On Wings of Song:
Harmony Meets Its Kindred Spirit
In June, the hundreds of acres of lotus ponds in Baosheng Village on the outskirts of Chengdu are in full bloom. Emerald leaves stretch to meet the sky, pink blossoms stand gracefully, and the air is filled with a fresh, sweet fragrance. Beside the pond, Ecuadorian musician Isaac Ormaza Vera stands quietly by the water, his cherished violin resting on his shoulder. As the bow lightly kissed the strings, the lively and melodious strains of “Harvest Fishermen’s Song” flowed out like a clear spring. The notes danced among the lush lotus leaves, drawing answering croaks from frogs and bringing smiles to the faces of villagers who stopped to listen. In this moment, music, nature, and human culture resonated harmoniously in Chengdu’s summer.
A few days earlier, in the concert hall of Chengdu ASEAN Art Center, Isaac raised his baton. As the concert sounded the final chord, a wave of applause surged towards the stage. Under the spotlight, he turned to face the audience, beads of sweat glistening on his temples, his eyes alight with the same passionate fire that burned during his lakeside performance. From an impromptu solo amidst the country breeze to the impassioned symphony on the academic stage, this musician who crossed half the globe has taken deep root in Chengdu.
“I was at an age where I needed to settle down, and Chengdu felt like a perfect fit.” Isaac explained his decision two years ago. After living in cities like Guayaquil, Leuven, Los Angeles, and Changsha, he entrusted the second half of his life to Chengdu. “Elegant and leisurely yet vibrantly dynamic – life in Chengdu unfolds with graceful ease, while the city’s development pulses with vitality.”
From the Andes to Longquan Mountain: A Musician's Relocation and Settlement
Born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Isaac’s musical lineage stems from his family – his parents are oceanographers, yet all five brothers became musicians, with one now working in the Wuxi Symphony Orchestra. His artistic journey spans three continents: he earned a Master’s degree studying under renowned violinists at the LUCA School of Arts in Leuven, Belgium, and pursued a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting at the University of South Carolina, USA, choosing to research the symphonic works of Chinese composer Chen Qigang for his dissertation.
In 2015, he was appointed Concertmaster of the Changsha Symphony Orchestra. “Changsha’s spicy cuisine won me over”. He chuckled, recalling that period. As concertmaster, he often performs classical pieces, allowing music lovers in Hunan to experience world-class performances.
In 2021, he won the Los Angeles Conducting Workshop Award, a high point in his conducting career. His next significant life turn pointed towards Chengdu. In 2023, learning that College of Chinese & ASEAN Arts of Chengdu University was recruiting violin teachers, Isaac applied without hesitation and was successfully hired. This teaching position became his gateway to deeply integrating into Chengdu. “This isn’t just a job, but also an ideal choice for settling down.” With his love for Sichuan cuisine and fascination with Chinese music, he set foot on the land of Chengdu. Now, he is not only a highly regarded violin teacher among the students at the college, but has also recently taken on an exciting new role: establishing the school's orchestra and serving as its conductor – a position that proved to be the perfect match for his doctoral specialization.
Musical Rests in the Alleyways: The Everyday Poetics of a Chengdu Connoisseur
Isaac’s life in Chengdu is filled with exquisite rhythms. On holiday mornings, he wakes his body at the gym in MixC; after breakfast, he begins his “city walk” ritual – strolling along the pedestrian paths of the Second Ring Road, admiring Chengdu’s “green fairyland”; or following the Shahe River northwards until the steel-framed factories of the Eastern Suburb Memory art district come into view. These paths are like notes on a staff, connecting his perceptions of the city.
“The small eateries in Yulin are my favorites.” The red chili oil of Bobo chicken, the numbing spice of Chuanchuan xiang hotpot, even the tender meat of rabbit heads – all become “symphonies for his taste buds”. What intoxicates him most, however, is the city’s living logic: “At the tax office, staff speak English; WeChat solves every need...People in Chengdu are gentle and welcoming, making visitors feel right at home." This sense of acceptance and resonance is precisely what he felt during his impromptu performance of “Harvest Fishermen’s Song” by the Baosheng Village lotus pond.
His dual nature finds perfect expression here: a contemplative thinker by the Shahe River in moments of calm, a soul igniter on the podium or stage in moments of passion – mirroring Chengdu’s own essence, which accommodates both the tea fragrance of People’s Park and the surging tides of fashion on Chunxi Road.
