Profile: Andrés Orozco-Estrada

Andrés Orozco-Estrada

This week brings another contender to our Houston Symphony for a series of four performances to include Strauss' First Horn Concerto with principal hornist William Vermeulen and Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique.

That contender is Andrés Orozco-Estrada. I don't mind saying I'm a little excited, and its not just because I have a thing for Vienna and its musicians. 

My excitement is not quite the Chris Matthews thrill up my leg. Unlike Matthews, I'm not looking for a messiah. But there are lots of traces in this contender's background that give me reason to hope that he's the real deal. And if he is the real deal, he ought to be topping the short list. 

After the jump, some pros, some cons and some examples of why Orozco-Estrada's conducting that make me sit up and take notice. 

Choosing a conductor is a risk. How, exactly does one choose an alchemist without picking a charlatan? 

But then again, one can look to qualities of great conductors of the past and perhaps reduce the risk of making a bad choice. Here are some of the pros I see in the background of Andrés Orozco-Estrada. 

• Training: Andrés Orozco-Estrada comes by way of Vienna and the same instruction that produced Barenboim, Abbado and Mehta. And one does not go from youth in Columbia to training in Vienna without a fire in the belly. 
• Operatic Experience: In the past, experience in the opera house was an essential requirement to the maturation of a symphonic conductor and music director. Andrés Orozco-Estrada has operatic experience, although necessarily limited by his age.
• According to Wikipedia (true beyond doubt) Orozco-Estrada, as Music Director of the Opera of Klosterneuburg from 2005 to 2007, he led productions of L'Italiana in Algeri, Fidelio and The Tales of Hoffmann. Also he conducted Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, The Abduction from the Seraglio, The Magic Flute, La Traviata, Don Carlos, Cavalleria, Rusticana and I Pagliacci.
• Leadership Experience: Andrés Orozco-Estrada has already been a music director and principal conductor of significant musical organizations like the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria.
• The Tonkünstler has made good choices before. Past principal conductors include Fabio Luisi (1994–2000) and Kristjan Järvi (2004–2009).

So what are the cons? For me, they are the drawbacks one would find with any conductor who is young and   capable. 

First, he's very, very busy. If you want him to lead your organization, he is going to have to sever or cut back ties with organizations that he is already leading. And if he does that, he might do it again to you when he gets a better offer from the "next" orchestra. How interested is the candidate in orchestra building for the long term? If he is, does someone this young need or desire an older conductor emeritus as a mentor? Would the Houston Symphony have the humility and long-thinking approach to re-engage Eschenbach for such a purpose? Can any of the young candidates work gracefully with a mentor like that? 

All of these are questions for the search committee. 

But if you want to have some fun while noodling on these questions, take a look at these two examples of Orozco-Estrada in action on the podium of the Musikverein. Once one gets over the thrill up one's leg about the Musikverein, one should look at Orozco-Estrada's conducting. 

 

 

It is so hard to tell from just looking at video, but something notable stands out to me. Look how much Orozco-Estrada is enjoying the music making. Look at how much goes on in Orozco-Estrada's face. I see a conductor that is communicating musical ideas and inviting the musicians to join him in the risk taking and creativity.

This invitation on the face of a conductor is similar to what I experienced the one time I played for Eschenbach. It is the opposite of what I experienced in concerts with Comissiona and the opposite of what I observe in performances with Graf. 

It is hard enough to make music. Magic does not happen with a frowning negative presence scowling at the orchestra, discouraging risk and creativity. It happens when musicians are safe to dance on the edge of the precipice with a conductor who joins them there. 

Orozco-Estrada might be that kind of conductor. Time will tell.