In his Bravo! Vail debut, trumpeter Pacho Flores to perform ‘Cantos y Revueltas’
Pacho Flores’ “Cantos y Revueltas” is more than just a piece for trumpet, cuatro and string orchestra.
“It’s like the history of my life,” the world-renowned Venezuelan trumpet soloist stated. “This is the kind of piece I really want to listen and play.”
Flores will perform his work with the Sinfónica de Minería on Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. On what is the final day of the Latin-American orchestra’s historic Bravo! Vail residency, the 43-year-old will also play Paquito D’Rivera’s “Concierto Venezolano.”
Flores began studying the instrument as a boy in Venezuela under his father, who was a trumpet player himself.
“It was fantastic having a father who was also a musician,” Flores said.
At a young age, he moved through Venezuela’s prestigious El Sistema music education program. A turning point in his career came in 2006, when he won the 2006 Maurice Andre International Trumpet competition. The second-place finisher was a 14-year-old Spanish prodigy named Rubén Simeó. Flores met Simeó at a different festival three or four years prior, when the 10-year-old was giving a special concert.
“We are still good, good friends,” Flores said.
Winning the competition — as well as coming in first in both the Philip Jones International Competition and the Citta di Porcia — gave Flores the confidence to leave his position as principal trumpet at the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela and embark on an international solo career.
“For me it was a big step,” he said. “This is the chance to leave the orchestra and continue my projects.”
In addition to his rising demand as a soloist, Flores’ composition career took off — which brought him back to his roots. Growing up surrounded by a vibrant youth and professional orchestra scene which regularly combined classical and popular music, Flores leaned into his ever expanding range of style and sounds.
“This is what really interested me,” he said. “Sometimes in the university or conservatories, they are very square. They give a piece of information.”
It’s not enough to equip the 21st century musician, Flores said.
“They have to be more versatile. More flexible. More complete. This is very important,” he said. “The university is not enough to learn music. We have to learn music in the street.”
Though his heroes include the usual classical pillars like Andre himself, he’s also looked up to crossover artists like Wynton Marsalis and Cuban-American Arturo Sandoval. The diverse palate his musical upbringing offered — with classical masterworks often flavored by Caribbean salsa, Brazilian dance and traditional jazz — come out in his own works. “Cantos y Revueltas,” though inspired by the worksongs early-rising Spanish farmers sang as they milked their calves each morning, includes a few Afro-Cuban rhythms and even some baroque style.
“When I wrote the piece, I was thinking all the kinds of music that I want to play, especially from my country,” Flores said. “But by the end I was mixing more elements.”
Flores arrived in Vail — his second time to Colorado after soloing with the Colorado Symphony in 2018 — with six instruments. Whether it’s trumpet in C, cornet in D or flugelhorn — which he uses in his unaccompanied solo to open “Cantos y Revueltas” — Flores said what sets him apart is his sound.
“I’m still trying to make even more beautiful. This is for me a very important topic,” he said. “You have a beautiful sound, you can touch the audience more intimately.”
His goal with each instrument is to imitate the colors produced by others — from altos to sopranos and flutes and violins.
“We have an instrument that is very exciting,” he said.
What also bleeds through in Flores’ work is his belief that today’s musician must improvise.
“If you improvise, it means you are free. You create something new. When you improvise, you are composing at the same time,” he said. This, he added, is “the legacy” of his Venezuelan heritage.
“When you are born into this kind of freedom,” he said. “It’s fantastic.”
Read the full article at VailDaily.com