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Marco Antonio Villalobos

Pianist, Composer and Student

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About

Marco is a piano student. He was born in 2001 in the city of Lima, Peru. From his childhood he was interested in learning to play the piano. Since his childhood he was surrounded by musical instruments, which is why his interest in music began. At age 10 he began playing the piano through online tutorials. Years later he received his first piano lessons with a professional teacher. At the age of 13 he got into the National University of Music of Peru. He has participated in various stages in which he has played works by Bach, Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Bartók and Katchaturian. Likewise, he has made his own compositions since he was 10 years old. In 2012 he finished his first written composition, which was influenced by genres of ballads, rock and classical musician. Nowadays some of his compositions are on the MuseScore platform.

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Interview

What does music mean to you personally?

For me, music is the art that allows me to show my feelings and sensations in life. Has it ever happened to you that there is a moment when you feel an emotion that you cannot explain? Well, something very similar happens to me with music.

Do you agree that music is all about fantasy?

Well, actually music is much more than that. It has various topics and that is why most people love music consciously or unconsciously, as it adapts to their needs.

If you were not a professional musician, what would you have been?

If I hadn't been a musician maybe I would have been a systems engineer. I love mathematics very much, but I realized that my love for music was bigger. It is possible that he was also an athlete, I like football, but now I prefer it as a hobby.

The classical music audience is getting old, are you worried about the future?

Yes, I am a little worried. Classical music, like many genres that come from ancient times, is having little youth audience. Perhaps this is due to the new musical fashions out there. I think that young people should give classical music a chance, not because it is better or worse, but because it is worth listening to so many beautiful musical works.

What do you envision the role of music to be in the 21st century? Do you see that there is a transformation of this role?

I think that music has several roles today, some listen to it to dance, others use it for ceremonies, some to express political ideas or others just listen to it for pleasure. I think that the role of music has not changed much if we compare it with previous centuries.

Do you think that the musician today needs to be more creative? What is the role of creativity in the musical process for you?

In my opinion, every artist is creative from the moment they compose. I believe that all composers at some point fall into a compositional routine, we begin to lack ideas and our art becomes impoverished, but this is precisely what motivates us to be more creative and seek to innovate in our music.

Do you think we as musicians can do something to attract the younger generation to music concerts? How would you do this?

Of course yes, we ourselves can encourage the younger generation to attend music concerts. For example, we can perform didactic concerts in which what the composer was looking for is explained, or the context in which the work was composed to better understand the sensation it gave at the time.

Tell us about your creative process. What is your favorite piece (written by you) and how did you start working on it?

My favorite composition so far is "Birds" which I composed in the first months of the pandemic. To compose it I was improvising a little at the beginning, then the things that caught my attention the most I was recording or memorizing, the ones that I didn't simply remove from the composition. My ear guided me to complete the piece. While composing the piece I felt like I was making birdsong, so I kept getting inspired by them to get a general idea.

Can you give some advice for young people who want to discover classical music for themselves?

My first piece of advice is to listen to it just for the fun of it and not because you feel the need to. Then they can start with the best known works, for some reason they are more recognized. Then they can go looking for more works by a composer whose musical work has caught their attention. At least that's how I got introduced to classical music, every person has his method.

Do you think about the audience when composing?

Yes, I think it's something that helps me when composing. I always ask myself: if I were the audience, what would I want to hear? This is not the same as: I compose what I want and the audience doesn't matter. This could be useful when searching for innovation, since knowing what the audience likes can help the composer to look for new ways and at the same time not sound so far from what is "listenable".

What projects are coming up? Do you experiment in your projects?

I am composing some works for piano inspired by various topics. I also continue to compose my "Little Pieces for Piano". And there are a couple of compositions for other instrumentations such as one for lyrical voice and orchestra, or others for piano duo and other orchestral ones. I love to experiment a lot when I compose, although in the final product many ideas don't come out. Little by little I hope to experiment more when composing.