinners together. Oh and laughing A LOT!  Other times we get together a few days before a performance tour and rehearse then. When that happens, everyone has prepared their parts beforehand, listened to recordings and studied the scores. This is very important as we can then quickly move to discussing the musical aspects and making those musical decisions much sooner.

LVD: How do you plan performances? 

Amy: It usually begins with an invitation to perform at a venue. Then our tour is planned around that first invitation and that area of the US. One of the advantages of having a chamber group is the number of people we all know and can reach out to see if those in that particular area are able to schedule a performance by Stiletto Brass. 

LVD: How often do you perform?

Amy: We do two tours per year (fall and spring) and possibly one during summer. All members, except me as I have recently retired from full time university teaching, have full-time jobs so we keep tours between 7-10 days. Those tours are usually a mixture of Artist Series concerts, university concerts, and public/private K-12 schools.

LVD: How do you choose repertoire? Does your group have a particular focus or mission in terms of repertoire?

Amy:  We like to choose one large composition each tour year and build around that piece. Examples of those we have performed are Joan Tower’s Copperwave, Scarpe!  by Drew Bonnor commissioned by Stiletto Brass, Mosaics and Four Sketches by Anthony Plog. Another level to our repertoire choice is diversity: jazz, contemporary, slow and beautiful, transcriptions, and originals. As far as a repertoire mission goes, we really work on giving our audiences a wide variety of musical experiences.  Introducing audiences to contemporary music is important to us as well. Talking in depth to the audience about those types of pieces and explaining what is happening musically really opens most up to the idea of new music, and the result is many people comment to us after concerts that they actually enjoyed hearing a “new sounding” piece!

LVD: What kinds of audiences do you hope to reach?

Velvet Brown: Our target audience is simply everyone. We pride ourselves in presenting concerts in school settings with programs that engage students from K-12. Every year, we strive to have residencies within schools so that we are interacting with and teaching students. Additionally, we like to present community concerts, some as the featured guest artist group with symphony orchestras, audiences that are present at chamber music festivals, and collegiate residencies and concerts. We also have a strong record of performances at brass festivals.

LVD: How has your group’s purpose and function been affected by the pandemic? Have your goals shifted in any way recently because of the challenges of the pandemic? 

Velvet: Stiletto has been affected by the pandemic. Due to the nature of our performances, we have not been able to be active because of school closures and cancellations of concert series. We made a decision to wait until the pandemic is over. We all have significant on-line activities, and we thought to put Stiletto Brass on hold until Spring and Summer 2021 when everyone can be safe.

LVD: Have you found a way to remain in contact with your audience?

Amy:  We have been involved in two virtual brass seminars this fall. One was held in St. Petersburg Russia, The Brass Autumn Festival, and the other in Brazil called Sopra Metais. We will also have a new CD released soon entitled Scarpe !

LVD: You are all busy professional performers and teachers. How do you balance your workloads and your work with Stiletto Brass?

Velvet: Yes, we are all very busy performers and teachers. We feel that there is always time to perform and teach. It is our philosophy of giving back that is paramount. Sometimes schedules get very hectic, but we plan out big tours in advance. And also, since we are all performers and teachers, we know that our time together is limited due to how busy everyone is in their perspective positions. We all feel an excitement for each tour. It is a delight to perform and educate alongside the other Stiletto members. Simply put…Paramount music making, sustainable teaching and camaraderie.

Susan Rider: Since all of us live in different places geographically, we get together to perform when our schedules allow it. As you can imagine, it can sometimes be a little challenging to find times that will work for everyone to come together in one place. And because of that we aren't able to get together as much as we would like. But, since we all enjoy playing and teaching together so much, we make the effort to make it happen at least a couple of times a year. Of course, with the pandemic, we haven't been able to get together this year at all. There is something special about being a part of a chamber music ensemble, and I have loved being a member of the Stiletto Brass Quintet. I value that the mission of the group is equal musical performances and educational outreach. I feel these two things go hand in hand. It's great to be a part of a group that easily picks right up from where we left off the last time we were together--it speaks to the artistry of each of my colleagues.  Performing with these ladies has an effortless and joyous feeling, and beyond that, they are quality people and are great friends! 

