Carlos Miguel Prieto emphasizes the role of music in bridging cultures

The Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto, music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería of Mexico and of the North Carolina Symphony, has built a career marked by dialogue between repertoires, cultures and musical traditions. His work has been distinguished by a solid interpretation of the great works of the European repertoire in parallel with a constant exploration of the Latin American repertoire, and in particular, by a deep conviction about the role of music as a bridge between societies.

That vision will be reflected in the program that Prieto will conduct on March 30, with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago at Symphony Center, featuring works by Carlos Chávez, Michael Abels and Aaron Copland. This program also will be performed on March 29 at Wentz Concert Hall in Naperville.

When discussing the meaning of this program, Prieto explains that the central idea of the concert revolves precisely around the cultural relationship between Mexico and the United States, a relationship that finds a particularly clear expression in the figures of Carlos Chávez and Aaron Copland. “For me, the relationship between the countries has always been something very moving and, in fact, the program with the Civic Orchestra is precisely centered on that,” said Prieto.

Chávez and Copland were not only two of the most influential composers of their respective countries in the 20th century, Prieto explains, but also close collaborators and friends who actively contributed to the development of music in both cultural contexts. “Carlos Chávez and Copland were, in addition to great friends, important collaborators and did a great deal for the music of each country,” Prieto said.

That relationship had direct consequences in the creation of some fundamental works. Prieto notes that Copland’s Third Symphony, one of the most important compositions by the American composer and which he will conduct on March 29-30 with the Civic , began to be written in Mexico. “Copland’s Third Symphony began to be composed in Tepoztlán,, in the house of Carlos Chávez,” said Prieto.

The exchange was reciprocal. Chávez’s Sinfonía India, one of the most emblematic works of the Mexican composer and which Prieto also will conduct with the Civic Orchestra, had its premiere in New York, thanks to the initiative of Copland himself. “The Sinfonía India was premiered in New York and was premiered at the urging of Copland,” Prieto said.

For the Mexican conductor, this type of artistic collaboration reveals something fundamental about the relationship between both countries. In his view, culture represents one of the most enduring links between societies. “Sometimes a lot of importance is given to things that have to do with the economy or politics, but culture is actually what endures the most,” Prieto said.

In that sense, Prieto emphasizes that the music of composers such as Copland, Chávez, José Pablo Moncayo, or Silvestre Revueltas continues to resonate in the present, regardless of the political context in which it was created. “The music of Copland or the music of Chávez is music that still sounds important to us today,” Prieto said.

The conductor also notes that the cultural relationship between Mexico and the United States is manifested in a particularly visible way in cities such as Chicago, where there is a very significant Mexican population. That reality, he explains, makes presenting this repertoire in this city especially relevant. “We are going to play in a city that is also said to be Mexican,” Prieto said.

This program also offers a special opportunity for the musicians of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, an ensemble made up of high-level young instrumentalists in the early stage of their professional careers. The concert, Prieto notes, allows these musicians to experience firsthand the deep artistic interrelation between Chávez and Copland.

The relationship between musical nationalism in Mexico and in the United States had parallel historical developments, although with temporal differences. “The nationalist current in American music follows the one that already existed in Mexico a decade earlier,” Prieto said.

As he explains, while Copland’s music reaches its most representative period from the late 1930s and in the 1940s, Mexican musical nationalism had already found a powerful expression since, at least, the early 1930s through composers such as Chávez and Revueltas. “Copland’s music is basically centered in the ’40s onward, while that of Chávez and Revueltas is in the ’30s,” Prieto said. In that context, Copland’s Third Symphony was premiered in 1946, while Chávez’s Sinfonía India did so in 1936.

Prieto also cited impact that Copland’s first trip to Mexico had in the early 1930s. During that visit, the American composer encountered a cultural richness that left a deep impression on his artistic thinking. “Copland is impressed by the richness that he finds in Mexico City, artistic richness, in its museums, in its buildings and also in its pre-Columbian buildings,” said Prieto.

In addition to the historical context of the program, Prieto reflects on what he hopes to transmit to the young musicians of the Civic Orchestra. Prieto recalls that he already worked with this ensemble recently, when they performed Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony.

On this occasion, the March 29-30 program arose in part from his own artistic proposal. When asked what work he would like to conduct, Prieto thought about the symbolic importance of Copland’s Third Symphony within American musical history. “For me, Copland’s Symphony No. 3 is the great American symphony,” Prieto said.

The program opens with Chávez’s Sinfonía India, a shorter piece but equally significant within the repertoire of the Mexican composer. In addition, the conductor notes that this work will feature a special element: “The Sinfonía India is going to be performed with instruments from my collection, which are very interesting instruments, pre-Columbian,” he said.

As he explains, these pre-Columbian instruments contribute a particular color and sonority that “give a special color and a special sound to that piece.” 

Between both works, Delights & Dances, by the American composer Michael Abels, will be performed, a contemporary piece with accents of jazz, bluegrass and Latin rhythms, functioning as a bridge between the musical visions of Chávez and Copland.

And so, the Civic program is a meeting between generations, expressions and countries in which the music performed is an example of the depth of the cultural ties that have united Mexico and the United States for decades.