Oh yes, and probably for non-musical endeavors, too.

Nilo is the BEST. THE BEST... Can I just say... THE BEST.

In all seriousness, he's one of my dearest friends and I love and respect him. When we work together (we've done about a dozen projects now over the years, small and large), the words always come first, but before the words, there's a lot of mutual discussion about the subject matter, often over meals, and spending time talking about our lives, too. We're both storytellers so we have to spend time exchanging stories of all kinds before we focus all of that energy onto a specific tale.

Then, Nilo goes away for a while and comes up with texts. He passes that along to me and I start the musical side of things. I will often move some texts around, or repeat words for musical effect, sometimes ask for more text, or ask him to edit things down, while he has ultimate say on how he wants the texts to go.

Now that I've begun to use a software program called NotePerformer (I've been thus far too impatient to learn Ableton, Logic Pro, etc, which allows the computer to simulate your music), I can actually share with him a pretty good realization of the music before actual rehearsals. I did that with this opera last year, for instance, and it was really helpful.

All this to say -- Discussion-words-music-ping pong back and forth is the order of our work. And even in rehearsals for the opera, just yesterday, we added a line for Diego to sing with Frida right at the very end. This was Nilo's suggestion when he heard the music. The ping-pong, exchanging of ideas is very important for our creative success.

And yeah... censorship seriously sucks. I was shocked and angry how that all went down.

Great advice. I think this method of practice would go for any instrument, no?

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Your thoughts on the Game of Thrones theme. If you were asked to compose it what would it sound like?

Also how did you start doing this? I've always admired composers and wonder how they even got started like what made them so good at it that they'd consider it a career?

English isn't my first language so I apologize if the questions don't make much sense.

Thanks for the AMA!

Thanks for sharing! Off to read it. And it seems there was a NY Times piece on your opera as well. Very cool. Congratulations!

Good morning, roastandstir! (What a great handle, ja ja ja!)

I grew up on a Yamaha upright so I have a real fondness for them (SD Opera took a sneaky video of me playing the Yamaha grand from our rehearsals that they put out on social media... I just couldn't resist.). That said, I have a Steinway grand now from the early 1900s, a golden era for their pianos, if you ask me. Wonderful bass.

Piano piece(s) difficult for me to play: Anything from the early classical era. I can down Bartok and much contemporary, but Haydn slays me with just a glance.

Coordinating piano hands at the keyboard: Hmmm... I think an actual piano teacher would give you a more informed answer, but one thing I do when trying to stretch my piano skills is to break up my practice into multiple short sessions through a day. Studies show that this is much more productive to learning than one long session. Perhaps this kind of practice would help you?

Yes. I make a good salad. Normalize fruit in savory salads.

I'm a theatre geek so I'm excited to hear that you are working with Nilo Cruz. What's it like to collaborate with Nilo Cruz? Does music come first then text? Or do you compose music based on his words? (I also want to say censorship sucks and I was very angry to read about his plays not being performed in Florida based on the fact he is gay.)

Can you bring a salad?

Fort Worth: Oh gosh, I really really really really really really hope so! But you know, the composer is the last to know. Perhaps write them?

Next piece: My final work for the Philadelphia Orchestra called "Picaflor" or "Hummingbird' based on Andean creation myths with a strong dash of my own narrative fancies thrown in. Due in a couple of months, so I'm putting a bit of time into it each day even with these concurrent opera rehearsals.

Thank you for this AMA!

1. Which piano make/model do you prefer?
2. Which piano piece was or is the most difficult for you to play?
3. When it comes to learning piano, is there a point in the process or timeframe (number of hours of practice) where the left amd the right hand (the brain, really) finally breaks that barrier of being able to play at the same time?
4. What is a good piece or exercize of music for a beginner to practice to overcome #3?

Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated!

