Twenty years ago, the New Orleans Symphony declared bankruptcy. It could have been the end of a long history of great classical music in our area, but the music did not die. The musicians in the symphony banded together, decided to create their own organization: the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the only symphony in America owned and operated by musicians. This is the first in a three-part series on the the LPO, beginning with the conductor, who is very much a man on a mission.
NEW ORLEANS – Carlos Miguel Prieto is an emerging superstar in the world of classical music –- passionate, focused and committed.
Educated at Princeton and Harvard Universities, he follows in the musical steps of his father and grandfather. He is conductor and music director for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, but New Orleans shares him with three other orchestras, including two in his native Mexico.
Yet it is here where his heart is.
Carlos Miguel Prieto signed his contract with the LPO one week before Hurricane Katrina. He was actually conducting in South Korea when the storm hit, and watched on television as the city went underwater. He says he never wavered in his commitment to return to lead the LPO.
“I am in love with the symphony. I am in love with the orchestra. I am in love with the people of the city,” Prieto said. “It would be unthinkable for me to say, ‘No, I don't want to.’ It was actually a great opportunity.”
An opportunity, he says, for the LPO to be even more meaningful in New Orleans’ recovery because, he feels, music has a deeper meaning and a healing power.
“What drew me was the character of the orchestra. To me, music is not about how well you play the notes, it is about how you capture the character behind the notes,” he said.
Prieto has nothing but respect for the 67 musicians he leads.
“We have incredible musicians who are actually not being paid what I consider an appropriate salary,” Prieto said.
These men and women, he says, make less than half what musicians make in comparable symphonies such as Cleveland and Cincinnati.
“The fact that they are here and they are giving their effort and their life to the LPO and to New Orleans is something that is quite heroic,” he said.
It is their loyalty and commitment that drive him to bring in more supporters and efforts are paying off. This season has 600 new concert subscribers, no small feat with a diminished population and an economic recession Prieto calls the second storm.
The orchestra and its music are about human connection. Prieto believes it is what a community should value and support.
“If so much of our lives are dictated by profit or dictated by economic terms, we will completely lose our soul and what is more meaningful in life,” Prieto said.
The role of the LPO is to bring beautiful music to all who love it, but it is also to educate, most of these musicians also teach.
“We just need children to know that they can express themselves with a clarinet, with a trumpet, with a piano,” he said.
Prieto says the next generation will not remember us for how much profit we generated. It will remember us for how many Beethovens and Bernsteins we helped create.
For the LPO, the 20-year effort to keep the music playing is going strong. For the dynamic conductor who now leads the way, it is nothing short of a labor of love.
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Carlos Miguel Prieto leads an orchestra full of incredible people. Thursday at 6 p.m. on Channel 4, meet a young woman who came here after the reorganization and has taken a leadership role. Angela Hill shows why this artist is not only a very talented musician, but also a competitor on many levels.
