Mexico D.F. A great city enriched by professional thereminist.
April 21, 2007
Mexico City, one of the great cities of this planet, is even more fabulous with professional thereminist Ernesto Mendoza living and working there. Born in the Mexico City, he studied in the Escuela Libre de Musica and in the National School of Music, beginning his musical career as a bassist. At the moment Mr. Mendoza is the only known professional thereminist in Mexico and recently returned to his home town to establish his studio which is regularly used for internet radio programs as well as his musical productions.
http://www.ernestomendoza.com.mx
For the month of April Mr. Mendoza has been presenting a series of educational concerts at the Museo Tecnologico de la CFE (MUTEC), Interactive Technology Museum, tucked away in the lush Chapultepec Park. Or perhaps I should say concerts which are also educational, because the music never took a back seat to the explanations. I'm very happy I was able to catch one of them.
MUTEC seems to be primarily educational and youth oriented and is equipped with modern facilities having been expanded in 2000. The exterior grounds are spotted with aged models of power plants and actual aircrafts. This delighted me even though other, more mature grown ups, might not always share my enthusiasm. Even with the tempting planetarium this is all of the museum I saw since getting to the theremin performance was the overriding goal. Though I must admit the Mad Science presentation looked like good messy fun.
http://www.cfe.gob.mx/mutec/elmuseo
This is a great setting for "therevangalism" given the electronic principles of our instrument and it's important place in technological and musical history. And it's free on Saturdays.
Performing in the comfortable and large (at least by Alternative New York City and NYTS standards; my guess is it's got c. 300+ plush seats) auditorium of MUTEC, Mr. Mendoza utilized it's modern features to include background projections during the concert. Starting off with a video introduction to the theremin, great idea by the way which allows him to get to playing music as soon as he enters, and continuing with cross fading images and videos designed for each piece created a lovely visual ambience.
Sound quality was high and since it is an intimate house, intended for lectures, the balance of theremin and accompaniment tracks was good with no noticeable latency despite the play back monitors being in front of the stage and performer with the theremin speaker upstage center.
The program included classical works by Debussy, Bach, Morricone and Faure, popular standards from North America, as well as traditional boleros and popular pieces of Latin America. It had something for everyone in attendance and still kept a sense of balance and flow between diverse works.
Children made up at least half of the audience. Anyone who's done performances for grade schoolers can tell you they can be a tough crowd, especially for the classical arts. The background animations may have helped some but it was Mr. Mendoza who held their attention so well and his kindness and patience was evident through out and especially during the question and answer portion. He thankfully corrected the on-going confusion with "Good Vibrations" and the Tannerin, which caused a technical journalist in the audience to promise to print a correction to one of her recent articles about the theremin.
Anyone who still believes quick discreet passages are not possible when playing the aether should have heard this performance of La Bikina by Rubén Fuentes. It's not an easy piece and is often reduced to "muzak" even by conventional instrumentalists. This rendition had a brisk pace and was filled with musical passion and brought out the wit of the composer. One of my favorite Latin standards Besame Mucho by Mexican composer Consuelo Velazquez, with which Trio los Panchos first won my heart years ago, was played with such delicate and tender phrasing I felt transported back to the romantic gilded age of Mexico's musical clubs.
Consummate musicianship and good taste along with a little wit were paramount during the entire hour. On any solo instrument this would have been a most satisfying experience, on the theremin it was magical. Having someone who can do it well play music for you live is one of the most important events in human culture plus knowing how difficult some of the pieces are simply made me giddy with joy when I saw them played so free of conscious effort.
Outreach! For this month Ernesto Mendoza was playing the role of "Johnny Apple Seed" as well as "Maestro de Theremin" and has planted many aetheric seeds in a lot of minds young and old. Incredible as it may sound I believe the theremin is even less known in Latin America than it is here in the North and in Europe. Even the smallest percent of interest kindled in his audience members will contribute to forming the foundation of an appreciative audience for aether music in Mexico.
Like most of us Mr. Mendoza has had to teach himself and his playing technique utilizes the principals of Rockmore's aerial fingering fused with his own physical approach to the instrument. Theremin's are very difficult to acquire there and as of writing no Moog theremin distribution channels were found in Mexico. Having two Standard Etherwaves in his studio equips him for teaching but difficult hurtles remain for curious musicians and aspiring thereminsts simply in acquiring professional level instruments. Ernesto Mendoza is passionate and driven to expand the place of the theremin in his country. We should encourage Moog Inc. to pursue Spanish speaking markets and to endorse active artists like Mendoza who are presenting Bob Moog's theremins seriously to wide audiences.
Mexico was once described as the only true surrealist country. I can think of no better new ground for the theremin to blossom in and I continue to feel grateful Ernesto has devoted himself to making it happen in that magical land.
