Luz Sonora, a tribute to Mario Lavista, is the duel turned into dance

On November 4, 2021, the renowned dancer and choreographer Claudia Lavista published on social networks the unfortunate news about the death of her father at the age of 78. This is how she made it known: “Dear friends, my daddy opened his wonderful wings and took flight to the brightest part of the universe. Now it is Luz Sonora”.

That is the reason for the title of the choreographic show that Claudia Lavista premiered this weekend at the Teatro de la Ciudad and that this Thursday and Friday she presents at the Teatro Juárez, as part of the 50th edition of the Cervantino International Festival, a robust tribute to his father, mentor, friend and inspiration, with six of his compositions, the choreographic contribution of Víctor Manuel Becerra, Raúl Tamez and Mela Olivas, the performance of Ceprodac and a string quartet assembled for the occasion, as well as the contribution of the flutist Alexander Escoer.

In an interview prior to the premiere of the work, the two-time winner of the National Dance Award shares that her father was a multidisciplinary being by nature. “His thought of her was permeated by poetry and the visual arts. Let’s remember his collaborations with Arnaldo Cohen or with the Pauta magazine, and of course he was linked to dance: at some point he was very close to Guillermina Bravo and Gloria Contreras. Then I turned out to be a dancer and choreographer. He was my great mentor not only in dance but in the vision of art in general”.

Since the death of the maestro, exalted as one of the most important composers of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, the weight of assuming the duel has been proportional to the work with the living part of Mario Lavista, his work.

“In order to cross the threshold (of resignation), I feel that I have to be close to his thought and his sonority. And Sound Light responds to this need. One of the things that gives meaning to my life is to promote his music, his thought, his texts”.

They prepare a site: the entire Lavista collection, digital and accessible

Mario Lavista’s collection is “another universe” that must be taken care of and that is worth exploring. What would the master have wanted done with his work?

The composer’s collection has not been donated to any institution, Claudia Lavista specifies, not yet. There are two institutions in the United States interested in its acquisition and preservation, although its fate has not been decided.

“But before all the originals are gone, we are digitizing absolutely everything. A digital collection of his scores, recordings and texts will remain in Mexico. With the support of Sonus Literarum, INBAL and El Colegio Nacional, we are putting together a website where absolutely everything can be found, and we will announce it soon. For me it is important that if someone wants to play one of his works, they easily have a place to find the sheet music. The site will be a node.

On the epistolary relations of Mario Lavista, the founder of Delfos shares:

“My dad wrote by hand and he kept everything. He has letters with Carlos Chávez, with John Cage and with Merce Cunningham —with whom he established a good friendship— or with the musicians with whom he worked. He has written with the Kronos Quartet when he was writing Music for My Neighbor, for example. The idea is to digitize them and make a publication with them, because they are a treasure. It is interesting to analyze his writings, because my dad was really meticulous when writing, passionate about language. You can see his musical creative process in the way he wrote and there is enormous value for researchers there. I am interested in these materials being accessible for research and free of charge. Just as my father was generous, I want this collection to have the same generosity.”

“We went with each other”

Just as the Cervantino has been a fundamental reference for audiences that are not dedicated to art, it has also been indelible for artistic communities, recognizes Lavista, and shares a couple of anecdotes.

“Whenever my dad premiered a play in Guanajuato, I hit him, because, in addition to not having to pay for a hotel, he could go into the dressing rooms and meet the musicians. I remember when I was very little walking with my father and Eduardo Mata, or eating with the Latin American Quartet. He later did the same with me, when I began to premiere works with Delfos. We went with each other.”

He remembers something that used to happen frequently in the dining room of the hotel where they were staying. “The manager of the place, when he saw the master composer enter, it seemed like a good idea to put Richard Clayderman, but my dad hated him. I had a terrible time in Guanajuato because there is background music everywhere. One day, in a restaurant, he paid a female student who was playing in a restaurant, he paid her for her silence, he hated them. That’s how it was, as he loved music, he loved silence”.

A work crossed by total art

Luz Sonora is like the multidisciplinary mind of Mario Lavista. The work draws from the cinema, one of the great loves of the composer, who had a very close friendship with the filmmaker Nicolás Echevarría; the lyrics, since a large part of the works are inspired by texts by authors such as José Emilio Pacheco, Jorge Luis Borges and Wisława Szymborska, among the master’s favourites. It is expected that after its presentation at the Teatro de la Ciudad and at the Cervantino, the work will have a prolonged life on different stages.

The works of Mario Lavista in Luz Sonora

Ofrenda (work for tenor flute)

Quartet number 4, Symphonies

Quartet number 3, Music for my neighbor

Quartet number 2, Reflections of the night

Quartet number 8, Touch of silence

Nocturne (work for flute in G)

Photo: Courtesy Jesús Cornejo

ricardo.quiroga@eleconomista.mx