Heart of the matter
Amal Choucri Catta talks to Sergio Cardenas, newly appointed artistic director and principal conductor of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra
Fresh winds will be blowing through the opera: this, at least, was the forecast of Samir Farag, president of the National Cultural Centre, during the recent press conference at which it was announced that Sergio Cardenas, the Mexican conductor, will be heading the Cairo Symphony Orchestra for three years, beginning next September. Cardenas will replace Ahmed El-Saedi as artistic director and principal conductor of the orchestra.
Not that Cardenas is a stranger to Cairene audiences. He has been applauded at relatively regular intervals since 1999, conducting Richard Strauss, Rimsky- Korsakov, Borodin, Brahms, Wagner, Liszt, Shostakovich and Carl Orff among others. He has also lifted the curtain on Mexican symphonic music.
"I have conducted the Cairo Symphony five times in the past five years, and it is an honour for me to be appointed music director and principal conductor of this excellent orchestra," said Cardenas, before moving on to outline his future plans, the gist of which appears to revolve around that old chestnut -- bringing music to the people, rather than waiting for the people to arrive in the concert hall.
Henceforth, the new maestro assured us, music will be brought into schools, high-schools and universities. There will be a variety of programmes -- for the young, the very young and for adult audiences. In addition Cardenas will aim at promoting Egyptian and Arab symphonic composers, working in close cooperation with Inas Abdel- Dayem, Egypt's leading flautist and recently appointed managing director of the Cairo Symphony.
All of which are necessary endeavours. But is it not the primary task of a symphony orchestra to give concerts?
"Well yes and no," says Cardenas. "You see, I believe that the times we live in require something else, something more. When the institution called the orchestra was established in the 18th century it was a symbol of the political and economic power of the rulers of different German regions who competed among themselves as to who had the best orchestra and who was capable of engaging the best musicians, composers, soloists, conductors and instrumentalists. However, as time passed, and with the impetus of the French Revolution with its ideas of equality, solidarity, human rights, the situation altered. Concerts remain the orchestra's main objective, but other objectives are important. An orchestra should not only play the notes, or give a respectable number of concerts in any given season. It should, at the same time, turn every concert into an event, giving the audience food for the soul."
"The instrumentalist is not there just to play notes, but to express the meaning behind those notes. The instrumentalist, the soloist, the conductor are there to convey a message: they must not be a barrier to the message the composer wants to convey. I think of the performer as a postman carrying a letter from source to destination: he has no right to alter the letter, he must deliver it as it was originally intended to be delivered. This is a delicate task. We are all human, after all, yet we are required to give our opinion on the work on hand, and that is where the question arises and the mystery unfolds: how will the instrumentalist interpret the work, how will he present it, what will he do with it? The orchestra, then, is bound to turn every concert into an event during which each performer pours all he can into the work at hand."
"Orchestras cannot be divorced from a role in the evolution of society. And because of disastrous educational systems around the world it has become the social responsibility of all musicians to bring music to young people wherever they may be. I am convinced that astonishing results can be brought about by music in schools and high schools. And I am not talking about music as sound but music as event, and one that can impact profoundly on lives, holding out the promise of change."
"Art, and in this case, music, should not be considered as something a person can see or hear but something that sees us. Art is watching us. It can talk to us. It can change our lives."
"I watch young people today, in my own country and in Germany, where I have spent many years, and each new generation is becoming more superficial, more shallow, unable to concentrate on matters of importance, unable to think abstractly, unable to differentiate between the good and the bad, to distinguish between right and wrong. There is an unbelievable void, an emptiness regarding education and it seems to me that art, and music, we can help young people aspire to higher standards. Music is not marginal: it can actively contribute to the development of the generations who are the future of their country. In which task the orchestra has an obvious role."
Sergio Cardenas is excited by the A Capella Choir and plans to have them in concert every six or seven weeks. And the coming season will include a wide variety of music, featuring Haydn, Schubert, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Rimsky- Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky and Mozart in addition to French, Spanish and Mexican composers, including Cardenas himself. The annual Arab Perspectives concerts will continue, and concerts are also planned every fortnight in Alexandria, as well as a series of concerts in Upper Egypt beginning in January.
"Plans are many," says Cardenas, who hopes all will go well and that there will be no insurmountable obstacles.
Cardenas is familiar with taking on new ventures: his CV includes stints as artistic director and principal conductor of symphony orchestras in Germany, Austria and Mexico: from 1985 to 1989 he worked with the Hof Symphony Orchestra, Germany; from 1975 to 1979 the Mozarteum Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg; from 1979 to 1984 the National Symphony Orchestra, Mexico City and from 1986 to 1997 the Queretaros Philharmonic, Mexico. Between 1997 and 1998 he was an artist in residence at Canada's Banff Centre for the Arts and has been the recipient of several honours, including the Bela Bartok Medal of the Hungarian Republic, the Lillitehmann Medal of the International Mozart Foundation and the Spanish Golden Laurel of Excellence.
"Music," he insists, "is the true breath of life. It can be compared to a door through which emotions pass: those that flow out and those that flow towards us. The relationship to music is not a foreign prerogative. In the heart of Africa, Europe, Asia -- it does not matter. It all begins with the rhythm of the heart-beat."
"The nature of a tone is not an invention. A tone is not a note but a composition of sounds, and music is no more than the perception of these sounds. I believe in the power of music, and I believe that one can be obsessed by music and that through this obsession one can sense freedom, one can become stronger, more tolerant and, above all, transcend. People tend to be afraid of music, afraid of something so powerful, something they won't be able to grasp which is why so many people prefer to ignore it. So we must work to convince people to give themselves the chance to be enriched by music, for it has no geographic, no national, no religious borders."
