THE CREATIVE PROCESS

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In many aspects, Avalon is part of the legacy of Maestro Mario Escudero, one of the pioneers who brought elements from the classical music to flamenco in the 40’s and 50’s.

The creative process for Avalon began in 2012, when Jose Luis met Alex Conde while on tour in California. It was during that time that they both realized that their artistic interests and visions were similar and that they wanted to create a work that could remove the stereotype from flamenco by demonstrating that it’s language could be utilized within the classical form without having to loose its identity. Both composers also believe in the importance of opening the dialog between the popular learning and the written language.

Alex Conde and Jose Luis decided to start this work through the creation of some short pieces for guitar and string arrangements. These sorter works were then used independently in concerts; creating a platform on which to begin to try out the compositions and continue to build on the idea of fluid communication amongst the musicians.  After developing the aesthetic of the pieces, Jose Luis and Alex began the arrangements, which they then had the opportunity to test out, in 2013, on the student’s of the Oakland School of Arts, conducted by Omid Zoufonoun. It was after the success of that concert that they decided to continue the work and create a Suite.

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From that point on, they began working at a slow but steady pace, as there was no immediate budget for the project, using recordings, skype and sound emulators to begin to further understand how the multiple layers of instrumentations would ultimately sound.

The biggest challenge then was the issue of how to transcribe Jose Luis’s guitar score so that it could be passed on to the conductor. For this purpose they called on Berto Boyd, who is both e classical and Flamenco guitarist, well versed in utilizing available technology to create the transcriptions via recording sessions with Jose Luis. The process of transcribing the intricate work of Jose Luis took over five months and also resulted in an online resource for guitarists called “www.flamencoguitarclass.com”.

At the end of 2014, as Avalon was almost completed, Miami Dade County Auditorium commissioned the works premier as part of their October 2015 season. At that time, Jose Luis approached violinist Maestro Federico Britos (Latin Grammy Award honoree 2016), to ask him for help in putting together the orchestra and for him to sit as master concert.

On October 30, 2015, 3 years after the start of the project, Avalon premiered with a 25 musicians orchestra (Chamber Orchestra or Sinfonietta), solo guitar by Jose Luis de la Paz, second guitar by Berto Boyd, third guitar Rodrigo Valdez, percussionist Antonio Camuñez, violinist Federico Britos, and conductor Omid Zoufonoun.