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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmnH7iFEYLk

PROGRAM NOTES

Written by Bill Hemminger

KAUYUMARI 

GABRIELA ORTIZ

Duration: 7 Minutes 

Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz (b. 1964) was asked by Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Gustavo Dudamel to write a composition for the orchestra just before the Covid virus wreaked havoc on public lives throughout the world. For inspiration, Ortiz looked to the spiritual beliefs of the indigenous Mexican Huichol people; her composition is entitled Kauyumari, which means “blue deer” in the language of the Huichol. For the Huichol, the deer serves as a spirit-guide linking the present to the ancestral past. The deer (whose spirit is released in the consumption of hallucinogenic peyote) enjoins its followers to come together to protect the plant and animal worlds. For Ortiz, Kauyumari represents the potential for healing in a post-pandemic world where it may be possible via music and the intangible arts to re-create a vital link to its past.

Dudamel knew that Ortiz would be the ideal choice for such a commission. Ortiz grew up playing piano, charango (Andean stringed instrument) and guitar in a very musical family in Mexico City. She later earned a doctorate in musical composition in London. Her list of works is lengthy and various—from chamber works such as Altar de muertos (1997) to politically-conceived operas such as Only the Truth (2008) to tonight’s work, which dates from 2021. And the list of awards she has garnered is even longer. 

Kauyumari begins with a solemn announcement of trumpets and percussion. Solo instruments and choirs of instruments are brought to the fore, and the tempo throbs. The composer notes that “the melody itself becomes unrecognizable....as the incisive rhythmic accompaniment grows to an intensity.”