Rodrigo García Ameneiros and a career he loves: Music

July 30, 2019

Young Cuban musicians Rodrigo García Ameneiros and Tania Haase make up the duo Espiral. They have already earned recognition for their work in Cuba and around the world, as they play piano and violin as if they were playing life itself, with delicacy and passion.

They bring to Cuba the pride of being worthy representatives of the Island's culture in the world, in addition to a second prize at the Grand Prize Virtuoso Amsterdam 2019 International Competition. Regarding this award, the pianist spoke exclusively with Periódico Cubarte.

What does the Grand Prize Virtuoso Amsterdam International Competition mean?

The Gran Prize Virtuoso competition is an international competition that has been held in different places. It takes place every year and participation is online. Our duo sent a video to participate in the chamber music category, where we performed the piece Viernes de ciudad, by Aldo López Gavilán.

The peculiarity of this competition is that it has no age limits; from 18 years old you compete with all chamber music representatives and solo instrumentalists who participate.

The prizes are awarded to the most outstanding presentations and are divided into first, second, and third place, and only a small selection of all those who participated are invited to the Awards Gala. As an incentive, they allow you to perform in an important venue in the host country, which in this case was the Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam.

It was a tremendous experience, because this is one of the most important halls in Europe. It's a pride to have been able to participate.

What were the differences in your presentation? What do you think made the prize possible?

The competition in its fundamentals states that they are looking for a good, developed artistic personality. Possibly that's what made it possible for us to be awarded. Additionally, the music we played was somewhat different from what is generally presented in that type of competition, because we played Cuban music, music from this century.

It's not common for a piece by such a young composer as Aldo López-Gavilán to be presented at competitions. Moreover, that language that we have worked on on other occasions, in Aldo's own works, we have incorporated well and it showed in the performance. Proud to have been able to represent Cuban music and one of our favorite composers.

Why perform a piece by Aldo López-Gavilán and what does this artist mean in your career?

First, the name of our duo, Espiral, is from an Aldo piece. We loved giving this name to the duo from the beginning, because it was a piece that both of us really liked and, moreover, we follow Aldo's work in general very closely because we are fortunate to have him nearby. During the four years I studied at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, at the intermediate level, he was also my teacher. I think he is one of my idols and I believe Tania's as well, musically.

He is a great person and that's why we chose one of his works to present ourselves at the competition. Furthermore, Viernes de ciudad specifically was one of the works with which Tania graduated from the intermediate level at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory. We played the piece some time ago, a work that has been quite a challenge, because except for Aldo or some other violinists, it has not been played by anyone else, and certainly not been interpreted by a duo completely external to the composer. It was a challenge and a great honor to have been the first.

What challenges does being a member of the UNETE Artists Network of the United Nations System against violence against women and girls entail, and also being an Ambassador of the Ibero-American and African Masculinities Network?

It represents a great challenge and tremendous joy because I believe that music, like the rest of the arts, is another means to help society solve the problems that harm it, such as violence in general and violence against women and girls. I think it is a quality that we artists have, that we need to know and know how to use for the common good.

It has been a tremendous pleasure to have worked continuously in the Ibero-American and African Masculinities Network. Also, to participate in different tours of the Contracorriente campaign led by my mom Rochy Ameneiro, who has always been involved with the Network. I am proud to have contributed from our art to the well-being of the population and to the fight against violence, which is long, unfortunately. Nevertheless, I feel that increasingly more of us are contributing to this tremendous cause.

At what point do you think your career is at?

I believe it is at a moment of development, of learning, of studying, of continuing to strive continuously. In general what happens with artists is that we never finish studying, learning, and changing our concepts and the way we see art.

I consider myself fortunate to have been able to be in places like the Concertgebouw, which have enriched me spiritually and have also benefited my resume, my career, and my experience as a musician.

It is the time to continue studying and learning as much as possible from all the great musicians I have the pleasure of having around me and from my teachers at the University of the Arts (ISA).

What future projects do you have in mind?

First, continue studying. I'm now starting my second year at ISA. I want to continue with the Espiral duo, working together, which is something we have been doing for a few years and that we are very happy to be able to do. Tania and I are fortunate to have been family for almost seven years, because we are in a relationship and sharing in work is a different thing, difficult and enriching for both of us.

I also want to continue with my group that I founded more than two years ago. We are about to finish a concert recording we did at Bellas Artes, a DVD that will be called Te estoy llamando, with my pieces.

I want to continue studying, working as much as possible, and enjoying this career that we love: music.

How do you assess Cuban artistic education and how has it influenced you particularly?

Cuban artistic education is one of the best in Latin America, and moreover, a school that has much prestige worldwide. I think there is much talent in Cuba and of course much of this talent is influenced by teachers and the quality with which they teach.

However, I would like there to be an option for all musicians, not only to study concert music, classical music, but also for us to have the opportunity to study Cuban popular music more deeply, which has become famous throughout the entire world, and to study jazz currents, which today are many and enrich music.

This way, musicians would be given, from childhood, from adolescence, knowledge about the different currents from which they could choose in their professional lives. Not all of us musicians like classical music equally; you have to have the tools when it comes time to decide and take a path.

Cuban artistic education is extremely important at a worldwide level and if we have this musical tradition in Cuba, we owe it to that system.

What defines you as a musician?

I would like everything that revolves around the concept of communication to define me as a musician. Music is largely about communicating, both on stage and with the public, with the population in general, and sending with it a message that affects them emotionally or for good, in a society. Or simply, sending a message of fun, but always communicating.

Why choose the piano?

When I was a child, about 5 or 6 years old, I started going to workshops that my aunt Daiana García did with small children to introduce them to music. I started to really like music and my aunt initially wanted me to take up the cello, which was an instrument she really liked. However, I started leaning toward the piano, also because I had little Aldo nearby.

I really liked the piano and started going to workshops with Hortensia Upman and then she herself was my teacher for the 7 years of the elementary level.

Another instrument that attracts me a lot is the bass, both electric and acoustic. I would like one day to be able to play, even if it's the electric, because the acoustic could give me blisters on my hands and for the piano it would bother me. Perhaps the electric one day I can play. Hopefully.

I really like instruments, the trumpet especially in jazz. String instruments are also very beautiful, but to play I would like the bass and the trumpet.

What do you think your success at such a young age is owed to?

I am fortunate to have the experience I have so far, and with the few years I have, to have been able to play in some very important halls in the world, to have been able to play in almost all the halls in our country, and to have been able to do what I have done so far.

I feel very happy and very proud, and I am grateful to all the people who have helped me achieve it. I think the key is to work hard, to feel good about what you are doing, and to be prepared so that when an opportunity arises you can take advantage of it and be ready to show others the work you are doing, at the moment that is appropriate and timely.