The magic of Harry Potter
As told by a mother
[ Lee este post en español aquí ]
In 2001, the first Harry Potter film was released in Spain. Manuel was a kid who was starting to read his first reader’s stories…
Side Note 1. Manuel was 4 years old, and the Cuéntame una Opera collection with its musical references made it easier for him to learn to read on his own (I'm telling you this because as a mother it still amazes me, and I think the system could be useful to others today too… anyone who is curious, feel free to contact me).
A friend told us about the film, and it seemed like we had to go see it. The promotion for Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone was done with some images of the three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to the Hogwarts basement… That scared Manuel a lot, and as much as he wanted to go to the cinema, he didn't want to have a bad time (he always preferred comedy).
Then, an idea occurred to me. If he read the book first, he would know the story and may enjoy watching the film without fear. The book was long, without illustrations… we decided to read it together. We got down to it: I started reading, and Manuel took over when we got to those magic letters or formulas that appeared in italic letters. So we read the first book, Manuel read the second one by himself and the entire collection on his own (I stopped at the third book: ‘The Prisoner of Azkaban’). Of course he watched the films, first in Spanish, and later in English. The Three Kings of Orient brought him a Nimbus 2000 the first year, and I knitted him a scarf… Besides having a great time, Manuel and I also learned a lot of things with those stories, characters… with that “transmedia”.
Side Note 2. During those years, Manuel also enjoyed playing his piano, and he took the dishes from the Chinese restaurant in the neighbourhood to play at imitating his favourite orchestra conductors, whom he saw in our videos.
This past January 5, we picked up the thread of Harry Potter at the National Auditorium in Madrid thanks to the Orquesta Filarmonía, which gave us a magical concert. At the entrance we were greeted by, among others, McGonagall with Snape, and from the stalls I could see many children with their parents sharing so many exciting moments through music. The toilets that morning looked like those in Hogwarts…
In the program, stellar moments from the eight soundtracks were played. For the numbers of the second one, “The Chamber of Secrets”, Maestro Pascual Osa had entrusted the direction of the orchestra to the award-winning students of the Master in Conducting at the International University of La Rioja. Manuel Gimferrer conducted the Gilderoy Lockhart number. I leave to your imagination our emotion at that moment… I bring you, however, an image of Manuel's “debut”, in front of this great orchestra for which he feels as much gratitude as affection.
Manuel tells me that he has very interesting plans for this year, both as assistant director of the Philharmonic Orchestra and as orchestrator. He will tell you about them here.
Side Note 3. In 2025, it will be 25 years since the first editions of Cuéntame una Ópera by Sony Classical. They reached thousands of kids in many Spanish-speaking places, including Extremadura… and they did so on their own (with no institucional support from my side).
As for me, this year, I have plans to recover my Cuentame una Ópera in new formats. I hope to count on Manuel, although I know he is very busy. Fortunately, I am happy to have the help of technology, so I hope to continue bringing extraordinary stories and music to all corners of the world from Mirlo Studio.
It is time to value each thing for its true interest, and to talk about opera from the current reality and looking to the future… in an upcoming post I will share my present vision of this genre with you.
Thanks to the musicians for their music, and to you for sharing a moment with me reading these lines,
Georgina