Today we’d like to introduce you to Alfonsina Torrealba
Alfonsina, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I believe my arrival in music is a story that was not expected. None of my parents or relatives had a close relationship with music and the arts: all of them have been, from a place of great humility, people of much study and sciences: a lot of engineers, neurologists, physicists, teachers, biologists and mathematicians surround me, and it was expected that “the little girl” (me) will follow exactly the same path, having an impeccable academic record and an innate ability for algebra and logic. What happened then? It was 2005 (14 years) when by curious circumstances I got a CD of music from the 70’s: progressive rock had entered my life! After that there was no more doubt, I continued to listen for hours and hours of music that took me from one place to another incessantly. I quickly became a listener of “classical rock stars” like Stravinsky, while also was passing through rockers like Jethro Tull, King Crimson or the Rolling Stones… Music has no limits!. From there, at 15 years old I asked for a birthday-Christmas gift a flute (we did not have much money to ask too much, we way too many brothers and sisters, two turtles, three chickens, many canaries and a dog), we found the cheapest at the store, and that was the thing who changed my life forever. Soon I understood that my thing was the big sound with multiple and complex instruments, and for this reason I knew that orchestral conducting was my path!…
In this sense, many genres, styles, and workspaces in the music industry have me kept quite busy, which makes sense for a professional with a long trajectory, but it is unusual for a chilean woman under 35 years old. I have been working as Orchestral and Choir Conductor, singer, and a flute player, also making a Master’s degree in Conducting. I’m also a music teacher, working from small amateur spaces to reckoned Universities, from public places to highly specialized, working with people from all over the world, including California and LA as one of my favourite places and students!. This variety of experiences is also translated into the music genres where I work, from classical and folkloric, choral fusion, and religious and jazz. Always focused on rescuing Chilean’s music heritage, I have released the book “Canto al Programa: Mirada para el Chile de Hoy”, I write for “Las vueltas del Run-Run” Podcast, and I’m the co-founder of TorreMar Music Studio, a remote studio where I connect with many different countries. Currently, I’m the Manager and the Associate Conductor at the JOsM in Madrid, trying to make the most contributions to Youth Orchestras in Chile and Spain, where the music is highly acknowledged for its value to society.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been a path that has meant many challenges: the first, to migrate from my hometown, since in Chile at that time there was no official training in conducting orchestras. So, looking for courses and places, I have had to settle down and re-settle a few times in search of what I needed, looking for courses, teachers and above all inspiration, in which there is a second challenge! Not enough examples to follow, few women conductors on the professional path, and few conductors who do not believe in a system of working that is personally imbued with very old and authoritarian forms. Being a women conductor today is living in the eclectic of these moments of change: it’s annoying some and being applauded by others, it’s awakening the unpleasant-sympathetic look of those who assume you are less suitable for the job, and open the eyes of those who really felt they could never do it. There are plenty of testimonies about those who want to make us doubt whether we are there because of our professional quality or simply for legislative ornamentation… And it is these small-huge inconveniences that many women conductors have had to make way for in a totally determined way, without looking back.
Lastly, I think as a musician we struggle with the way that world see themselve today! we often live locked in very intimate, very personal worlds, in our own reality, in our square ft. I think the greatest gift that music gives us is the ability to pull people out of that cubicle, to move them in a transcendent and unique way. Being a musician is helping to social transformation, to create community and territorial identities, and of course to unite them in the fact that all human beings are able to be moved and touched by music, and that “unique expression” we can all feel, regardless of any social, political, economic or religious differences we may have. Maybe this is the biggest challenge! And the biggest reason for why I’ll never give up on trying to make Music reach every corner of our world. Music manages to express that reality that surrounds us – as a society and as individuals – and that is exceeded by words, but that is revealed to us through music. It is our duty as musicians to bring this way of making art to the last corner of the earth.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a conductor, but above all I am a musician with the mission of getting music everywhere. It can be through direction, teaching or as a performer, singing or playing the flute, conducting the choir of some hidden village. Currently my closest place of action are the young orchestras with musicians who are starting their professional career, not only from the musical direction but as a project manager, trying to value their incredible work and effort, performing concerts in places where classical and symphonic music are not that common and easy to access. Also, doing online lessons to people from literally all continents, especially helping people who cannot access a music school because they have difficult schedules to match, are working mothers or students with many activities.
As a musician who has been to many places (including LA) I think the ability to take the leap and “go out”, look for new opportunities in new places, meet all that variety of points of views and ways to feel and connect… Being a nomad, moving from one place to another, makes you empathic and understanding how to move the different communities towards an artistic project. All the people I have known and have known me, absolutely all of them, deserve to live the experience of music in large formats like orchestral music. Adapting to so many changes gives me the ability to connect with those communities and achieve things together. Also, I think my concern for all musical styles and other disciplines helps me to understand the ways in which she can be in your life, in your profession, in your vocation, in your family, in an organization, even in a major social struggle such as combating individualism and promoting solidarity. In summary, I guess that my biggest brand, in a very complex and perfectionist world as the orchestral conducting one, is the fact that I’m not hiding of being human!…
Any big plans?
I am always looking forward and pushing to chart new paths! So far there are some confirmed dates for Valencia and Madrid, Spain (March and September this year) and some collaborations that for now I would like to keep in surprise. I feel that my path is still being created and that there are still many things to discover, so I am wide open to all possibilities.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alfonsinatorrealba.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alfonsina.torrealba
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raton.cosmico/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfonsina-torrealba-conductor
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alfonsinatorrealbaconductor
Image Credits
photos by Jesus Martínez and aroafotografía
