This personal reflection is part of a series called Turning Points, in which writers explore what critical moments from this year might mean for the year ahead. You can read more by visiting the Turning Points series page.
Turning Point: Young musicians from around the world, including troubled areas like Ukraine and Afghanistan, gathered together in New York City for Carnegie Hall’s World Orchestra Week.
Lately I have been thinking about the relationship between the individual and society — particularly how to balance our personal needs with those of the larger community. This question is especially pressing in the current moment. As individuals, many of us feel alienated, isolated and helpless, struggling to find our place, shouting to be heard, running just to stand still. As a society, we are more divided than ever, siloed by social media and manipulated by misinformation, our democracies threatened by increasingly polarized political worldviews. Sometimes it is hard to imagine a world where we can live together in harmony. But my experience working with orchestras around the world gives me hope, and I truly believe that the arts can show us a better way forward.
In many ways, the orchestra is the perfect metaphor for the relationship between the individual and society. As the conductor, I am directing the ensemble, and yet I am the only one who doesn’t actually produce any sound. I can share ideas and communicate a vision to the musicians, but I am nothing without them. Each one of us has our own part to play, and yet we also must listen to those around us to make sure that we are creating harmony, not cacophony. Even when we don’t agree with one another, we find a way to work together toward our common goal.
This harmony that the orchestra creates has the potential to reach far beyond the stage. I have seen parents who hold completely opposing political views sit next to each other in the audience while their children play together, side by side.
Music also gives individuals a powerful sense of purpose — one that can be put to use for a greater good. When you give a child an instrument, you give them an identity. You remind them that they have a voice, and that their voice matters. I have seen this countless times throughout my life — with the musicians of Youth Orchestra Los Angeles at the Beckmen YOLA Center in Inglewood, Calif., with students from around New York City at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts — and in my own life, as a young child making music with my friends in El Sistema, the music education program in Venezuela.
Most importantly, the arts give us hope. They allow us to envision a brighter future for humanity, and to become the kind of citizens who will create that future. My country, Venezuela, is experiencing a challenging moment. Nevertheless, this summer, amid that turmoil, I stood on the stage of Carnegie Hall with the 170 young musicians of the National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela and heard them play with love, joy, respect and, above all, hope.
As I prepare to become the music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic after many extraordinary years with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, I am thinking about these ideas of harmony, identity and hope, and how I can reflect them in my work.
For me, harmony comes from building bridges. Bridges can connect people with different abilities and life experiences. The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s production of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” with Deaf West Theatre and the Coro de Manos Blancas brought together hearing and deaf audiences in a shared experience that went beyond sound. Bridges can connect performers across musical genres. Some of my most unforgettable performances have been with artists of other musical styles, such as Billie Eilish, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin and Common. Bridges also can connect the past to the present and trace a line from the great composers of earlier eras to the generation of artists who are telling the story of this moment.
As I expand my Los Angeles family to include New York and everything in between, I am also reflecting on my own feeling of identity, and my mission to further explore and expand the Pan-American musical voice. So often, classical music trends move between east and west. While the titans of Europe have given, and continue to give, magnificent musical gifts to us, I believe that it is vital to also look from north to south and explore the extraordinary music and creativity of the American continent, from Canada to Tierra del Fuego. As a Latino, I have focused particularly on music by Latin American artists, from composers like Gabriela Ortiz to pop stars like Natalia Lafourcade. I feel that their sound is infused to the core with the rhythm and soul of Latin culture.
The performing arts are in a pivotal moment, facing constant cutbacks to arts education, seismic changes in audiences and funding, an ever-shifting cultural landscape and widespread post-pandemic exhaustion. In the face of these challenges, it is vital for those of us who work in the arts to hold on to hope, and to remind ourselves that what we do matters. Music is not merely entertainment. It helps us to understand who we are and how we fit into the wider world.
In spite of all of the uncertainty that lies before us, in spite of our increasingly digitized, detached society that promotes isolation and separation, I have hope for the future. I have hope, because I know that vastly different individuals can come together in harmony. I have seen it time and time again. Now more than ever it is vital that we work with one another, across cultures, borders and beliefs, to create something beautiful.
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