Rachel Hockenberry: Organization is key! I live and die by my calendar. I make sure to write in dates of everything as soon as I get them (gigs, student recitals, etc) and plan my practice schedule accordingly. For Stiletto, we decide what music we’re performing for each gig well in advance, so there’s always plenty of time to prep the music beforehand. This allows us to be really productive during our limited rehearsal time. 

Natalie Mannix: Since we all come from different parts of the country, our work with the Stiletto Brass is condensed into a few very intense rehearsal days before we go on a performance tour or record. We work on our own time to make sure our parts are very prepared so we don’t waste valuable time when we do get together. We may only tour for a week or two, but we maximize that time by performing in many venues, sometimes two a day. So in answer to the question, I would say there is no balance when it is go time. It’s 24 hours Stiletto! But we love it, enjoy each other's company, and have a great time making music together! 

LVD: What does the future look like for Stiletto Brass?

Amy: I am very excited to announce that we have an upcoming CD release through CD Baby. Our cd is entitled SCARPE ! and features that title piece, which we commissioned from Drew Bonner. It also includes works by Lafosse, Ellington, Boyce and Renwick. With the world pandemic we, like all music groups, have not be able to get together to perform this year. I have truly missed my colleagues personally and professionally! Not surprisingly then, as soon as we get on the other side of this pandemic, we will immediately begin working on those live concert tours and educational outreach concerts that were put on hold.  We also will be starting some new commissions. We are anxious to get back together and begin making music again for our audiences!

Velvet: In Summer 2021, we plan to record a series of educational videos. Stiletto will also return to touring and school residencies that have been put on hold. Our tour areas will include the Northeast, West Coast and the Southern region of the United States.

LVD: What advice do you have for young brass players?

Amy:  Listening is so important to your development as a musician.  Find out who those great players are on your instrument and start there. You will find those professionals with whom you will connect and then listen to them as much as you can. For me, that connection on trumpet was Maurice André and Timofei Dockshitzer. Also, I recommend listening to amazing vocalists such as Franco Corelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Callas, and Leontyne Price. There you will learn phrasing of musical lines and colors of sound. Also, really learn to sing your music using full voice and then sing that music through your instrument when you play.

Susan: Advice for young brass players: If you love playing music, have fun, but if you want to be good at it, you certainly have to work hard. I think music is much more fun to play when we can play it as well as possible. Listen to top level musicians (not only of your own instrument), so you can develop your ideas of sound and musical concepts. Find the best musicians you can to play with, so you can learn, grow and develop from the experience of playing with them. I think it is important to understand that developing on our instrument and as a musician is a long game.

Rachel: Keep going! There is no set timeline for you to achieve your dreams- we all progress at different rates and have different life circumstances. Just keep working hard and loving music, and you will find your way. 

Natalie: Seek out the best instruction possible. Nothing can beat the instruction a great private lesson teacher can provide. Another great way to get ahead is to participate in summer camps and festivals. Summer is a great time for intense practice and study, while having a lot of fun with like-minded musicians. Lastly, do as much listening as you can! Go to concerts of all types, listen to YouTube videos of professionals playing in different styles and with different instruments. You can learn so much by modelling great performers.

Velvet: My advice to young brass players is to strive for excellence, be creative and have fun. I like to let them know that it does take a lot of focus and hard work, but the future is theirs to create. I always tell them that they are the future of music and to move brass playing and all ideas that involve brass playing to new heights with ideas and talent.

Stiletto Brass wishes everyone good health, safety and much happiness and love.

https://www.stilettobrass.com/home

Due to the continued effects of COVID-19 on the globe, IHS53 will be held online.

This provides the IHS with a unique opportunity, as virtual conferences have the ability to remove barriers of distance and nationality, especially ones created by travel/income challenges.

The theme of IHS53, therefore, will be Our ONE Horn Community, focusing on presentations and performances that emphasize and celebrate collaboration between horn players across the world.

From shared/collaborative lectures to performances by a collaboration of artists from across the globe, IHS53 will be dedicated to the unity that we all share as horn players, musicians, and human souls.

Proposal submission dates and other information will be available on the forthcoming IHS53 website.