Welcome Daniel Canosa!

Daniel Canosa will be our new Director of Music beginning January 1, 2012.

Argentina-born Daniel Canosa is a talented conductor and musician who has led orchestras and choruses in Argentina, the United States, and Europe. We sat down recently with Daniel (pronounced “Danielle”) to get to know him a little bit better and talk about this new step with our church.

Together We Serve: How old were you when you first knew you were destined for a career in music?

Daniel Canosa: In Argentina, we celebrate Three Kings Day on the 12^th day after Christmas, and that is when children receive gifts. When I was six years old, my father gave me a guitar. I began to play classical guitar, and studied at the Conservatory. I was always interested in music pedagogy and took courses in composing, harmony. and the like. By the age of thirteen I was even teaching guitar. Once I got to high school, however, I was thinking about architecture. My father was a builder, and I had always been interested in architecture. I thought life as an architect would be somehow safer or more stable than a life in music. Sometime during high school, however, it came to me with such certainty that my true calling was music. So I switched. I had to work up my courage to tell my parents, but they too could see that this was something very real for me, and they were very supportive and understanding.

TWS: How long have you been in the United States?

DC: I first came to California as a guest conductor for the Apollo Orchestra and chorus, exchanging positions with the conductor of that orchestra who went to Argentina to work with my ensemble. I performed Mozart Symphony No. 25 in G minor in and Vivaldi’s Gloria. After the concert, I was asked to continue working for them so I did, and after a year I got my green card. Some years later I connected with Nicholas McGegan, Music Director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and I began taking classes with him in Berkeley of Performance Practices of the Baroque Period.

Following the musical opportunities has led me to many places, including three years in the Netherlands where I was Director of Music for a church and a baroque orchestra. I have a deep love for period music, and founded several orchestras and vocal ensembles in Auburn and Sacramento. I now live in San Rafael.

TWS: You seem incredibly busy, so spare time is probably in short supply. But do you have any hobbies or outside interests?

DC: Yes I am pretty busy. I am currently the Music Director for the Mayflower Community Chorus in San Rafael, as well as the Artistic Director for the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony in San Francisco. My work tends to be seasonal, so the intensity of the work varies. But I have a lot of energy and love what I do. My work is my life; it is not categorized in blocks of time like a 9 to 5 job might be. Like any Latin person, I love spending time with my friends and family…cooking, or going to concerts. I used to paint. I would love to have a dog, but I travel too much!

TWS: What are you most looking forward to in working with our church?

DC: I think I am most looking forward to finding ways to connect Scripture with music. I find this intellectually and emotionally stimulating. Music brings a very particular perspective to texts and ideas. It gives you a particular angle from where you can understand the text. I was recently listening to recordings of Lux Aeterna, one by Morten Lauridsen and one by Palestrina. Such a difference!

TWS: Do you see music as a spiritual experience?

DC: Yes! Music makes no practical sense whatsoever. It doesn’t exist…it is a series of sounds that comes and then it is gone. You can’t hold it.

Over a lifetime many of us have experienced music as a connection to God, to the divine. There may be hymns that are in your bloodstream, that move you to tears for reasons you don’t understand. That experience is personal and no one can take that away from you. At the same time, though we might want to, we cannot reconstruct that experience for someone else just by repeating it. All the circumstances that initiated that connection for you are personal and particular to a moment in time. What we can do is to try to create moments of beauty and truth, to allow us to be inspired again.

Music can create that moment that allows you to reach God. The music may be different or new, but the way that all beautiful music connects us to God is the same. We need to stay open to that. The essence of music is to remind people that there is an existence that is higher than everyday concerns.

TWS: Where do you see your energies and talents taking our church in the future?

DC: When I interviewed with the Personnel Committee, Libby Davis talked about the church’s musical resources as a “hidden treasure.” I see in this treasure a golden opportunity to connect more broadly with the community. I envision more musical concerts and events for the Marin community beyond Sunday morning worship. But this is a vision that is much larger than just one person. We will have to get there together, and I will have a better feel for that as we go along.

TWS: If you had to race from a burning building, and could take only one record or CD with you, what would it be?

DC: Oh dear. I guess I would grab one of the last works of J.S. Bach, The Art of the Fugue.

TWS: How do you think you will spend your first month as Music Director at our church?

DC: I look forward to getting to know everyone! I will also, I know, be spending a lot of time organizing our church music, and building my reference tools for researching and selecting music.

TWS: We’re happy to have you here and I’m sure there are more than a few people who will be able to show you the ropes!

DC: Yes, it’s already starting to happen. I am looking forward to working with the staff, choir, musicians, and congregation to take the next steps in this church’s remarkable musical journey.

 Many thanks to the Personnel Committee and search team that brought Daniel Canosa to our church staff. Daniel can be reached at danielcanosa@togetherweserve.org.