Interview with Pablo Sáinz Villegas, guitarist

1. LisaMazzucco
PULLING ATTHE
Pablo Sáinz Villegas
appears with the
Oregon Symphony
October 25–27, 2014

2. 11 | oregon symphony
By Samantha Edington
When a six-year-old Pablo Sáinz Villegas saw renowned guitarist Andrés Segovia play on TV, he was captivated
by the music’s emotional power. And now, when he closes his eyes and strums his guitar, Villegas is doing more than
producing beautiful sounds—he’s reliving the emotions of what he’s playing. He compares it to jumping into a river
of music and letting it carry him wherever it goes as he says, “I like to be infused in it.” After jumping into this musical
river, he has swept through more than 30 countries, winning over audiences and symphonies with his charismatic
stage presence while scooping up numerous awards along the way.
Eager to share music’s power to inspire and connect people of different social and economic situations, Villegas
founded his outreach program, The Music Without Borders Legacy, in 2007. Through it, he visits schools to play classical
music to children and share related stories that instill positive values because “they are going to absorb beauty and
quality if you offer them that.” Another priority for Villegas is “working a lot to really create more opportunity
around the guitar and trying to develop all that culture around it.” He has been refocusing the spotlight on the guitar,
attempting to enrich the repertoire and carve out a more prominent role for it on the symphonic stage. As the first
guitarist to win Spain’s highest musical honor, “El Ojo Crítico,” he’s not only doing that, but he is also reinforcing
Spain’s claim to fame for producing the best classical guitarists in the world.
InSymphony: This is your first time performing with the
Oregon Symphony. What are you looking forward to?
PSV: I’m looking for a great musical experience with a great
maestro, Carlos Kalmar; and he’s also a good friend. We connected
musically right from the first moment, and he inspired me so
much—his musicality, his persona, his humanity, his emotions,
his technique. He invited me to be part of the Oregon Symphony
concert series, and I was really pleased. I’m looking to share where
I am from and the instrument that is so linked to my culture.
InSymphony: When you play, you make it look simple. What
kind of discipline does it take to make it look so easy?
PSV: I started playing the guitar when I was six years old, after
watching a video of Andrés Segovia on TV, and I was always very
inspired by the guitar. It requires a lot of discipline and passion,
determination, being very demanding with the music you are
playing, being very demanding with the instrument and the
technique,and being very demanding with what you are as a human
being. In the end, it’s about communicating through emotions.
When you play an instrument, the technique is the base of
a gigantic pyramid, and if you don’t have that, you don’t have
anything. But then you need the musicality linked to the technical
needs of the music and the instrument, and then once you have
the technical, the musicality, you need the emotions, which is
going to be the top of the pyramid. So, you really need to create a
balance between these three elements to connect to the people and
to move them and inspire them, and to make music something
transcendent and a magical experience. I think that’s the power of
music: the ability to heal people, to heal emotional grief, to inspire
people, to make them feel better and happy.
InSymphony: Sharing music is very important to you. What
can you tell us about your organization, The Music Without
Borders Legacy?
PSV: As a musician, I feel a responsibility to share music with
everybody and to inspire [them]. So, I think we have a social
responsibility to fulfill with people who don’t have access to art
or to classical music in particular. I started this project seven years
ago, working with the International Community Foundation, and
decided to play for all these high-risk kids in schools and institutions
HEARTSTRINGSPABLO SÁINZ VILLEGAS SHARES THE SOUL AND HUMANITY WITHIN MUSIC.

3. 12 | oregon symphony
{ }Q & A
on both sides of the border of Mexico and
the United States, Tijuana and San Diego.
I talk to them, and I tell them stories with
values, and those stories with values are
related to pieces I’ve played for them.
So I create an image—and an image is
very powerful, much more powerful
than words—and that image is totally
linked to the music, and the music fills
those images. The goal of the project, The
Music Without Borders Legacy, is…not
to create professional musicians, but to
inspire all those kids to be responsible for
their own decisions in life and transmit
these values.
InSymphony: When you play, what
kind of images do you see?
PSV: When I close my eyes, I don’t
recreate defined, concrete images; it’s
more an abstract connection with the
music I’m playing. My approach to music
is to become the music I’m playing, trying
to really be part of that sensation, that
emotion that I’m trying to transmit.
I explain it with a metaphor: It’s
like jumping into a river, and then, from
the first note, you are inside the river—I
like to be infused in it. And then just the
music running along is bringing you to
different places. It is so important to let
yourself go with that flow. What I try to do
when I’m on the stage is invite the people
to participate [in] having that journey and
that emotion through music. That’s my
way to communicate with them.
InSymphony: You’ll be playing Concierto
de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo. What
should we know about it?
PSV: The first movement is a bulería
[flamenco rhythm]. Then the second
movement is this beautiful adagio.
Rodrigo and his wife had a miscarriage.
For both of them, it was a very dramatic
moment of their lives, and Rodrigo
was composing this concerto, so it’s an
homage to his lost child. During this
movement, it’s a lament, it’s a crying, it’s a
conversation with God, asking him, “Why
did you take my son away?” And after
that, he makes peace with God and with
himself; there is this beautiful, peaceful
moment when it’s accepting the death of
his son. So, it’s a beautiful, dramatic piece,
and it’s part of where I am as a human
For an extend-
ed version of this and
other interviews, visit
http://orsymphony.
skiesamerica.com
or scan this QR code
with your smartphone.
being. I identify because it’s so dramatic,
and I’ve played it so many times. I try to
be part of the pain of the composer. And
every time I play it, it’s a revelation for
me. I think of it as part of myself already.
And then the third movement is the
happy movement to balance this dramatic
moment. It’s inspired in Spanish music,
but instead of flamenco, it’s inspired in
the folk music. The folk music in Spain
is not so dramatic as the flamenco is, and
dancers who dance folk music jump into
the air. So, there are these two universal
forces, the first movement going down,
and the third movement going up. That
balance, that middle movement, which is
so dramatic, and the third movement is
this very gallant, I could say caballeresque
[chivalrous], movement and rhythm that
balances the other two very well.
Portland Columbia
SymPhony orCheStra
Steven ByeSS
Music Director & Conductor
2014-2015
33rd Season
503.234.4077
columbiasymphony.org
French Connections
September 19 & 21
BERLIOZ: Roman Carnival Overture
FAURÉ: Pavane
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G
MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition
Anna Polonsky, pianoSteven Byess
“Polonsky’s playing is extraordinary—elegant, intelligent, and acutely sensitive ...
her warm legato hints at a string player’s sensibility ... ”
— The Oregonian