Photo courtesy of Darrell Owens
Costa Rican born conductor Aria Carrillo Siliezar’s comes from a long lineage of musicians: Aria Carrillo Siliezar’s musical training started early due to being raised in a very musical family. Starting on the violin at the age of four under her mother's instruction, Aria's love of music was also shaped by her father, a choral conductor and professor at the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. Aria is also an active performer, giving solo and chamber recitals in Costa Rica, Italy, El Salvador, Peru, Panama, Nicaragua, and across the United States.
Aria holds an undergraduate degree in violin performance and a double master’s degree in orchestral conducting and violin performance from the University of Minnesota, under the tutelage of Sally O’Reilly and Mark Russell Smith. Aria is currently a doctoral candidate at the same institution. She is also the Music Director for the Buffalo Community Orchestra and is a tenured violinist with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. When Aria is not busy conducting or playing her violin, she enjoys cooking, playing chess, visiting the local drag scene, hiking and enjoying the many lakes found across the Midwest.
A conversation with Aria
A shirt you often wear at rehearsals says, "I am my ancestors." Can you tell us more about your heritage and their love of music? I learned the violin from my mother, who is a fabulous teacher. She learned the violin from her father, who played in the National Symphony Orchestra in Costa Rica after leaving El Salvador with his family due to the civil war. In that way, you could say that my family was literally saved by music in a very direct way. My grandfather also learned the violin from his uncle, who wasn't a professional musician but nevertheless loved the instrument. My father is a choral conductor and an amazing educator as well, so I naturally gravitated to conducting as I grew up. I'm very fortunate to have been brought up by master educators and that my own love for music had a sort of generational momentum.
What was one of your favorite performances as a violinist? One of my favorite parts of being a musician is getting to travel a lot. I've performed in Italy every summer for 7 years now, and got to go to Peru when I was 14 to play in a music festival. Getting to meet world-class musicians at every corner of the world is a privilege that makes all the hard work to get there completely worth the effort.
Why did you choose to come to the University of Minnesota? I went to the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in 2015 and was able to take violin lessons with Jonathan Magness, principal second violin with the MN Orchestra. He studied with Sally O’Reilly and every so often would recommend students he thought would be a good fit for her prestigious violin studio. Jonathan's lessons were incredibly encouraging and helpful, and he also went above and beyond in even setting up a recording that ended up becoming my admission to the music program at the U of M. At least that's the short version of the story!
What do you think of Minnesota and our snow? Don't you miss the warm weather of Costa Rica? The snow is pretty, and I really like to snowshoe in the winter. I haven't tried downhill skiing or ice fishing yet, but I do like Walleye. I miss the healthy food you can get in Costa Rica, the sloths, the beach, and my parents. I think the cold of Minnesota is a bit incomprehensible to my friends back in Costa Rica, and I certainly haven't truly gotten used to the temperatures, but at least I feel better about driving in the snow! Driving off-road in Costa Rica is a lot easier than dealing with the ice on the roads of the Twin Cities, but I love a good challenge.