Mission Under the Baton: Dual Cultivation from Classroom to Orchestra
At the podium, he is the violin educator imparting knowledge; wielding the baton, he transforms into a passionate conductor. In 2023, Isaac embraced his most significant new mission at theCollege of Chinese & ASEAN Arts of Chengdu University: Assisting school to form and train a brand-new student orchestra. Facing these young musicians brimming with potential yet inexperienced, he unveiled his unique “performance-style conducting”-employing dance-like, sweeping gestures and pouring his entire being into the music until his shirt was soaked with sweat. “With mature orchestras, I’m more restrained and precise,” he said, eyes gleaming. “But for these young players, they need to see and feel this unbridled passion! Energy is contagious, and I want to ignite them with my enthusiasm!”
His carefully curated repertoire holds a “crossover” ambition: from the Ecuadorian folk song “Nuestro Juramento” (Our Oath) to the violin concerto “Butterfly Lovers”, from erhu adaptations to Zhao Lei’s “Chengdu” – naturally including his beloved “Harvest Fishermen’s Song”, which he played impromptu by the lotus pond. "For last week’s concert, I specially invited my marimba-playing friend to join," he winked. “The audience included music fans, students’ parents, and community residents – that’s the symphony ecosystem I want."
Deep within him lay an even greater aspiration: to establish a routine of five hours of weekly rehearsals and one monthly concert for this orchestra he had personally nurtured. He aimed to gradually weave the resonant melodies of “Chuanjiang Haozi” and the profound artistry of Shu-style Guqin – these local musical treasures – artfully into the grand symphony. “Just like ‘Harvest Fishermen’s Song’, the aesthetic value of Chinese folk melodies deserves to be heard by the world, and Chengdu’s voice will resonate farther through these young musicians’ performances.” This mission connects his lectern and his podium, his artistic ideals with Chengdu’s future. He constantly looks forward to engaging in profound dialogue with China’s top orchestras, exploring the fusion of tradition and modernity through the interplay of bows and strings, the resonance of wind instruments, allowing the millennia-old sounds of the Bashu region, rendered with greater professionalism, to become an indispensable Eastern coordinate on the world’s musical map.
City on the Strings: When Global Musical Currents Converge into Tianfu
Isaac is not an isolated case. Statistics show that in 2024, Chengdu hosted over 5,800 music performances, generating nearly RMB1.7 billion in ticket sales and driving consumption worth RMB6.35 billion. From the Kuaishou Mountain Wild Music Festival on Qingcheng Mountain’s lawns attracting 16,000 tourists, to the Strawberry Music Festival drawing 25,000 fans daily for revelry at the Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park, to the Heatwave Flight Galaxy Left Bank Music Festival collaborating with 19 scenic spots to offer cultural tourism packages – music is becoming Chengdu’s international lingua franca.
“In Chengdu, music isn’t an art admired in isolation," Isaac remarked during a rehearsal break, gazing out the window. Outside lay the verdant campus; in the distance, the sounds of an impromptu folk band performance drifted from a park. That spontaneous violin solo by the Baosheng Village lotus pond was a beautiful footnote to this omnipresent musical life. He plans to integrate more creativity from street performers and folk music into future concerts: “A true city symphony should be composed jointly by professionals and folk artists, the academy and the community, the concert hall and the moonlight over lotus ponds.”
As night falls, Isaac might stroll along the Shahe River once more. The rumble of traffic on the Second Ring Road elevated expressway becomes the bass notes, the drumbeats of square dancing transform into lively percussion, and the melodic chants of Sichuan opera drifting from teahouses resemble the glissando of string instruments—the entire city feels like a boundless concert hall. When the neon lights of the Eastern Suburb Memory or the moonlight over the countryside lotus ponds illuminate his path, this musician from Ecuador knows that his journey across vast oceans has finally found its perfect home and stage within the city of Brocade (Chengdu): on the lecture podium and in the rehearsal halls of Chengdu University, within the city's streets and alleys, and amidst the lotus-scented fields. Here, he is both a teacher of skill and a sower of dreams, deeply immersed in the life of this “City of Music” as an ardent participant and a devoted singer of its praises. The melody of his life is blending into a profound and hopeful symphonic poem, composed together with the ceaseless rhythm of this vibrant city and the flourishing notes of its young students' growth.
