What Music Does A Conductor Listen To As His Country Falls Apart?
As he watches political unrest in his native country grow, the Venezuela-born conductor of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Izcaray, is turning to a familiar place in search of hope: music.
As he watches the political unrest in his native country grow, the Venezuela-born conductor of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Izcaray, is turning to a familiar place in search of solace and hope: music.
At the top of his playlist? The turbulent “Symphony No. 10,” by Soviet-era composer Dmitri Shostakovich.
“This is a piece that was written just after the death of one of the worst tyrants in history, Stalin, and of course, Shostakovich had to endure many, many years under this regime,” Izcaray () tells ‘s Peter O’Dowd. “The movement … the second one, it’s got this militaristic, highly volcanic energy to it, that is very much attuned to the frustration that many
