With a wealth of experience in orchestral management and a proven track record of collaboration with world class conductors and musicians, renowned conductor and educator, Doctor Carlos Ortiz, has always been eager to bring his skills and passion for music to any organization he collaborates with. Here is an interview where he shares his astounding accomplishments at the Mexico City Philharmonic, one of Mexico’s most important orchestras, with which he has collaborated for nearly eight years.
**Interviewer:** Can you tell us about your role as a Conductor and your key responsibilities?
**You:** Certainly. I work closely with Chief Conductor Scott Yoo to create and execute 38+ subscription programs annually. This involves selecting and contacting guest conductors, soloists, and their representatives to ensure seamless collaborations and quality performances. I also serve as Chief Advisor to Maestro Scott Yoo and have had the privilege of advising former Executive Director Roberto Mejía (RIP) and current Executive Director José María Serralde. My role also includes renting and purchasing music for the Philharmonic, overseeing the printing of music, and advising on the renovation of the library and conservation of printed materials.
As a conductor and pedagogue, I have also been in a good position to suggest Maestro Yoo about the Mexican composers to be highlighted when the time comes to secure the proper representation of Mexican music of all times, in the Orchestra’s programming. This, along with Maestro Yoo own firm beliefs about Mexican music programming, has led to record numbers of Mexican music played with any orchestra in the country
And given my firm belief that one of the main problems in Mexico is that Mexican composers, conductors and soloists are not regularly given the opportunity to have the experience to work with professional, top level orchestras, I proposed originally and we decided later on, to do something about it and Mexico City Philharmonic has become the orchestra that plays more Mexican composers both dead and alive, and invites more Mexican conductors and soloists, already giving birth to a new generation of conductors, composers and soloists that will be available and prepared to take over when the time comes. Other orchestras have decided to follow us, but for years, we were the only orchestra that programmed at least one Mexican work every week of the year, regardless of the conductor.
**Interviewer:** How do you contribute to the educational aspect of the Philharmonic?
**You:** Education is a vital component of the Orchestra’s mission, and I am proud to coordinate the Masterclass program. This involves organizing, finding venues, receiving the names of the participants and, when necessary, selecting candidates and translating Masterclasses taught by English-speaking guest soloists, looking for the best educational experience for our students. My goal is to create the best learning environment possible, where both the guest artists and our musicians and students all around the City can engage and grow. Also, schools must be contacted and in this realm, I can say that my experience working at two of the most important schools in the country and my close relations to academics in many of the other key schools, have allowed me to reach out to the Directors of these schools, so we can have a good working relationship all in favour of the students, which are the main beneficiaries and the main goal of this program.
During the pandemic, I proposed and organized a program where the performers of the Mexico City Philharmonic, which are some of the most coveted performing teachers in the country, taught remotely to underprivileged students of the Mexico City Program of Youth Choirs and Orchestras, the Mexico City equivalent to Venezuela’s “El Sistema”. The initiative was originally proposed and delineated by me, based on my relations with the most important educators in Mexico City.
I have also helped bring in a whole new generation of audience members to the Mexico City Philharmonic. Along with General Manager Roberto Mejía (RIP), we created a program where tens of thousands of people from the most underprivileged neighborhoods of Mexico City were given free access to the Mexico City Philharmonic concerts; thousands of students from the public schools in the City were given free, guided access to either open rehearsals, outreach concerts or regular subscription concerts. They would have most likely never attended an orchestral concert either because of lack of interest, lack of knowledge that orchestras even exists or because of the lack of means to reach the concert venues.
I also played a crucial role in involving various institutions and city boroughs in our events. That is how Navy became a recurrent institution in our concerts and we presented Verdi’s Requiem for close to 50 thousand people in Zocalo. That is also how we presented Beethoven’s 9th for close to 30 thousand people at the Monumento de la Revolución. Getting the orchestra out of its steady concert hall and go to the public squares was also another effort that I was a part of and it has paid off in the end, since now the orchestra has become a natural part of the city’s cultural landscape and every week more and more people goes to enjoy the Mexico City Philharmonic as beacon of culture and education in the City.
**Interviewer:** What have been some of your most rewarding experiences in this role?
- *You:** Collaborating with Maestro Scott Yoo and the executive team of the Mexico City Philharmonic has also been incredibly rewarding, as it allows me to contribute to the artistic and operational success of the Philharmonic. The Mexico City Philharmonic has received some of the finest artists in the world and now it recovered much of its original values: going out to meet the people in the public squares, reaching out to new audiences and supporting the educational and cultural efforts of the Mexico City government, thanks to the efforts of Maestro Scott Yoo, General Managers Roberto Mejía (RIP) and José María Serralde, and myself. I am very proud of that and I hope this can go on for many more years.
