Simone Menezes: “I want to emphasize a certain operatic aspect that I can identify in Mozart’s work”

Simone Menezes

In this exclusive interview, Simone Menezes, the renowned Brazilian conductor, shares details about her upcoming concert at the Teatro Colón with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and pianist Stefan Stroissnig, opening the 2024 Season of the Mozarteum Argentino. In this conversation, we discuss their upcoming performance at the Teatro Colón and dive into the repertoire they will present.

By Virginia Chacon Dorr

For the first time in her career, Simone Menezes is set to take the podium at the Teatro Colón on Monday, May 20th at 8:00 pm. Leading the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Menezes will showcase her talent in a program entirely dedicated to iconic Mozart’s works such as “Eine kleine Nachtmusik,” “Piano Concerto No. 9,” and “Symphony No. 29.” In this interview, we delve into Menezes’s insights about the concert, her approach to conducting, and the significance of performing at this prestigious theater. For more information and tickets, click here.

-You have conducted in some of the most prominent stages in the world. Now you will be conducting the famous Vienna Chamber Orchestra at the Teatro Colón, in the opening concert of the Mozarteum Argentino. What are the expectations and feelings that this event arouses in you? 

-It’s a great joy to be able to make music with great musicians. My relationship with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra began in 2019, and this is the third collaboration we’ve done. It’s an orchestra I sincerely appreciate for the collective and individual sound quality of its musicians and its tradition. It’s very special to me, not only because it opens the Mozarteum Argentina series at the Colon Theater, but believe it or not, it’s my first time in Argentina! I’m very happy to discover this special country, with such an important history and culture.

-The repertoire consists entirely of Mozart, with wonderful yet well-known pieces. As a conductor, how do you manage to recapture the “freshness” of these works? How do you interpret and create your own vision of the score? 

-Conducting such well-known works by such an emblematic composer as Mozart is quite different from, for example, performing a rarely played 20th-century piece or a contemporary premiere (by the way, I love both exercises). The first concern here is not so much about creating a quality performance, but rather about what we want to highlight in our performance. My desire in revisiting these works, in addition to delivering an excellent performance, is to convey some adjectives of Mozart and his music that are very dear to me: joy, energy, gracefulness, and emotion. I also want to emphasize a certain operatic aspect that I can identify in Mozart’s work, as if each theme were in itself one of his opera characters. 

-You have a very close relationship with the music of your origins, as we can see from your exceptional work with Amazônia. If you had to explain to someone where the DNA of 20th-century Brazilian music lies, what would you say? 

-This is an excellent question. I believe that Brazilian music, and Latin American music in general from the 20th century, is a treasure that has not yet been properly explored. The seed of European classical music arrives in Latin America, bringing with it a whole tradition from Bach to Ravel. At this moment, it encounters a vibrant tradition of popular music with complex rhythms of non-European origin, different instrumental colors, and a different, much sunnier landscape. This classical seed then sprouts in a completely different soil and produces our 20th-century music. It’s a music much less concerned with the question of “form” and much more committed to this new and original identity that sings of a new landscape using old instruments. The musicology we have today is essentially European; our history of musicology is very new. But it’s important to develop and talk about these things so that we can export this treasure that we have more and more.

My desire in revisiting these works, in addition to delivering an excellent performance, is to convey some adjectives of Mozart and his music that are very dear to me: joy, energy, gracefulness, and emotion. – Simone Menezes

-There was a time when artists and works from non-European countries were associated with a certain exoticism. Do you think this perception has changed or does some of it still persist today? 

-I think we’re in the process of change. Some more traditional concert halls still have this view, but it’s curious that even though there’s sometimes some difficulty in programming what’s seen as exotic repertoire, when we do, everyone loves it; no one remains indifferent. It’s necessary to persist until it becomes normal, and to insist not only by showing the “national” character of each composer but also the “universal” character of their music. Nobody sees Bach today as just a German composer; he’s a universal composer. Latin composers are very universal too; they go beyond European culture and mix in other cultures. I try to emphasize this. 

-Do you think the prejudice against women conducting orchestras has changed or is there still work to be done? 

-I also believe that we are in a process. Certainly, things are much better than they were 10 years ago, but there is still a lot of work to be done. The question is how to do this organically, without imposition, with fairness. I believe it’s a process. For example, in my grandparents’ generation, my grandfather would never go to a female doctor; perhaps he would let my grandmother go, but not his mother. Today, for my generation, this is not even a question; I want a good doctor, regardless of whether they are male or female. I think we can say that everything will be fine when the issue of the conductor reaches this point of normality

Latin composers are very universal too; they go beyond European culture and mix in other cultures. – Simone Menezes

-What did the founding of the Ensemble K mean for your career? 

-For me, Ensemble K is our artistic laboratory. It’s a group of incredible musicians with a cosmopolitan vision who are open to trying new things, taking risks, and doing all of this in an environment that combines high performance with creativity. Often, high performance is associated with a “fear of failure,” and when we let this take hold, we lose creativity. The projects we do with Ensemble K, such as the film “Metanoia” or the CD “Accents,” aim to show how classical music can bring a deeper sense to human issues. After all, that’s what art is for!

About the concert

We invite you to read more about the concert and its protagonists on the website of the Mozarteum Argentino. There you will also find the available tickets.

https://www.mozarteumargentino.org/concierto/orquesta-de-camara-de-viena-2/

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