Her Gestures Speak Louder Than Words

Alondra de la Parra is a gesticulator. When the 23-year-old wunderkind gets riled up, raises her voice, and starts speaking quickly, her well trained hands obediently follow, fluttering up and down to the rhythm of her undulating voice. It is only natural that Ms. de la Parra communicates as well with her hands as she does with words. From the age of 13, Ms.de la Parra has known that she’s wanted to be a conductor.And at the moment, Ms. de la Parra has much to gesticulate about. The Mexican-American Orchestra, which she founded a year ago, had its debut concert on November 30 and was met with glowing praise; she’s getting ready to conduct the New Amsterdam Orchestra in April; and in July, she plans to return to Mexico to perform and conduct a Mozart concerto. At the same time, Ms. de la Parra, like the early 20-something that she is, is working hard to finish up her B.A. in piano from the Manhattan School of Music.It all seems like a lot for a 23-year-old to take on, but Ms. de la Parra knows what she’s doing.Born in Queens, Ms. de la Parra lived the first three years of her life in New York City, while her father studied film at NYU and her mother got her master’s degree in sociology from the New School. The family then moved to Mexico, which was her home until she turned 15.Ms. de la Parra started piano lessons at age 7,and took up the cello at 13.She often attended concerts with her parents, and after one, as Ms. de la Parra recalled, “My father said to me, ‘You should conduct.’ At first, I thought, ‘but I want to play the cello,’ but my father told me, ‘Think about it, wouldn’t it be great to conduct, to know everything about that piece of music?'”She continued, “I remember that feeling, when I was like, ‘Yeah…I want to be a conductor.’ It was a secret that I didn’t want to tell anybody. I remember whispering in my friend’s ear, ‘I have a secret. I want to be a conductor. Shhh.’ I thought that if I told people I wanted to be a conductor at age 13, people would be like, ‘shut up. A young girl?’ It’s something that was very hard for people to conceive.”Ms. de la Parra couldn’t keep her ambition a secret for long. And with the foresight and sophistication that one does not usually expect of a young teenager, Ms. de la Parra decided that she needed to leave Mexico City.“I knew I wanted to conduct and I knew that there were so many social things in Mexico City going on…and there would be no time for studying music very, very seriously,” she said. After begging her parents, Ms. de la Parra was allowed to move to England to attend the St. Leonard’s-Mayfield School, which specializes in music instruction. And it was at this Harry Potter-esque school that Ms. de la Parra got her first opportunity to conduct.After a year in England, Ms. de la Parra returned to Mexico City, where she entered 10th grade. Uninspired and depressed, she dropped out of high school, got her degree through home study and enrolled at the Center for Research and Music Studies in Mexico City, where she studied composition and piano. At 18, she moved to New York (“I felt like I had to be here”), spent a year at Juilliard, and then transferred to the Manhattan School of Music, where she’s currently studying piano.“I realized I didn’t want to conduct unless I had solid performance technique and a solid command of an instrument. I didn’t see one thing happening without the other. How can you be a conductor if you can’t perform? I like conducting, I’ve dedicated my life to that, but I needed to take piano to a higher level,” Ms. de la Parra explained.It was thanks to her conducting teacher Michael Charry, who hooked Ms. de la Parra up with an apprenticeship with the New York Symphony Orchestra, that she got her first shot at conducting “grown-ups.” Said Ms. de la Parra, “One day, during a rehearsal, the conductor asked me, ‘You wanna conduct?’ and I couldn’t believe it, it was so incredible.” She soon became assistant conductor for the New Amsterdam Orchestra.Last year, Ms. de la Parra was one of seven young conductors selected to take part in a seminar with the renowned maestro Kurt Masur at the Manhattan School of Music. “The application said you had to be at least 25 and have a master’s degree, but I applied anyway.” Ultimately, the seminar proved invaluable for Ms.de la Parra, “I was terrified…Masur wasn’t easygoing, he was not kind all the time. But I learned so much.”Discussing her conducting philosophy, Ms. de la Parra said another conducting retreat, with Kenneth Kielser, changed her whole outlook on the art of leading a group of musicians. “I learned that a conductor is part of the orchestra – not a dictator, but a colleague. You’re a conduit for the music. And I loved that idea.”What takes up most of Ms. de la Parra’s time and energy these days is the Mexican-American Orchestra, which she founded last year. “I want to change the young voice of classical music,” Ms. de la Parra explained. “I was tired of the typical concert setting – it was so boring, so uptight. You don’t breathe, you don’t cough, you don’t think. I wanted to take risks.” And take risks Ms. de la Parra certainly does. During the November 30 concert, sponsored by the Mexico Now Festival and the Fundacion Televisa, she conducted “Ingesu,” a piece about a 1999 soccer match between Mexico and Brazil in which Mexico won 4-3. Decked out in soccer jerseys (Ms. de la Parra wore a referee’s shirt), the orchestra mimicked the Mexican and Brazilian teams – one trombone player who committed a “penalty” was even asked to leave the stage.When asked to discuss the point at which she learned she had a knack for conducting, Ms. de la Parra faltered a bit, and became visibly uncomfortable. Clearly, she has learned a thing or two about modesty: “I’ve never really known whether I’m good or not. I never asked myself, “Will you be good at it?” I think when you ask yourself that, it stops the growing. I’d rather not judge or think about whether or not what I’m doing is good or bad really. Honestly, I think, I want to do this and I want to do this as best I can.” On further reflection, Ms. de la Parra adds, “Something I do remember knowing, was that when I little I was able to make things happen. I’d say, ‘let’s go there’ and everybody would go there. Everyone would believe my crazy ideas and they would follow them.”

Her Gestures Speak Louder Than Words

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