Tito Munoz, assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra,
will guest conduct the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. Dec. 4 and 5 at
Music Hall. Guest artist is pianist
Ingrid Fliter in Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1.
Munoz will lead the CSO in Copland's "El Salon Mexico" and "Enigma
Variations" by Edward Elgar. For tickets, call (513) 381-3300 or order online at www.cincinnatisymphony.org. Munoz was assistant conductor of the CSO during the 2006-07
season.
The following article appeared in The Cincinnati Post on
February 8, 2007.
Being an assistant conductor means more than just "covering," i.e. waiting in the wings, baton in hand, in case the scheduled conductor is unable to go on.
It can lead to that big break, as when the young Leonard Bernstein stepped in with the New York Philharmonic and launched his career at age 25.
However, it can be as small as looking
for a wrong note in a score.
Earlier this week, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra assistant
conductor Tito Munoz, 23, spent an entire day tracking down a recording of John
Adams’ Violin Concerto (to be performed by violinist Leila Josefowicz with
guest conductor Michael Christie and the CSO Feb. 16 and 17 at Music Hall).
There was a suspicious note in the
concerto that needed to be corrected or confirmed. “I had to find a recording
John Adams had conducted so that I could see if that note was correct (it
wasn't)."
As one of the CSO’s two assistant
conductors -- the other is Eric Dudley – Munoz shares cover duties for CSO
music director Paavo Järvi, Cincinnati Pops conductor Erich Kunzel and May
Festival music director James Conlon. He is assistant conductor of the
Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra (Dudley is conductor) and also participates
with Dudley in “Classical Conversations” before CSO concerts and helps guide
and implement the CSO’s education and outreach program. He recently spoke to
the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce about the CSO.
Later this month, after only six
months with the orchestra, Munoz will get his chance to conduct a CSO
subscription concert, an unusual opportunity occasioned by guest conductor
Krzysztof Penderecki’s cancellation. “I feel honored that Paavo and the powers
that be thought of me,” he said.
Actually, it will be Munoz’ second CSO
conducting appearance.
At 4 p.m. Sunday at Music Hall, Munoz
will conduct the CSO in the Fine Arts Fund Sampler Weekend concert. The
Latin-flavored program, featuring Cincinnati Ballet principal dancers Kristi
Capps and Dmitri Trubchanov, will include excerpts from Bizet’s “Carmen,”
Falla’s “Three-Cornered Hat” and Bernstein’s “West Side Story.”
Munoz’ Feb. 24/25 CSO subscription
program – accessible and family friendly – comprises Dukas’ “Sorcerer’s Apprentice,”
Stravinsky’s “Firebird” Suite, Overture to Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and Bruch’s
G-Minor Violin Concerto with guest artist Chee-Yun.
It won’t be the first time Munoz has
made a high-powered debut. In August, he bowed in with the Cleveland Orchestra
at the Blossom Festival. Munoz’ mentor, Aspen Festival music director David
Zinman, is a regular guest conductor at Blossom. “Every summer he brings one or
two of his students to share the program with him,” said Munoz, who led
Copland’s “Quiet City.” “It was quite an experience.”
Not bad, too, for someone who heard
his first orchestra concert as a student at Louis Armstrong Middle School in
Queens. “It was a young people’s concert by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Our
music teacher took us.”
New York native Munoz had no exposure
to classical music as a child, he said. An older cousin, who attended the same
middle school, began playing the violin. “I saw him and thought ‘that looks
cool.’ I remember the first time I took the violin home. I felt like this is what
I wanted to do.”
He began violin lessons at 13 and was
recommended by his teacher for the Music Advancement Program at New York’s
Juilliard School, a free Saturday program for African-American and Latino
students, where he had violin lessons, theory, history and orchestra for two
years.
“That’s what hooked me. The teachers
would take us to their performances. Some played on Broadway, so we got to see
what it was like in the pit.”
Munoz played in the orchestra at
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and in the New York Youth
Symphony under Mischa Santora (Santora, music director of the Cincinnati
Chamber Orchestra, appointed Munoz CCO assistant conductor in September).
His first experience “waving my hands
in front of a group for real” was at 16 at the French Woods Festival, a
performing arts camp in upstate New York. “That experience I really cherish
because I was basically just thrown into it. It’s very hard because you get put
into a situation where you’ve got to be the boss, but at the same time you have
to try to learn as much as you can. Every conducting teacher and every
conductor will say that the only way to learn conducting is just doing it.”
Another key experience was leading a
performance of “West Side Story” at La Guardia High School. “They do incredible
productions because they get a lot of money from New York City Opera.” Munoz,
who is of Columbian and Ecuadorian heritage, also played in Latin bands, where
violins were used.
He majored in violin at Queens
College, where he organized his own orchestra. “I had to make opportunities for
myself. I put together my friends and gave concerts.” His first, Stravinsky’s
“Firebird,” was “big,” he said. “I learned a lot. Nobody got paid, so it was
hard to get people to come to rehearsals. After that, I learned my lesson and
kept it very small. I did a string orchestra program at one point, and my
violin teacher played a concerto with me.”
His Queens initiative paid off.
“That’s how I made my tape to get into Aspen,” he said.
Aspen brought him to Cincinnati, where
he now lives in Clifton’s gas light district.
“The Academy of Conducting at Aspen is
a prestigious program, so they have a lot of connections. Somebody here
contacted somebody there.” At the CSO’s invitation, Munoz auditioned with the
orchestra in May, interviewed with Järvi, the players committee and staff, and
got the job over nearly 150 other applicants.
Munoz shares his New York City
background with Conlon, he said.
“We went to the same high school. We
had the same sort of experiences. One of the things he (Conlon) tells the
conducting class at Aspen is that the most important thing at this point in
your learning is having passion for music and immersing yourself in it as much
as you can.” In New York, “each conservatory has a Saturday program and a
pre-college program with about three orchestras. There are plenty of youth
orchestras.”
It’s a natural environment. “You don’t
even realize you’re immersing yourself in music,” he said.
(first published in The Cincinnati
Post Feb. 8, 2007)