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EOU professor plays part in historic concert in Rome

News contact: Laura Hancock
(541) 962-3585 | lhancock@eou.edu

Friday, August 22, 2008

LA GRANDE, Ore. — From his room in the monastery built above the ancient ruins of the Temple of Venus and Roma, Leandro Espinosa could see the altars constructed in honor of the goddesses and the massive stone arches honeycombed with carvings overhead. The Colosseum stood just beyond and he could feel the history surrounding him, permeating the air like humidity on a sultry day.

Spending the night in the Roman Forum was the last place on earth Espinosa expected to be. Yet there he was, taking it all in - not as a tourist, but as a composer - waiting to hear for the first time a work he had written nearly 30 years ago be performed as part of a celebration of organ music sponsored by the Vatican.

Espinosa, associate professor of music at Eastern Oregon University, was in Rome to attend the International Organ Festival of Morelia held in July. Giancarlo Parodi, the Italian organist for the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music founded by the Holy See, would perform his work, "The Visions of Daniel," for the closing of the festival.

Originally Espinosa was going to attend the opening of the event in Mexico City, but at the last minute he learned that Parodi would be unable to make the flight for the performance. Schedules were shuffled, tickets booked and Espinosa boarded a plane bound for Italy.

"So there I was in Rome, eating pizza!" Espinosa said, laughing. "Many things in my life seem to come by accident."

And quite the accident it was as the change in plans meant Espinosa would be a part of history in the making as one of the first Latin American composers to have their music performed for a Vatican-sponsored venue.

The other composer featured was the late Miguel Bernal Jimenez, (1910-1956), a major contributor to the Mexican sacred nationalism movement.

Photos/Leandro Espinosa
The Colosseum as seen from Espinosa's window overlooking the Roman Forum.

"The festival is announced as the oldest organ festival in America and the closing concert was a political event between the two countries, being the first time that a Latin American festival was brought to the Vatican and also sponsored by it. I never thought in my lifetime I would hear my piece performed that way . . . the performance was magnificent!" Espinosa said.

As Espinosa took his seat in the performance hall, Mexico's colors flew prominently next to the flag of Vatican City. Other countries participating in the festival included France, Germany and Korea.

Parodi, the organist, personally introduced Espinosa and his piece. As he began to play, Espinosa listened to his own literal description of the biblical dream of Daniel and the story sprang to life in the vibrations emanating from the mighty pipe organ.

"The Visions of Daniel" was performed about 10 years ago in New York during a festival of Mexican music, but this was the European debut. The piece is intended to provide the listener with an almost literal description of the Old Testament book of Daniel 7:1-14.

A section of the ruins of the Temple of Venus and
Roma shows an arched dome ceiling and one of
the altars where the statues of the goddesses
once stood.

In his dream, Daniel described four different monsters. Espinosa created a specific soundscape representing each monster, leading up to the climactic entrance of the largest, most terrifying beast of all. Then, all becomes quite and ethereal notes descend as the Son of man appears in the clouds to take his throne.

"I consider myself a spiritual person, but not necessarily in the conventional sense," Espinosa said. "To me, Daniel's dream means that divinity touches the unconscious mind, (the winds of heaven touch the sea), and all of the monsters come out, (fears and terrors), until eventually a new order arrives that transcends all evil from the past, (the Son of man)."

Espinosa compares the process of composing a piece of such magnitude to an activity like fishing. "You have to be disciplined and work hard, but the fish is given by nature or life," he said. 

Espinosa is the director of the Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra and is the recipient of three EOU University Faculty Scholar awards. He was a member of the Oxford Round Table during the 2006 summer session and presented his research on the future of the arts and the sciences.

Espinosa will be teaching several courses at EOU this fall, including Elements of Music, Ensemble/Orchestra, Musicianship, Music History, as well as individual instruction on the cello and bass.