California-based composer, producer, and music educator Dr. Yalil Guerra recently launched a series of performances with his Guerra String Orchestra (GSO) — an ensemble he conducts that’s dedicated to celebrating the works of lesser-known American composers, including Aurelio de la Vega, Ian Krouse, Bernardo Feldman, Samuel Barber, and himself — in the process partnering with long-time collaborators Mojave Audio to assist with capturing live recordings of the orchestra.
In addition taking home a Latin Grammy in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition for his piece Seducción in 2012, Guerra’s work has been performed by orchestras, chamber ensembles, and soloists around the world and he has taught music at institutions such as UCLA, College of the Canyons, Cal Poly Pomona, LACM, and most recently Ventura College.
The Guerra String Orchestra grew organically into a passion project for Guerra out of interactions that he had teaching music history. “These concerts were a personal project designed to fill a space for American composers that is very much needed, in my view,” he explains. “Composers from African American, Latin, Jewish, and other minority backgrounds were not being well-represented in concert halls despite creating vital, important orchestral music that makes up the fabric of American musical history. Putting this ensemble together and holding these performances allow us to shine a light on their work and add something fresh and exciting to the American classical repertoire.”
The first performances of Guerra’s new program were at the St. Andrew Catholic Church in Pasadena, California. In addition to the concerts themselves, which attracted upwards of 500 in attendance, Guerra also had the performances filmed and recorde so that anyone who wanted to hear them would have the opportunity to do so. “It can be quite difficult to capture the sound of a full orchestral ensemble in a way that does justice to performances like these,” he says. “I’ve known the Mojave guys for over 15 years and I knew that they and their microphones would be exactly what we needed for the task.”
Prior to the performances, he worked directly with Mojave Audio president Dusty Wakeman during rehearsals to find the proper “sweet spots” for microphone placement within the church that would capture the direct sound properly as well as the natural reverb of the church. Five Mojave microphones were placed close to the violin and viola sections, cello, and double bass players to capture the direct sound of the players. Two more — one directly above Guerra’s head facing inward, another within the first few rows — captured the ensemble from a distance to give a sense of space to the proceedings.
“Mojave microphones have an inherent warmth to them that work incredibly well when capturing strings,” Guerra states. “You can get all the brightness you need from how you place them, but that incredible roundness of the tone you get from the mix of the natural sound and the harmonics are simply amazing. I’ve trusted these microphones in my own studio for years on all sorts of instruments, and hearing them in this context proved how wonderfully detailed they are for so many different things.”
With several follow-up performances on the calendar and plans to submit the recordings to the Grammy Awards, Guerra continues to move forward with the project: “This program is really about establishing a connection to American composers because it’s a part of American culture that more people need to be aware of. People deserve to know the sounds and melodies of these composers. With any luck, these performances and recordings will help them dive into it whole-heartedly.
“Mojave Audio gave me a lot of luck in my musical career — the majority of my Latin Grammy nominations were of music made with these microphones,” he concludes. “So having them involved fits the goals and sounds of what we want to achieve.”
