Photo courtesy of Darrell Owens
Costa Rican born conductor David Carrillo comes from a long lineage of musicians: he learned the violin from his mother, she learned it from her dad, and he learned from his uncle. David's father is a choral conductor who inspired him to eventually become a conductor. David is the music director of the Golden Valley Orchestra and the Buffalo Community Orchestra. David also conducts various ensembles at the University of Minnesota as the instructor of record: the University Philharmonic, Campus Orchestras, and the UMN Opera Theatre. An active violinist as well, David is entering his third season as a member of the first violin section of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.
David holds an undergraduate degree in violin performance from the University of Minnesota and is currently a Sample Fellow finishing his doctoral degree in orchestral conducting. David is currently a pupil of Mark Russell Smith in conducting and of Sally O’Reilly in violin. When David is not busy conducting or playing his violin he enjoys cooking, playing chess, salsa dancing, and hiking around the many lakes in the Twin Cities area.
A conversation with David
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.