Alondra de la Parra: Revolutionary
by Bianca Jones • Aug 11th, 2007 • Category: Features
“We were taking so many risks,” recalls Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra on creating the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas. “There was something in the air that really wanted this to happen.” That something led to Alondra becoming the first woman from Mexico to conduct in New York City…And she’s only twenty-six years old.
Growing up singing alongside her brother (Mexican pop singer Manelick de la Parra) Alondra’s connection to music was made at an early age. “I was always making music.” In school, she had a rock band, played the cello and started learning classical piano. After traveling to England to continue her studies, she began conducting a bit and realized she was pretty good at it. She then returned to Mexico, studied composition and decided to leave traditional school to be home schooled “because I knew I wanted to go right into music,” she states. “That was the right decision.”
New York was the next step in her conducting and piano education where she was awarded the Presser Scholarship at The Manhattan School of Music, completing her BM in Piano Performance. But being a conductor was still her dream. “Since I was very little I had the curiosity for conducting; the connection with the musicians that creates the sound that goes out into the audience.” Following her passion, she attended the Conductor’s Retreat in Maine and was chosen as one of seven participants in the Kurt Masur Conducting Seminar in 2004 and in 2006. Her secret? “Always be learning. Always be growing.”
It was in 2004 that Alondra took a leap of faith and formed an orchestral miracle, inspired by the fact that Latin symphonic music is hardly ever heard in the United States. “I was amazed of how little that music was played in New York and around the world and how much talent there is that’s never shown or showcased,” says Alondra. “Also, I realized it was really hard for any young musician from any Latin American country to have an opportunity to come here and perform and have a career in concert music.”
Forming a young, talented and fresh orchestra was the beginning of a one concert goal. “When I realized how well it was going then, my teacher told me ‘you must be crazy to think that is a one time thing.’” Armed with confidence, she gathered all of her friends who worked diligently in her living room designing flyers, posters, you name it and what started out as just one concert turned into the burgeoning Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas led by their revolutionary conductor Alondra.
To see Alondra do her thing, check out upcoming Orchestra concerts at poamericas.org.
Bianca Jones is an ongoing contributor to vidagirl and a West Coast girl hailing from San Francisco. She constantly changes her hairstyle (as often as is humanly possible) and is currently having a love affair with pop music.
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Interesting article. She is obviously a talented musician. I wonder what her opinion is on the more popular forms of Latin Music like Salsa, Mambo, Charanga and such. As a lover of music I imagine she must enjoy them very much.