Tamara Gonzalez brings expertise and passion to GTCYS' Concertino East orchestra

Tamara Gonzalez doesn't consider herself a pioneer.

Never mind that she has been selected as conductor of a youth symphony in an uncharted, underserved neighborhood. Or that she's the first Hispanic person to hold such a post with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (GTCYS), now 10 ensembles strong.

"No, I wouldn't consider myself to be a trailblazer at all," she said. "I'm standing on the shoulders of many females and musicians of color. We're living in a moment where there's broader acceptance and acknowledgement that we exist."

She also maintained that while being based in a working-class, Hispanic-heavy district provides new possibilities, it fits a longstanding pattern.

"If you look at GTCYS' 10 years, racial and socioeconomic diversity has been at the center of that path. It's an organization that really represents the Twin Cities, moving away from the [classical-music] model that caters to an elite few," she said.

Still, she allows that Concertino East will expand geographical and demographic horizons.

"It's both of those, part and parcel, when you're talking about being accessible not just in terms of physical availability but becoming open up to students of different socioeconomic backgrounds.

"Sometimes you're addressing one need, and you end up addressing 10 others."

GYTCS executive director Megen Balda said Gonzalez's hiring addressed several goals.

"For many years now, we have been working on expanding access," Balda said. "We believe in going to the communities in order to serve them and meet them where they're at."

Balda also noted that Gonzalez got the gig for a variety of reasons.

"First was her experience as a music educator and conductor," she said, "and she stepped onto the podium and infused the rehearsal with energy. Her audition was the best of all our candidates. It spoke volumes about her.

"I want to be very clear that we hired her because she's the best person for the job. Quality and experience trump other factors."

Quite the C.V.

Gonzalez's experience, in retrospect, almost makes this appointment seem inevitable. She took up Suzuki violin studies at 4 and began playing in orchestras in first grade. When she was 15, she performed under the baton of Marin Alsop, one of the "shoulders" on which she is now perched.

"Seeing her in that position of power at such a young age made me realize I could pursue that," Gonzalez said. "It suddenly clicked for me that this was something I could pursue."

She immediately sought out private conducting lessons, hooking up with Roselín Pabón, conductor emeritus of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. Gonzalez continued with a traditional education, earning bachelor's and master's music degrees with distinction in violin performance at DePaul University, then completing teacher training in Suzuki Violin. She stayed in Chicago, working as a Suzuki instructor and arts administrator.

And, of course, she played the violin, with the Chicago Sinfonietta, Sphinx Festival Orchestra, Chicago Classical Symphony, Rockford (Ill.) Symphony and Southwest Michigan Symphony.

In 2014, she moved to the Twin Cities, eventually landing on the faculty at MacPhail Center for Music, teaching violin and viola while also coaching chamber music at the Sartory Quartet Institute. For the past two years, she has served as Classical Minnesota Public Radio's bilingual orchestra clinician, teaching string and orchestra workshops at elementary, junior-high and high schools across Minnesota.

Earlier this year, she guest-conducted the Robbinsdale School District Spring Festival, directing a combined ensemble of more than 500 string students. She also has conducted the DaCapo & Sinfonia Suzuki string orchestras, MacPhail Northside Youth Orchestra, and School Partnerships orchestras at Ascension Catholic School.

Whew.

'The ultimate instrument'

Clearly, teaching is in this young woman's DNA.

"I'm very passionate about music and music education and at my happiest when sharing that passion with young musicians," Gonzalez said.

And so is conducting.

"I've always had a view that the orchestra is the ultimate instrument," she said. "You get to paint the canvas with all the colors and timbres. It's similar to a chef adding more salt or more acid. More violin, less trombone. It's about guiding the orchestra to blend their sounds together so that the composer's intentions are easily appreciated and understood by the audience."

While she hopes to incorporate the works of women of color such as Angelica Negrón, Jessie Montgomery and Maria Issa into Concertino East's repertoire, Gonzalez's impetus will be on people as much as music.

"I hope my students learn lifelong skills, not just musical skills, and [benefit from] time spent as a community," she said. "I believe in teamwork and in the transformative power of what a group of young people at that stage can do. I want everyone wanting the piccolo [player] to nail the solo, to have a sense of ownership and a sense of belonging to the ensemble, to develop confidence and appreciation of craft."

Or, as Balda put it, "we want Concertino East to be a community where students thrive, where they feel welcome and they feel like they can learn valuable lessons that shape their future in school and beyond."

East Side evolution

As it turns out, the timing could not be more fortuitous for this part of the Twin Cities.

(That's at least leaving aside the pandemic-induced isolation. While the young musicians can't rehearse together for now, GTCYS is still holding online auditions and has expanded its scholarship program, as well.)

Concertino East is arriving at about the same time as two other new musical programs for East Side youth: an outlet of the Burnsville-based Twin Cities Catalyst Music and a jazz club for students via the House of Payne.

These entities join "an excellent music program at Farmsworth Middle School," said Anne DeJoy, executive director of the East Side Neighborhood Development Company.

"In a lower-income community, there are always concerns about not having enough opportunities for youth," DeJoy said. "There are lots of opportunities for kids in sports, but music is usually just a class deal. But now all these music programs are looking very promising. And these days you don't have to be affluent to get violin lessons.

"I wish I was a young person now because the opportunities are there."

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