The Accidental Conductor

Panamanian-American conductor Kalena Bovell teaches student and educator workshops at The Smith Center

Most of Kalena Bovell’s musical journey has been a series of accidents. The first happened when the Panamanian-American conductor was 11. “When I was in sixth grade, I was accidentally put into a beginning strings class. I had known nothing about the orchestral family or the orchestral instruments,” she recalls. “The teacher asked every student what instrument they wanted to play. And not knowing anything, I very proudly said I wanted to play the flute. And he just kind of looked at me and said: Go get a violin. And that's how my violin journey started.”

Bovell, who visited The Smith Center in mid-January to teach workshops for student-conductors and teachers, believes there aren’t any accidents. “I think it was definitely meant for me to play a string instrument. And it was meant for me to meet Joe Taylor, who would become my very first violin teacher. I think it was all kind of intentional according to the universe's plans,” she enthuses.

The acclaimed conductor was brought to Las Vegas through a collaboration between The Smith Center and the Nevada School of the Arts, a non-profit educational institution. “Our hosting of Kalena was about tying our initiatives to present educational opportunities with artists from diverse backgrounds,” explains Melanie Jupp, The Smith Center’s director of Education and Outreach.

THE MUSIC MAKER

Although Bovell had taken strings classes it wasn’t until she was 18 that she had her first private lesson. Getting a late start on the violin was an obstacle for the young musician. “As a string player, most violinists start taking lessons when they're three or four,” Bovell explains. “So, for me, just to basically be seven years self-taught, I was very behind in college in terms of the classical repertoire regarding technical skill and abilities.”

Bovell’s next accidental musical pivot happened when she was pursuing her Bachelor of Music Education at the College of the Performing Arts at Chapman University. During her sophomore year students were required to take either a year of instrumental conducting or a semester of choral conducting. The instrumental conducting happened to fit Bovell’s schedule better.

The class introduced students to the basics of conducting. “When we finally got a chance to stand in front of our colleagues and conduct, I just remember the first time I gave a downbeat and just hearing all the sound coming towards me and thinking why have I never heard about conducting? Why have I never heard about this?” she disbelievingly recalls. “And I just became hooked after that.”

Upon finding her calling as a conductor, Bovell, who has the phrase "we are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams" tattooed on the inside of her arm, has been eager to share her knowledge with others. “I'm so passionate about music education because I want my students to have experiences that I never got to have. That's really important to me. For the many times people told me, you cannot do X, or you'll never be good enough to do Y I want to be that person to support a young student to say you just have to keep believing in yourself,” she explains.

IT'S NOT ALL GLITZ AND GLAMOUR

During several workshops at The Smith Center last month, Bovell, who is Assistant Conductor to the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Memphis Youth Symphony, shared her knowledge with students and educators. She coached teachers on conducting skills and offered in-school instruction to student orchestras to give them the opportunity to conduct their peers.

One lesson Bovell imparts to young musicians who take her workshops is that “conducting is not all glitz and glamor. I wish someone would’ve told me as a young conductor that the process is going to be hard, but you must keep at it. It’s not about the end goal,” she continues. “It’s all about the music. It’s not about you.”

During her workshops, Bovell teaches aspiring musicians that skill sets essential to being a good conductor include “playing an instrument so you know what it feels like to play in an orchestra or some type of ensemble, whether its chamber music or a wind ensemble,” she explains. “You also must have a really good work ethic because a lot of what we do is spent solo.”

FINDING ENRICHMENT AND INSPIRATION

Since its inception, it has been the mission of The Smith Center’s Education and Outreach Department to provide enriching arts experiences for students, teachers and community members across Southern Nevada. Each year, The Smith Center reaches students with a variety of programs including student matinees and in-school performances as well as regular engagements with community organizations and families. These experiences, usually offered at no cost, give many their first exposure to the performing arts.

“In our endeavors to offer enriching educational opportunities with accomplished artists, we were confident Kalena’s life experience, professional expertise and dedication to education would resonate with the students and teachers in our community,” Jupp of The Smith Center explains.

Looking further ahead, Bovell would love to be the music director of an orchestra, mentor young, up-and-coming conductors and have an international career. Bovell is also a fan of heavy metal music, particularly death metal. “It's totally random but one of my goals is to be able to conduct bands like Evanescence or Metallica. I wanna be that person,” she enthuses.

With a few more happy accidents this maker of music and dreamer of dreams will ensure that all of it happens along with some things she hadn’t even considered.