A7 » NEWS » JANUARY 31, 2008 » THE METROPOLITAN

Maestro finds his rhythm at Metro

By david cardenas
dcarden4@mscd.edu

Whenever Alejandro Rivas rais-

es his baton in the air leading Metro
students through complex notes and
melodies, he feels at home.
For Rivas, standing on stage is
something indescribable, almost
surreal.
“From the moment I raise my
baton, I just think about music from
beginning to end,” he said.
The second-year orchestra con-
ductor, a native of Venezuela, has
found himself at Metro where he
encourages his students to push
themselves to a higher level of mu-
sicianship.
He also recognizes the lack of
interest at Metro toward classical
music.
The one thing that the music
department wants to improve is get-
ting the student body at Metro more
involved in the arts.
“The faculty here has worked
hard in telling the students, not only
music minors or majors, about all
the great opportunities here to enjoy
ensemble concerts or musicals,” he
said.
“Our goal is to see an increase
of interest in our Metro students
toward arts by making them aware Photo by j. isaac small/jsmall4@mscd.edu
about all the great stuff the music
department has to offer … more than Metro’s new symphony conductor Alejandro Rivas stands in the King Center concert hall on Jan 28. Rivas conducted orchestras in Ohio for five years after receiv-
60 concerts are programmed for the ing his master’s and doctorate degrees from University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 1999. He spends summers in his native Venezuela where he
spring semester alone.” conducts symphonies, orchestras, choirs and workshops.
Metro students can enjoy or-
chestra concerts on campus at no they’re going to spend.” conduct is just as amusing. Impressed by Metro’s music pro- “He is an amazing, passionate
charge, but Rivas said that if they The music department tries to A cellist at age 8, Rivas began gram, he was excited about what conductor who truly believes in the
were able to attend performances catch the attention of Auraria stu- touring Venezuela performing as a Denver had to offer culturally. music … he feels it in his heart, and
outside of Auraria, it would enrich dents through different music fes- soloist and a part of various ensem- Rivas’ passion for the arts is seen it’s really inspiring,” she said. “The
their lives immensely. tivals during the year such as the bles. Ten years later, showing inter- through his conducting, and it is evi- whole ensemble has greatly im-
“It’s easy for a student to stay String Festival, Jazz Festival, the Cho- est in conducting, Rivas studied un- dent that his students feel the same. proved in the last two years that he
home with an iPod, even if they like ral Celebration and dozens more. der his father, a fellow musician. Amy Medina, who has played has been here.”
classical music,” he said. “These are all events free for He was then accepted to one of the clarinet for Metro’s orchestra for Metro’s next orchestra concert
“It’s expensive to go to perfor- Metro students and really fun to at- the most prestigious music conser- four years, talks about Rivas in high is March 9 performing Beethoven’s
mances. We need to make life easier tend,” Rivas said. vatories in the nation in Cincinnati, esteem and commented on the sig- 5th Symphony. Also included in the
for students so they can enjoy these Not only are the performances where he earned his master’s and nificant changes he has brought to concert is a Greek piano concerto
things without worrying how much entertaining, but watching Rivas doctorate in orchestral conducting. Metro’s orchestra. featuring Tamara Goldstein.

Kenya » Political conflicts not tribal related, elections rigged

Continued from A5
exit polls and early results were
showing the winner as Odinga …
they were about to announce the re-
sults and suddenly everything went
black.”
Shamala said Kenyans had no
radio, no TV and communications
were cut off for two days. “And then
they came back and said Kibaki won,
and the people just erupted.”
Shamala cites the European and
U.S. election observers who said they
had evidence of widespread irregu-
larities.
Shamala said the media coverage
of the situation has falsely portrayed
the fighting as ethnic rivalry.
The reasons behind the conflict
are complex, going back to the co-
lonial borders drawn by Europeans
without regard for the people living
there.
“This conflict did not start on
Dec. 27 — there are also historical
factors that people need to look at —
this is about land, wealth and power,
about the haves and the have-nots,”
he said.
“If this was tribal, if they re-
ally hated each other, then why were
they not killing each other before?”
Shamala said to reducing this
to ethnicity is to miss a very impor-
tant point. The colonial structures
were designed for exploitation of the
country, and when the colonial pow-
ers left, those same structures were
left behind and taken by the new
power.
“The executive branch is too
strong in Kenya,” Shamala said.
“The judges are appointed by the
president, and in Kenya the presi-
dent’s cabinet members are often
chosen from members of parliament
— there is not enough division of
power between the three branches
of government.”
Associate professor Derrick Hud-
son, who led the 2007 Metro trip to
Kenya, agrees that the role of eth-
nicity in the fighting was being over-
stated.
“My take is that he (Odinga) rep-
resents the young — he tends to be
a bit more crossing ethnic boundries
representing the younger generation
against the old guard, and in the end
Kibaki has used ethnicity to stay in
power,” Hudson said.
“Most of the power in Kenya is
centered around the Central Prov-
ince where Kibaki is from, and one
of the main points of Odinga is to
decentralize power.”
Hudson said the Kenya trip for
this summer would probably not
take place. The office will keep up on
breaking developments, but he said
he doubted it would happen.
Both professors, though they are
saddened and concerned about the
current situation, ended with posi-
tive reflections.
“One of the very important
things Kenya needs to learn is to dis-
agree without resorting to violence,”
he said. Hudson said that while he
was disappointed, it was important
to remember that democracy is new
in Africa.
“In the short term, this is very
bad for Kenya and its people,” Sha-
mala said, “but in the long run this
is a revolution and will turn out good
… it may take a while but when the
dust settles, whoever is president will
have to think of the people.”