Alexander Kordzaia
When University of Richmond Symphony Orchestra conductor Alexander Kordzaia arrived at the elementary school outside of Cartagena, Colombia, there was barbed wire around the gates. It was 95 degrees outside in October and the school had no air conditioning. Inside, the musicians of the local youth orchestra used plastic patio chairs as music stands. Many relied on borrowed instruments, unable to afford their own. The conditions were less than ideal for making music.
Yet, as Kordzaia explains, “They rehearsed for hours without complaining once. They love classical music and see it as an outlet to a better future.”
He found similar commitment when he rehearsed with the performers in the Cartagena Philharmonic, the local professional orchestra whose members traveled up to an hour and a half by bus each way to reach the rehearsal location.
Kordzaia spent six days in Cartagena working with both orchestras at the invitation of Evelia Gonzalez Porto of the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Porto also runs Fundacion Tocando Puertas Para Abrir Futuros (Knocking On Doors to Open Futures Foundation), which is dedicated to supporting youths from low-income areas in Colombia, and funds a youth orchestra to encourage them to pursue their dream of a career in music. Porto saw Kordzaia conduct the All Virginia Symphony Orchestra in April 2012 and knew he was the perfect person to lead the orchestral festival she was planning, where the youth orchestra would play with and learn from professional musicians.
The culminating concert featuring both groups drew a sold-out crowd — including the American ambassador, the Colombian Minister of Culture, and the mayor of Cartagena — to the 1,800-seat opera house in downtown Cartagena. During the event, Kordzaia was given a key to the city and he presented a donated violin to the youth orchestra on behalf of the University’s Department of Music and Richmond’s Jan Hampton Violins.
The concert ended with the youth orchestra and the Philharmonic playing traditional Colombian music side-by-side. “It was an unbelievable experience to see them playing their own music,” he says. “Rhythm and music are in their blood. The passion that radiates when they play their own music, that’s what I want our students to see.”
Several Richmond students will have the chance. Kordzaia and Joanne Kong, coordinator of the University’s chamber ensemble program, will take a group of 11 students to Colombia in October 2013. They plan to bring several instruments with them to donate to Porto’s foundation. More than half of the students have strong Spanish backgrounds and plan to give lessons to the members of the youth orchestra, in addition to performing chamber music in a variety of venues around the city.
Kordzaia is excited for them to see the dedication that the youth orchestra members have to classical music, despite the obstacles they face. “I say to students that sometimes we give classical music a bad name because we do not play with passion,” he says. “Our students will have the chance to go see this youth orchestra — where these students have no stands, no chairs — and give back.”