Latin America's Innovative Orchestra Conductor
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Today on State of the World, the Colombian orchestra conductor who's wowing audiences with his innovative and personal approach to concert going.

You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. I'm Christine Arismath. Classical music usually brings to mind Western Europe, but these days, some of the world's most innovative orchestra conductors hail from Latin America. Reporter John Otis has this profile of one of the most sought after, from Colombia.

At the Metropolitan Theater in the city of Medellin, the Colombian Youth Philharmonic is rehearsing under the baton of Andres Orozco Estrada. The 47-year-old conductor is prepping them for the following night's concert when suddenly he stops the music. He wants more drama from the violins and more power from the cellos. To show what he means, he starts stomping his feet.

It's only practice, but Orozco Estrada is working up a sweat. He's garnered rave reviews across the globe for his exuberance and for his ability to connect with musicians and concertgoers at a time when classical music is struggling to maintain its audience. He understands that classical music can feel really intimidating to people. That's Rebecca Zabinski.

who directs artistic planning for the Houston Symphony, where Orozco Estrada spent nine years as music director. And so he is trying to figure out a way to show people the beauty of that by removing what could be seen as barriers. We only listen to the first ones and they respond to them.

For example, rather than keeping his back to the audience, Orozco Estrada often addresses the crowd. He'll explain what Mozart or Mendelssohn were trying to do, or how the first and second violins play off each other. Often, he'll crack wise about his own foibles as a conductor, as he did at this concert in Bogota. Well, that's all for today.

Sometimes he'll invite audience members on stage to get a better feel for what it's like to be in an orchestra. For this performance in Germany of a composition that alludes to the Amazon jungle, Orozco Estrada handed out hundreds of tiny flutes to concertgoers. Later in the piece, he turned around and began conducting the crowd, which used the flutes to replicate birdsong. ♪

Suddenly, the whole venue was like an Amazonian forest. That's Juan Andres Rojas, director of Columbia's Youth Philharmonic, who was at the concert. It was beautiful, but also very powerful for the audience being part of the piece.

Besides engaging the crowd, Orozco Estrada also inspires his musicians, says Laura Parra, who plays viola in Colombia's Youth Philharmonic. He has so much energy. It's overwhelming sometimes because as a musician you get tired throughout the rehearsal, but you see that he's so inspired and keeps that energy throughout the whole rehearsal that

that it keeps you motivated to keep playing and doing your best. During a break at the rehearsal in Medellín, Roscoe Estrada tells me that while growing up here, he attended a music school that encouraged students to enjoy themselves. So my approach to the music is not super intellectual or super like disciplined in a way that it needs to be like super in the box and tricked and almost like kind of military. Yeah.

He started out on violin, then switched to conducting at age 14. He lacked a baton until he spotted the antenna, a

atop the family TV. And I thought, this might be a very good idea because it's very practical. I can make it longer, bigger. So then I disconnected the antenna from the TV. My mom wasn't very happy with it because after that we couldn't watch the TV anymore. But anyway, I took it.

Makeshift baton in hand, he would conduct every chance he got, even when there were no musicians around. Like with music in your head? Yeah.

normal kid being Superman and taking a towel as a cape. So you were a superconductor. Exactly. I thought, ah, I can fly with this baton. Indeed, the profession has taken him to great heights.

In 1997, he was accepted into the top conducting school in Vienna, classical music's Mecca. Since then, he's conducted some of the world's greatest orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, and Italy's RAI National Symphony.

Zawinski of the Houston Symphony describes Orozco Estrada as a singular talent. You have more of a chance of becoming an NFL player than you do becoming a professional conductor at the level of Andres. He's like an Olympian. Some connoisseurs believe classical music should speak for itself without any bells and whistles.

And in more traditional venues, Orozco Estrada will tone it down. But he's naturally gregarious. The audience were always so happy when I just say, welcome, I'm so happy we're playing this. Or I was thinking, or I choose this piece because I love this and this. Or listen carefully about this second movement, it's going to be so beautiful, I feel like it's da-da-da. And the people were like, whoa, thank you.

He's hoping for a similar reception at tonight's performance in Medellin, in which the youth philharmonic will play pieces by Bach and Czech composer Antonín Dvořák.

As the string section warms up, the Metropolitan Theater starts filling up. Leaving his dressing room, Oscar Estrada stops to take selfies with his young musicians, who plainly adore him. Then they hit the stage.

It turns out that Orozco Estrada is in such high demand in the U.S. and Europe that he rarely makes it back to Colombia. So, for the audience, tonight's concert is a special treat, a rare chance to see their hometown hero. For NPR News, I'm John Otis in Medellín, Colombia.

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