Lina Gonzalez Granado’s Beginning: ‘Millions of Miles per Hour and Full of Adrenaline’

By Lina Gonzalez Granados

I’m happy to be writing for the first time as the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellow for the next two upcoming seasons. Since the announcement, I have to say I didn’t expect for my life to be completely transformed, but the last couple of months have been on a different pace— millions of miles per hour and full of adrenaline.

Sylvia Caduff and Lina Gonzalez Granados

The spring and summer were busy already, with inspirational moments. When I received the news about being selected for the TCCFellowship, I was getting ready to fly to Lucerne to attend Maestro Haitink Masterclass. While I was in Switzerland, Marin introduced me to Sylvia Caduff, which was one of the most special moments of my artistic career. Maestro Caduff shared stories about the times she assisted Maestro Bernstein and her experiences in New York. Her devotion to music and the vibrancy of her character are memories that fill my days still.

Today, I’m flying back home (I’m based in Boston) after a week in Baltimore. I was in Baltimore as Marin invited me and former Taki Concordia Conducting Fellow Alexandra Arrieche to be part of a documentary that is currently being filmed about women in the conducting world. This has been inspired by Marin’s own relationship with Sylvia Caduff. We held constructive conversations and a fruitful artistic exchange.

Lina, Alexandra, and Julie

Although I don’t live in Baltimore it felt like I arrived home to my forever family: my beloved friend and colleague Julie Desbordes (who is currently a Doctoral student at Peabody) hosted me and helped me not to miss home so much with her kindness.

We got to see my long time friend Colombian Conductor Paola Avila conduct a gorgeous rendition of the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and Alexandra and myself built a closer bond around our experience with the Fellowship.

At the end, the most important of lesson of the week is that two artists like Sylvia Caduff  and Marin have managed to unite a community of colleagues and friends around the transformative power of great music, and for me that is what the fellowship is about. I can’t wait to see what the immediate future holds.

More to come,

Lina