April 21, 2007
Mexico City, one of the great cities of this planet, is even more fabulous with professional thereminist Ernesto Mendoza living and working there. Born in the Mexico City, he studied in the Escuela Libre de Musica and in the National School of Music, beginning his musical career as a bassist. At the moment Mr. Mendoza is the only known professional thereminist in Mexico and recently returned to his home town to establish his studio which is regularly used for internet radio programs as well as his musical productions.
http://www.ernestomendoza.com.mx
For the month of April Mr. Mendoza has been presenting a series of educational concerts at the Museo Tecnologico de la CFE (MUTEC), Interactive Technology Museum, tucked away in the lush Chapultepec Park. Or perhaps I should say concerts which are also educational, because the music never took a back seat to the explanations. I'm very happy I was able to catch one of them.
MUTEC seems to be primarily educational and youth oriented and is equipped with modern facilities having been expanded in 2000. The exterior grounds are spotted with aged models of power plants and actual aircrafts. This delighted me even though other, more mature grown ups, might not always share my enthusiasm. Even with the tempting planetarium this is all of the museum I saw since getting to the theremin performance was the overriding goal. Though I must admit the Mad Science presentation looked like good messy fun.
http://www.cfe.gob.mx/mutec/elmuseo
This is a great setting for "therevangalism" given the electronic principles of our instrument and it's important place in technological and musical history. And it's free on Saturdays.
Performing in the comfortable and large (at least by Alternative New York City and NYTS standards; my guess is it's got c. 300+ plush seats) auditorium of MUTEC, Mr. Mendoza utilized it's modern features to include background projections during the concert. Starting off with a video introduction to the theremin, great idea by the way which allows him to get to playing music as soon as he enters, and continuing with cross fading images and videos designed for each piece created a lovely visual ambience.
Sound quality was high and since it is an intimate house, intended for lectures, the balance of theremin and accompaniment tracks was good with no noticeable latency despite the play back monitors being in front of the stage and performer with the theremin speaker upstage center.
The program included classical works by Debussy, Bach, Morricone and Faure, popular standards from North America, as well as traditional boleros and popular pieces of Latin America. It had something for everyone in attendance and still kept a sense of balance and flow between diverse works.
Children made up at least half of the audience. Anyone who's done performances for grade schoolers can tell you they can be a tough crowd, especially for the classical arts. The background animations may have helped some but it was Mr. Mendoza who held their attention so well and his kindness and patience was evident through out and especially during the question and answer portion. He thankfully corrected the on-going confusion with "Good Vibrations" and the Tannerin, which caused a technical journalist in the audience to promise to print a correction to one of her recent articles about the theremin.
Anyone who still believes quick discreet passages are not possible when playing the aether should have heard this performance of La Bikina by Rubén Fuentes. It's not an easy piece and is often reduced to "muzak" even by conventional instrumentalists. This rendition had a brisk pace and was filled with musical passion and brought out the wit of the composer. One of my favorite Latin standards Besame Mucho by Mexican composer Consuelo Velazquez, with which Trio los Panchos first won my heart years ago, was played with such delicate and tender phrasing I felt transported back to the romantic gilded age of Mexico's musical clubs.
Consummate musicianship and good taste along with a little wit were paramount during the entire hour. On any solo instrument this would have been a most satisfying experience, on the theremin it was magical. Having someone who can do it well play music for you live is one of the most important events in human culture plus knowing how difficult some of the pieces are simply made me giddy with joy when I saw them played so free of conscious effort.
Outreach! For this month Ernesto Mendoza was playing the role of "Johnny Apple Seed" as well as "Maestro de Theremin" and has planted many aetheric seeds in a lot of minds young and old. Incredible as it may sound I believe the theremin is even less known in Latin America than it is here in the North and in Europe. Even the smallest percent of interest kindled in his audience members will contribute to forming the foundation of an appreciative audience for aether music in Mexico.
Like most of us Mr. Mendoza has had to teach himself and his playing technique utilizes the principals of Rockmore's aerial fingering fused with his own physical approach to the instrument. Theremin's are very difficult to acquire there and as of writing no Moog theremin distribution channels were found in Mexico. Having two Standard Etherwaves in his studio equips him for teaching but difficult hurtles remain for curious musicians and aspiring thereminsts simply in acquiring professional level instruments. Ernesto Mendoza is passionate and driven to expand the place of the theremin in his country. We should encourage Moog Inc. to pursue Spanish speaking markets and to endorse active artists like Mendoza who are presenting Bob Moog's theremins seriously to wide audiences.
Mexico was once described as the only true surrealist country. I can think of no better new ground for the theremin to blossom in and I continue to feel grateful Ernesto has devoted himself to making it happen in that magical land.
