La Jornada: Rodrigo Sámano will make his debut as an orchestra conductor

He was about 15 years old when his life was marked forever. His father played him a recording of the song for the first time. Eighth Symphony by Gustav Mahler and at that moment his destiny was revealed to him: he would be a musician.

Today, just over three decades later, Rodrigo Sámano will make his debut in Mexico as an orchestra conductor after studying cello and that specialty in Europe, and for 11 years living in Vienna, Austria, where he has built an outstanding career: finalist in international competitions, for example the Herbert von Karajan (Salzburg), and winner of the Audience Prize at the Rotterdam Competition.

This first presentation will be as guest conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (OSN) to celebrate Children’s Day on the stage that he himself dreamed of in his childhood and to which his parents took him so many times at that stage: the Palace of Fine Arts.

The program, titled Concert for childhoodwill take place this Sunday at two times: 12:15 and 1:15 p.m., with free entry, although space is limited. The celebration, however, will start today with an open rehearsal in the same venue, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., offering families an opportunity to get closer to the orchestral work.

The group prepared a repertoire designed for the little ones: the Slavic dancede Antonín Dvorák; Peter and the wolfby Sergei Prokofiev – with a projection of an animated film “synchronized to the millimeter” – and the Thunder and lightning polka, by Johann Strauss II. Actress Ana Karen Peraza, from the National Theater Company, will participate as narrator and host of the session.

“For me this occasion is very important, because 25 years ago I was one of those children who will now come to Bellas Artes. Offering quality music to those who perhaps do not have regular access to it is equal or more important than any other concert,” says Sámano.

In an interview, he explains that the Slavic dance and polka “were chosen for their catchy melodies and orchestral effects,” accessible to an audience full of children. About Peter and the wolf remember that it is one of the classics of the symphonic repertoire for children and highlights the technical challenge that will be involved in performing it on this occasion.

This, he clarifies, because it will be accompanied by the projection of a short film, which requires synchronization between images and sound. “The field of interpretative freedom for the orchestra is very limited. We have to follow to the letter what the film dictates. That is what makes it so interesting now,” he says.

Far from being a solemn event, says the director and cellist, the program is committed to joy and closeness with an audience that perhaps does not usually set foot in a concert hall. “Music can mark and change life from very early on,” he says, convinced that childhood is the right time to sow artistic emotion.

And he adds: “There is nothing that is not related to music. All experiences shape us as human beings. Knowing more about it helps to understand it better, but that does not mean that someone who has no idea can be moved at a concert. That is the universal part of music.”

Presentation with the National Opera Company

Born in Mexico City in 1994 into a family of singers – his mother is a mezzo-soprano and his father is the baritone Óscar Sámano –, Rodrigo Sámano will take his debut in Mexico even further, as he will also take advantage of this visit to perform for the first time in the country at the head of an opera production.

He will be the coordinating director of Wertherby Jules Massenet, the next title that the National Opera Company will present at the Palacio de Bellas Artes at the end of May and beginning of June, with the participation in the leading role of the renowned Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas.

“It is a great pleasure and a great honor” to have these two opportunities in my country, says Sámano, who assures that, although music has always been present at home, it was never an imposition from his parents.

“I listened to it from a very young age and we went to concerts and operas a lot; I never took it seriously, until that moment when I heard the recording of the Eighth Symphony of Mahler that my dad put on. Something moved in me: it was so shocking that I didn’t know what was happening. At that moment I decided to study music,” concludes the musician, who is convinced that a similar experience can happen to countless children, it’s just about giving them the opportunity.