Conductor Diego Barbosa-Vasquez gives a heart-felt performance of Tchaikovsky’s No. 5 in recital for his master’s degree
As Diego Barbosa-Vasquez stepped onto the stage in Munson Chapel last Wednesday evening to perform his final recital, he was the picture of composure. Strains of music filled the chapel in first minor, then hopeful swells as Barbosa-Vasquez began to conduct the APU Symphony Orchestra in his rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. His energy mounted as he led the orchestra to a crescendo, the horns heralding a triumphant conclusion. Barbosa-Vasquez received a standing ovation that night; his presence and precision on stage never once betrayed the fact that he had only practiced with the orchestra a handful of times.
Born in Colombia, Barbosa-Vasquez is a candidate for the Master’s of Music degree in conducting, and the recital is part of the fulfilment of his degree. He was set to graduate in the Fall 2018 semester, but decided to move his graduation date to Spring 2018. Barbosa-Vasquez started studying this Tchaikovsky piece only two months ago. Christopher Russell, Chief Conductor of the APU Orchestra, selected the composition for Barbosa-Vasquez, and they had only a few rehearsals with the orchestra.
“The time was the biggest challenge for me. A professional orchestra would normally go over this piece five or seven times. For professionals, it’s difficult to perform in that amount of time, but for a student orchestra, it’s especially difficult,” Barbosa-Vasquez said. “Having never played this piece before, they had to start from scratch, and then on top of that, they had to learn how I wanted to interpret the piece. This orchestra had only about three practices.”
Junior music performance major Cristopher Aguilar, who plays the french horn in the APU Orchestra, said that though the practices were few, a good musician prepares his whole life for pieces like this, practicing little by little each day.
“I think the performance today really speaks for itself, but we all pour ourselves into the music, and the best thing you can have is a composer who is dedicated and creates a passionate environment for his orchestra and audience,” Aguilar said. “This recital has stretched [the orchestra], but gives us a chance to grow as musicians.”
In an article for The New Yorker in 2012, staff writer David Denby wrote about the “10 Perfect Orchestral Recordings.”
“I don’t know that perfection is of the greatest importance in music-making,” Denby said in the article. “Spirit, power, phrasing, tempo, expressiveness—all these things matter more than note-perfect execution.”
Barbosa-Vasquez did his best to incorporate these elements to the piece during his recital.
“Conductors try to show with our body, arms and face, with our corporeal body language,” Barbosa-Vasquez said. “I guess that the music makes me passionate, whatever it is. More than a [the notes on a page] is the music inside of me, and I feel the music very deeply. When I study the music, more than the notes and the things that are there, I try to really feel what the music is telling me.”
In Barbosa-Vasquez’s performance, the dramatic nature of Tchaikovsky’s No. 5 was punctuated by drawing out the more sinister melodies before things took a serendipitous turn. His expressiveness corresponded with the spirit of the symphony as he bowed his head during the somber moments and rose to the top of his toes as the music crescendoed.
“As Colombians, we are very passionate people. We don’t feel [the music should be played the same way every time]. Every performance needs to be different in the energy,” Barbosa-Vazquez said. “Tchaikovsky’s performance is very passionate, has a very strong energy, and my goal was to be precise in the details as well as dramatic and passionate.”
Audience member Danelle Woodman, a junior English major, recognized the energy and the Latin influence in Barbosa-Vasquez’s performance.
“I really enjoyed the different style he brought to the performance,” Woodman said. “What really brought it home for me was him bringing his energy and culture to the classical piece.”