University Daily Kansan / Friday, March 4, 1988
Jacque Janssen, arts/features editor
11
Arts & Entertainment
Symphony leader Perez-Gomez has style of conductor
By Julie Adam
Kansan staff writer
His hand clutches a baton to translate scores to musicians as his mind grasps plans that will lead to more successes for the University Symphony Orchestra.
The future of the orchestra is now in the hands of this man. Jorge Pergamino
Jorge Perez-Gomez, director of the University Symphony Orchestra, conducts in one of his classes.
Perez-Gomez started his position as director of the orchestra this summer after the former director, Zuohuang Chen, returned to his native China after two years of conducting orchestra at KU.
What Chen brought to the KU orchestra in his two years here, Perez-Gomez sees as a challenge to continue and improve with new ideas of his own.
Perez-Gomez will show his new ideas when he conducts his first spring concert at KU with the University Symphony Orchestra at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Crafton-Prever Theatre in Murphy Hall.
"I hope I can continue on those lines," he said. "It's really much easier to continue to develop on that ground than to have to start from scratch or from the beginning."
Perez-Gomez said that Chen left a very positive impression of what the orchestra
But Perez-Gomez has more on his mind than skeletons of a former administration. His goals for a more extensive collaboration among the theatre, dance and orchestra keep him making plans and becoming more than just an orchestra conductor.
"We all have our different styles, but I think that if the purpose is to love the music and enrich the student's life, everything will be fine," he said with gestures that resembled the motions he made conducting.
Perez-Gomez is hardly unqualified to talk about love and dedication to music.
His love for music started when he was 9 years old in Mexico City, when he was learning to play the piano. After high school, he went to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and got his bachelor's degree in orchestra conducting.
His realization that he wanted to conduct orchestra instead of perform in it
And he learned that the entire orchestra was the conductor's instrument.
was sealed after he went to Italy to study with the late Franco Ferrera. There, he developed the passion for conducting and the understanding of its importance.
"Speaking of the possibilities of the orchestra as an instrument, you have so much to work with color-wise, and the different nuances that you can create out of the orchestra is such that I don't think any instrument can compare with it. So you as a conductor have so many possibilities in front of you," he said.
After Perez-Gomez received his master's degree in conducting at Northwestern University and his doctorate at Eastman School of Music, he was offered the job of being resident conductor for the Tula Philharmonic.
But he really wanted to teach and conduct at the same time. And in 1897, Perez-Gomez, came to KU and found his dream becoming a reality.
With four degrees, three in conducting and one in industrial engineering, Perez-Gomez arrived with every intention of making KU and Lawrence his home.
But all of his years studying in the
Spanish accent have not affected his clear
Spanish accent.
"The ideal situation for me was always to find a possibility to perform as a conductor and also to teach because I love to teach," he said.
"One of the great satisfactions I get is to see people grow and have their music."
And a great satisfaction for the orchestra was to have Perez-Gomez as the person to replace Zuohuang Chen, assistant professor of music and tuba.
"He is as good of a leader in orchestra and conductor as we could have hoped for." he said.
Perez-Gomez is setting goals for the orchestra program and the students, too. He wants students and people attending the orchestra to sing as music as an experience, not just a melody.
"My main objective is to really have them be in love with the music, though. They sometimes lose perspective of what
the music is and put emphasis an abstraction," he said.
"We all relate to a landscape or to a love, tragedy, or to being in love with someone or to something that has happened in our lives. But we only relate to music as quarter notes or half notes or signs on a page. That in itself doesn't mean anything. That is like words in a language without a context."
Perez-Gomez also feels an obligation to get the orchestra to have more community recognition and to get high school students from around the area to be involved in the KU orchestra.
But Perez-Gomez thinks that the experience of attending a concert is not actively shared by enough people. People
find watching television or turning on the radio easier than listening and making the effort to understand a symphony piece, he said.
"Perhaps what people don't know is that being in the concert is a unique experience because you don't only listen to music through your ears but also through your eyes," he said.
"I'm not saying that you go to a concert to work, but there is something alive in you that gets touchee when you are in a live performance that you just don't have
Perez-Gomez said that nothing could be a substitute for a live performance. Those who, watch him on Sunday will find out what he means.
Movie features vintage glimpse of Down Under
By Kevin Dilmore Konson staff writer
Adnsdlt Stdll Writer
Although the title might lead people to think it is a comedy, "Kangaroo," now playing at Liberty Hall, is a carefully directed drama fueled by strong performances.
British actor Colin Friels stars as Richard Somers, a well known novelist and essayist, who is suspected by police of being a German spy during World War I. Tired of constant abuse and accusations, he and his wife, played by Judy Davis, leave England after the war and move to Svdnev, Australia.
There, Somers shows an interest in Australian politics. Before he realizes it, he becomes entangled with an underground Fascist army led by a general known only as "Kangaroo," placed by Hugh Kebs-Byrne.
Film Review
Friels is compelling as Somers, a character based on writer D. H. Lawrence. He begins in the film as a self-centered bore, appearing as the stereotypical conceited writer. But Friels slowly peels away the skins of his character as he becomes more involved with Kangaroo. He draws the audience into the film by slowly becoming sympathetic and concerned for what he calls a country without a history.
Kangaroo tries to enlist Somers in his plot to overthrow the Australian government because he wants a writer to justify rebellion to the people. But Somers is unsure of both Kangaroo's intentions and his own feelings.
The film's director, Tim Burstall, deftly balances the performances in "Kangaroo." In one section of the film, Somers becomes somewhat withdrawn while deciding whether to work with Kangaroo. As his screen presence diminishes, Bursall slowly emphasizes Harriet, Somer's wife, Judy Davis lends a quiet strength to scenes that otherwise would drag. Davis won the Australian Academy Award for her role.
Instead of having Hugh Byrne play Kangaroo as a pompous dictator-to-be, Burstall mutes the actor a bit. Keys-Byrne avoids the expected swaggering image to play Kangaroo as a charming and almost lovable hero. When soldiers swear oaths to die for Kangaroo's cause, they are credible.
Though Burstall concentrates on the acting, the smaller details of the film are not ignored. For instance, he takes great care to light every interior, using a low-key style that casts shadows as if from kerosene lamps. He maneuvers Friels through patterns of light and darkness that reflect his character's indecision.
"Kangaroo" is a well-crafted film that might not incite an audience to cheer but does offer more depth and entertainment than the title may imply.
"Kangaroo" is rated R for violence and sexual situations.
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