Being the third Puerto Rican woman to study conducting and the first to conduct a classical season concert with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (OSPR) are historic milestones that only Yabetza Vivas Irizarry has in her resume.
---
Lee este artículo en español.
---
In May of this year, she served as guest conductor of the OSPR for the tenth time in the special Mother’s Day tribute concert, consolidating her resume as the only woman conductor currently active on the island.
Under her baton, she also conducted the emotional concert for the 121st anniversary of the Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico, and conducted two cycles of Family Concerts at the Pablo Casals Symphony Hall of the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce as part of the educational program “Conoce tu orquesta” of the OSPR.
In that same hall, just a year ago, an unprecedented event occurred, which served not only as her debut as a conductor in the national orchestra, but as a spearhead in her mission to boost female representation in a predominantly male field.
“That first day I remember standing on the podium in front of the orchestra and it was a moment of saying, ‘I’m here. I’m not asking to be. I’m here and I’m going to do it,’” Vivas Irizarry recounted of that special concert in 2023 titled “Women in Music” that she conducted when she was just 32 years old.
“I knew that the people in the audience were not just going to get a concert: it was a statement. And I took that opportunity to give other spaces also to women composers, two soloists who played with me, a clarinetist, Kathleen Jones, who has been playing in the orchestra for more than 40 years, and Ivonne Pérez, who is the principal oboe, and listening to the music they make is beautiful, because it is not only what we can do, but why we do it,” she emphasized on the importance of giving visibility to her female colleagues from the baton.
There were obstacles in her own path that constantly reminded her that making a career in classical music, being a woman (and a Latina), required not only skill, which she has plenty of, but also a strong resistance to prejudice, which she had to develop.
“I’ve faced a lot of things. Taking master classes with famous conductors from the United States and being told that my gestures were very feminine, or that I should tie up my hair because it was a distraction, or that I am a voluptuous person and I have to dress differently because I can incite the musicians and distract them, all kinds of superficial, sexist comments,” recalled Vivas, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and a master’s degree in Orchestra Conducting from Bowling Green State University, in Ohio.
“And yes, it’s difficult, I’m not going to tell you that it didn’t affect me,” admitted the opera singer.
Despite unfounded expectations, Vivas Irizarry has defied discrimination, standing firm on the stage with her energetic presence, her overwhelming charisma and her curly hair. “I have always been in constant struggle all my life, since I was a little girl, I have always been trying to maintain who I am. It’s my hair and I’m proud of who I am, I present myself that way,” said the emerging director.
“First why and then trust ”
Although she continues to blaze a trail, Vivas Irizarry would like to see many more women in classical music and, to that end, she raises a flag on the need to create inclusive spaces.
“I think it is essential that organizations provide the necessary opportunities for women to have their space. We must teach and make visible what we do, eliminate paradigms and stop judging the creation and talent of people by how they dress, how they look or how they identify themselves,” argued the musical director of the program “El Sistema 100 x 35″, of the Puerto Rico Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Above all, Vivas Irizarry emphasizes the importance of having visible references for the younger generations, something she herself did not have at the beginning of her career. In fact, her first academic stage was far from music, because she did not consider it a viable option to make a living. She entered the Engineering program at the Rio Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico, where she performed as an outstanding student until, four years later and thanks to the encouragement of the musicians of the church where she grew up, she was encouraged to redirect her life towards her true passion.
In 2010 and after many auditions, she finally managed to enter the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, a step that opened a range of possibilities and dreams that until then were unattainable for her.
“I never imagined a woman conducting,” she said, recalling how revealing it was for her to meet Helen González, the second woman on the island to study conducting and who happened to be her teacher during her first year at the Conservatory. “When I took that course with her, I fell in love with conducting,” she said as she reviewed the awakening of her career.
But Vivas Irizarry’s bond with music began much earlier and was so natural that, before she could speak, she was already singing. At the age of five she learned to play the guitar, an instrument she used to hide from her grandfather while she was taking a nap. Later, before she died, she left it as a gift.
“I never stopped playing guitar, I never stopped making music,” she said with a smile, evoking that priceless gift.
---
This content was translated from Spanish to English using artificial intelligence and was reviewed by an editor before being published.
