Gonzalo Farias (Kansas City Symphony)
For Gonzalo Farias, the Kansas City Symphony’s new associate conductor, music is not just about making beautiful sounds.
“I think the goal for me as a conductor is not only to do all the things that are in the score but essentially to really connect with people, with musicians, with the audience,” said Farias. “You work really hard not only for creating sounds but for finding people and finding yourself…and to find us in a community to create bonds with one another.”
As the David T. Beals III Associate Conductor, he’s excited to join the organization in this new role in September. There were more than 120 applicants for the position.
“It’s become one of the role models for orchestras, not only how to have a healthy manner for administering money and resources, but also how to build a real community in Kansas City. I found a distinct energy, transparency, and open possibilities in the musicians and staff. It’s incredibly exciting,” he said.
He’s already had the chance to join the orchestra in performance as a guest conductor for last season’s family concert presentation of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf.”
“It was wonderful to actually work hand in hand with the musicians,” said Farias. “I found nothing but openness and respect and the willingness to try different things . . . It was a lot of fun and really great energy all the way around.”
Farias, who is a native of Chile, grew up in the capital city of Santiago. As a kindergartener, he started asking to learn piano, though his mother was hesitant at first. “My mom told me, no, there’s no way we can get a piano for a five-year-old. The next time it’s a tiger, and the next time it’s a car,” he said. But she did, and he stuck with it all the way through his doctoral degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he also earned his master’s degree and a graduate diploma in piano.
He arrived in the States as a 19-year-old. “When I started learning from my teachers in Boston, I started to really understand the process of music making and how it’s done from the inside. It’s not only about the passion, but the determination to be really, really good at the craft: to respect the work, devotion, and the commitment you have to have to serve music with real excellence.”
For his doctoral dissertation, he studied the concept of second-order cybernetics. “I created a foundation to know what communication — with a capital C — means to me. How much you need to respect not only your vision but everybody else’s vision. It’s all about understanding the human condition and how we operate in the world,” said Farias.
And though he is a dedicated and award-winning pianist, his true passion is conducting. When he had completed his piano degrees, he finally had the courage to pursue that dream. “The first time I conducted it was clear what my heart had been aching for all my life,” he said. “It’s crazy how much you can love something when you actually do it.”
He studied with Marin Alsop and Donald Schleicher, earning graduate degrees from the Peabody Institute and the University of Illinois, respectively, as well as taking additional studies with Otto-Werner Mueller and Larry Rachleff and as a conducting fellow with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He served as assistant conductor with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra with JoAnn Falletta and, most recently, the associate conductor with the Jacksonville Symphony in Florida.
His responsibilities with KCS include conducting educational, family and pops concerts, as well as special presentations and the Film + Live Orchestra series. He also covers for the music director and guest conductors when they are not able to lead a performance. “It’s a tiny bit of everything,” he said. “On top of that, you have to be ready for pretty much anything, to be ready to jump in at any minute, at any time.”
The lessons in commitment and craft he had learned in piano served him well as he studied conducting. In a way, he said, to learn conducting you almost have to start from scratch.
“It’s really hard, because you don’t get to practice with an orchestra at your place. You don’t get to try things. You kind of have to fail in public all the time when you’re starting, and that’s not easy. But there’s no room to fail, publicly . . . ’cause if you fail, 80-plus people fail also with you,” said Farias.
And while the job can be stressful, Farias is committed to honoring mental health. He is also a studious practitioner of Zen Buddhism. “That informs so much of who I am in terms of finding and being open to the relationship that exists with whatever’s in front of you. Trying to see everything for what it is, as opposed to what you want it to be, is essential. To embrace the world, to be open, to be really curious about what’s in front of you, is one of the real duties of us as human beings.”
Along with music, Farias enjoys good wine (something he was also studious about) and hiking. These activities bring him joy for the same reason that music does: connecting with people.
“When you share a great bottle, the enjoyment doesn’t come from you tasting the wine itself, but the experience of that in the presence of someone else’s experience. Being able to exchange things, express yourself, respect someone else’s take, and combine our experiences is one of the most beautiful things in our world.”
And though he devotes himself meticulously to his craft, for audiences he just wants to provide an open and exciting event. “I think that’s the beautiful thing about reality in music and art, that there is nothing more simple and complex than just fully experiencing it. You don’t need to know anything to start; you don’t need to prepare yourself in any way. Just be curious. Honor who you are. You’re just there.”
Gonzalo Farias opens the season with the Kansas City Symphony performing “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in Concert” Sept. 7, 8, 9 and 11 at the Kauffman Center. For tickets www.kcsymphony.org
