MEET THE MAESTRO: PABLO HERAS-CASADO

Credit Sonja Werner

A few works of classical music that you adore: 

Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Victoria’s Tenebrae Responsories, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, Verdi’s Macbeth, Berg’s Wozzeck, Debussy’s Jeux…Should I stop?

Classical music recordings that you treasure:
E-Imaginarium Onofri’s La Voce Nel Violino, Bach’s Missae Brevis with Cantus Köln, Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 with Trio Wanderer, Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra with Claudio Abbado.

Favorite non-classical musicians and/or recordings:
Esperanza Spalding, Enrique Morente, José Mercé, La Lupe, Goran Bregovic, Wynton Marsalis.

Definitely underrated work(s) or composer(s):
Mendelssohn, Spanish Rennaissance masters.

Live music performance(s) you attended – any genre – that you’ll never forget:
My first fado experience in Lisbon, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Berlin Philharomonic Orchestra.

A few relatively recent films you love:
Incendies, Amanece Que No Es Poco.

A few films you consider classics:
Les Enfants du Paradis.

A book (or two) that is important to you (and why):
Cervantes’ Don Quixote is the best book ever written. Like the greatest art, it’s universal, sophisticated, intelligent, simple, and unpretentious—just read the preface. Lorca’s Poeta en Nueva York is wonderful poetry and a shrewd critique of modern society.

Three things you can’t live without:
The sun, my family, and my iPhone!

“When I want to get away from it all I…”
go to Granada.

“People are surprised to find out that I…”
don’t have a driver’s license, but I travel all around the world.

“My favorite cities are…”
Granada and New York, but I also love Paris, Tokyo, Capileira, Bordeaux, Madrid, Toronto, and Berlin.

“My most obvious guilty pleasure is…”
a cold beer after concerts.

“I’d really love to meet – or to have met…”
my grandfather Nicolás. Before he died I just started to understand how great that man was in his sublime simplicity.

Excerpted from Albert Imperato’s “20 (Plus) Questions” series.