ClariBogotá 2010

ClariBogotá 2010

ClariBogotá has come and gone:  The first large scale clarinet gathering in Bogotá.  By all accounts it has been a great success with scores of clarinetists in attendance and performance and with teachers and performers of the highest stature.  The festival and competition was apparently organized around the arrival of Wenzel Fuchs who was invited to perform with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá.  Colombia’s own Benito Mesa was here along with Hans Dietrich Klaus who were both on the roster of performers and “talleristas”.  Congratulations have to go out to the organizers who put together such a complicated event in such a short period of time and with such little resources.

The guest artists displayed a wide range of styles and temperament, from the understated Hans Klaus to the hyper and extrovert Benito Mesa.  I appreciated Hans Klaus most in his masterclasses which showed patience, attention to detail and his years of experience which would show up often in very subtle ways.

Benito mentioned the importance of being humble and always looking to improve and Wenzel talked about the comradery he feels between teachers here in Bogotá and how pleased he was to see it.

The contest showed off the many fine students that you can now find in Colombia.  As is probably typical for a competition, the emphasis appeared to fall to fingers over musical lines and this showed up in the second round of the competition stage of the festival when various competitors performed with technical prowess but were rather cold.

Speed and exaggerated corporal movement was the norm in the performances of Mesa and Fuchs.  Benito used a great deal of vibrato especially in the first movement of the Fantasy Pieces by Schumann.  Fuchs too used some vibrato although less than Benito.  In general, the tempos of Fuchs were on the quicker side.

We should consider the number of clarinetists that were at the festival.  It was a sign of the great success of the festival and at the same time a sobering reminder of the lack of work in Colombia for musicians.  We have to ask where all this young talent will go.  It is a sad trend that free market ideas rule so heavily and so often at the cost of arts which struggle to be profitable.  Colombia appears to be in the grip of this phenomenon precisely when there is so much young talent looking to express itself.  If we can’t go back to a friendlier government then it is time to tap into the patronage of business and private donors.  This is a tough sell in Colombia as there is not much of a donor history but it needs to be changed.