KINGSVILLE, Tx — A group of students and two professors from Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) will be packing their bags and heading to Dublin, Ireland in July. They were selected to perform at ClarinetFest, an international conference where all types of clarinetists will exchange ideas and materials.
A four man quartet called Los Padres Del Clarinete Bajo will be taking their skills overseas to perform for the first time ever in front of an international audience.
The four students met over time and joined forces to form their now group.
"We love this. We want to do something that's ours and something that we can be proud of. I can honestly say that playing with these guys, there's nothing else I would rather be doing than playing with them," senior Rudy Rodriguez said.
When the groups fourth member graduated from TAMUK and attended graduate school up North, it made it more difficult for the students to practice all together.
“We’ll have perhaps one or two weeks to throw everything together and we’ll see what happens,” Junior Leo Palma said.
Palma said time away isn’t exactly a bad thing for them. In fact, it’s a challenge they’ve already overcame to get selected for ClarinetFest.
“We only had a month to come up with pieces and get it performance ready. Since we weren’t really together we practiced on our own. Then two days before Kevin had to leave to Pennsylvania, we got together, recorded and submitted whatever we did there,” senior Daniel Troncoso said.
Over a thousand applicants applied to attend the International Convention, but there were only about 130 slots. Los Padres Del Clarinete Bajo weren’t the only ones from TAMUK’s music program that made a slot.
Clarinet Professors Dr.Andrea Vos-Rochefort and Dr. Karen Bronson will also be performing pieces. They have both attended previous ClarinetFests.
“They divide recital spots up and it’s rare to get a full recital spot. We’re very grateful we all got one. When they see their professor do it they say ‘oh someday I can do that,’ and what’s even more exciting is when they see their colleagues do that they go ‘oh I can maybe do that now,” Dr.Vos-Rochefort said.
Dr. Vos-Rochefort said she will perform a program for impactful activism for a bass clarinet choir for twelve people. She will also play a clarinet solo and she is sponsored by Buffet-Crampon.
Dr.Karen Bronson will also be playing solo pieces for clarinet. She will be playing all Latin music from composers from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Peru.
“I just feel like it’s important to represent music from that part of the country on a global scale because that music is so influential and really deserves to be recognized. We have a very healthy clarinet community here at the university. We’re all in this journey together whether you are a student or professor, we’re all musicians,” Dr.Bronson said.
Both professors said having both faculty and students attend the conference represents the university and its music program in a positive direction for current and future students.
“People we meet say where is this school? And we show them and hopefully that encourages our impact to reach outside the great state of Texas and they take notice,” Dr.Vos-Rochefort said.
All the musicians said they hope their journeys inspire other musicians from South Texas to step out of their comfort zone, because they too can end on a high note.
“Ultimately what we would like to get out of this is not only to build community but to show what the bass clarinet can do and to be a model for everyone else that you can have humble beginnings but that doesn’t mean you can’t go places,” Palma said.
Los Padres Del Clarinete Bajo are raising funds for their trip to Ireland. For fundraising events and how to donate to the group head to their Facebook @Los Padres Del Clarinete Bajo.
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