I had this unexpected opportunity to contribute an opinion piece for the NY Times a couple of years ago talking about the very thing that you ask. May I point you to that article? (Let's see if I can add links here):

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/27/arts/music/beethoven-hearing-loss-deafness.html

Honestly -- and this will sound ridiculous -- I still have to pinch myself even after all of these years that I really do have this career. And in my thirties, when things began to kick into gear professionally, I didn't trust that the momentum would last, in part because there were so few people of color around me in the profession. I felt exceptionally alone at times. I actually started to feel more secure with holding onto this job when others around me with similar backgrounds began to show up and become successful, too. It demonstrated that the values of classical music were beginning to shift and I wasn't just "flavor of the day" if that makes any sense. I would say that was in my early forties (and I just turned 50 recently). It's been a long journey, and I feel very grateful.

PS -- I hope you enjoy the opera!

Of course lol. It’s not that it’s the same drink over and over again, it’s the different varieties that it comes in. it’s like adding an extra six drinks to our mental list for only like 3 months, which is super annoying but seasonal changes keeps people coming back.

That's a great question. I likely have to mull on this for a bit to parse out all the ways it's different and similar. But, off the top of my head, the specificity of the words is paradoxically both defining (sometimes even confining) and liberating. On the one hand, the very shape of the lyricism has to wrap around the syllabic shape of the words, unless you're thwarting that for a meaningful expressive reason. On the other, my librettist Nilo Cruz has an unbelievable imagination that takes me into worlds I could never originate myself. So, I come up with music I never would have come up with otherwise, and that's liberating for me. It leaves me a better composer... So, that's one important thing that vocal music can do for me as opposed to instrumental music without another writer's words.

Great question.

Answer for 1: Covid made them disappear. We still have them out, but you have to ask, and they used to stay out until they were used, so not really a money-saving tactic lol.

Second: I’d say order your drink with no room if your having this issue. sometimes measurements are slightly off, and the foam is there to correct for underfilling the cup. Again, i’d just order it with no room or without room.

Hi ooru -- See above (tiranog22) for some of your answers!

For the rest: My husband is into reggae so I've been educated in this whole sphere. Lately, it's been Burning Spear. I retain a very warm fondness for 80s music, and a bit of 90s, soundtrack of my youth.

AI-generated music: Oh my GODDDDDDD... Is that happening already? My mother, a retired stained glass artist, is having a lot of fun on her ipad with AI-generated art, and I'm frightened at how good some of its creations are...

It freaks me out, to be honest. Am I going to be out of a job? Can it write operas?

Scratch that. 6. I'm crashing. Sounds lovely.

That you would pay money to hear me play? Only one, piano. I can bleat/beat/bow notes on nearly most instruments of the orchestra and a few indigenous Andean instruments but I'd have to pay you to listen.

This is a loaded question. Do I have to answer? ;-)

Fun question!

Guests:

Mark Twain

Arya Stark

Frida Kahlo

Bela Bartok

Michelle Obama

Dinner: My California-Peruvian fusion of coconut soup with seafood and veggies from our garden. A good local white wine. Huckleberry-lemonade, also from the garden.

Playlist: Afro-peruano music. Seriously wonderful stuff, likely Jolgorio.

Definitely English! Although I'm one of those where my accent is good so people think I'm a native speaker for the first couple of minutes of conversation, just not from their country, ja ja. They didn't know I needed hearing aids when I was born so learning to hear and speak English properly when I was fitted (around age 5) was a laborious endeavor for several years with speech therapists, etc. We just didn't put that kind of effort towards Spanish later, so English remains my most comfortable language.

As Philadelphia Orch's composer-in-residence, you are right in that I don't actually live there. I just go there to work with the symphony.

As for chickens that I raise in Mendocino County, my husband likes to call them Mendo-mestizas (with mestiza meaning "mixed race"). We started off with Cream Legbars and silkies, and have been breeding blends of these ever since -- Lovely, friendly birds that go broody so we have built-in nannies/moms when it's time to hatch another flock of chicks. Good layers, too, not really meat birds.

Questions from our Instagram:
- "Will this production ever come back to Forth Worth?"
- "What are you composing next?"

Congratulations on your first opera! I was reading about you and learned you are partially deaf. While you are not the first deaf composer (Beethoven comes to mind), most of the ones I know about are , well, decomposing.

How has this affected your musical palette and approach to composition? I know Beethoven used lower frequencies as he experienced hearing loss and I'm wondering how you approach composing with your unique way of hearing.

P.S. I have friends in San Diego and I told them about your opera and they told me they already have tickets .