by Hannah Lowenstein
While students rushed about with their instruments and sheet music during the tech rehearsal for the Winter Concert, orchestra director Jorge Soto stood out as both a calm and driving presence. He talked passionately with students about the music before they began to play, and moved energetically around the stage as he instructed the musicians.
Orchestra director Jorge Soto leads musicians through rehearsal. Soto has been teaching music since he was about 13.
At the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year, the orchestra welcomed Soto as their new conductor. According to freshman Isabel Wetzler, Soto is a friendly and lively teacher, and upperclassmen such as her older sister, senior Gabrielle Guttormsen, have found the transition to be positive and fairly seamless.
“He likes us to call him by his first name,” Wetzler said. “And although he’s strict when he needs to be, he’s not too uptight or laid-back; he’s just a really good person.”
Soto spends much of his time studying music scores, and continues conducting in his home country of Venezuela during the summer. He also teaches violin chamber music, runs sectional rehearsals for the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and trains other teachers on how to use the El Sistema music program at several schools around the state. He said El Sistema is designed to help children develop an ear for music at a young age by organizing them into ensembles.
According to Soto, El Sistema originated in Venezuela and is how he started playing violin and teaching music.
“I love teaching,” Soto said. “If I knew five notes, I would teach a kid who knew how to play one note those five notes. I’ve been teaching since I was about 13 years old.”
Soto said because he is Venezuelan, the orchestra has been playing more Latin music. Along with a Mozart piece, the orchestra performed Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango” at the Winter Concert. Soto said he has received positive feedback from both students and parents.
According to junior Brian Xu, the orchestra usually plays at least one piece of Latin music at each concert. Junior Joelle Ducharme said she enjoys the teaching style that comes with it.
“It’s more fun because it’s not just classical music. We play more than that,” Ducharme said.
According to both Xu and Wetzler, Soto’s enthusiasm and closeness with his students help make orchestra fun and keep students engaged.
“One time in the middle of class, his mother called him from New York saying she was lost and he was like, ‘Do you mind if I take this? I need to talk to my mother real quick,’” Wetzler said. “We were all just laughing.”
Soto said despite being new, he has a good relationship with his students. He said that this style is natural to him and important to his teaching.
“I consider my students my friends,” he said.
Hannah Lowenstein can be contacted at [email protected].
