Violinist Chino Gutierrez: Virtuoso unmasked

MANILA, Philippines - It had rained the night before and continued throughout the day, causing chaos in the streets and misery to all with flashfloods and terrible traffic everywhere. And yet the gifted 24-year-old violin virtuoso – currently in town for a much needed break from his studies in Munich, Germany – still managed to cross the metropolis, arriving after six long hours just to keep his all-set rehearsal date.

While having the much delayed merienda (it was closer to a midnight snack) at the beautiful home of Loleng Arguelles Panlilio, I learned more about Chino Gutierrez, this time offstage: an out-of-the-box thinker, unorthodox, introspective, a risk-taker, a complex person with simple joys, earnest in his work and dealings with people, a survivor, a work in progress.

As a child, Chino had won prizes at the 1999 and 2002 National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA). At age 10, he had his orchestral debut at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. He soon left for Germany to undergo rigorous training under the eminent violin pedagogue Jens Ellermann. Just recently, he got in to the elite 2014 and 2015 Keshet Eilon Mastercourse in Israel under the tutelage of Eduard Grach.

At age 4, you asked for a violin. What made you do so?

I kept hearing the violin as we would listen to the classical station on the radio, whether at home or while in the car, and I would hear it again and again. On a couple of occasions I saw it on TV, and I remembered just wanting to have it, for the sound really captivated me. I couldn’t think of anything else. Though I had a recorder and a little children’s piano at the time, the violin always seemed more exciting, even before I got a chance to play it. The very first time I held the instrument, I remember trying to figure out the strings, how to put rosin on the bow, and then finally drawing it across the strings. Just producing that initial squeak thrilled me.

In total, how many violins do you have?

Five, including my present one. Through the years, I started out with a tiny 1/8 violin and after a few months, I moved up to a 1/4 size. Within a year, to a 1/2 size, then at age 9 to a 3/4. When I turned eleven, I got my first – and, so far, the only – full-size violin. It was from a Singapore-based dealer who at the time was traveling to the Philippines with the Asian Youth Orchestra. Though it’s still classified as a student violin, it is however able to project a very brilliant, very sweet sound.

Name the first ever musical piece you were able to play in its entirety.

The Twinkle Twinkle variations. Everybody seems to start with it. Since I was hungry for more pieces, I’d study a new one on my own. At this time, Mom gave me this illustrated music book of folk songs and popular classical tunes. And every week I would learn something new and then play it in my violin class. I couldn’t stop playing! (laughs) I still recall the others namely Lightly Row, Morning Has Broken, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. My Mom taught me my first ever Filipino piece, Lucio San Pedro’s Sa Ugoy ng Duyan. Unfortunately we didn’t have the sheet music, but she would sing it to me and I would find the notes on the violin. I’m somewhat disappointed that there isnt a concert arrangement for violin, for it‘s a song that naturally is sentimental for me.

Aside from classical music, what other genres catch your attention?

I have a soft spot for ragtime and jazz. I also like the music of the 70’s, the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel.

Do you have any rituals before concerts? Any good luck charms?

My mom and I always say a prayer backstage. Part of it is the same simple one that she composed for my first public performance at age 8, and which we’ve religiously whispered together before all my concerts ever since. It is an offering of my performance to God, a reminder that the spotlight is not on me, but on His music, for which I am merely a conduit. This way, it frees me and makes me less self-conscious or anxious about my fingers or notes. Then I can focus more on bringing out the story and the beauty behind the music.

I always keep a rosary in my right pocket as a reassuring presence. My mom got it for herself when we first moved to Munich for my studies in 2004. But when I returned to Germany alone in 2010, she passed it on to me.

Is there special care for your hands and fingers?

Beyond the usual warm-ups and cool-downs of daily practice, I don’t really do anything other than some finger stretches and massages. On particularly stressful days, however, I immerse my hands in warm water to relax the muscles. I’ve stayed away from ball sports and contact sports to avoid hand or finger injuries, which can take a long time to recover from and may even cost me my career.

Describe your day as a student at the Hochschule for Musik und Theater Munchen.

Normally I get up between 6 and 7 a.m. After morning rituals, ending with breakfast, I run my fingers through some scales, then go to school. On free mornings, I either stay home and practice, or go for a short walk in the nearby Nymphenburg Palace Gardens, which has been recently opened to the public since the state of Bavaria took over. With lunch done, I then go to my next classes. Twice a week, I have my one-on-one lessons with my teacher, Prof. Olga Voitova-Bloch. Once I return home, I review what we did in the lesson, and play a bit. With errands and dinner done, I try to be back by 8 p.m. so I can put in two more hours of practice before the Quiet Time begins at 10 o’clock. That’s when I Skype with my mom and do less noisy house and paper work. I’m usually in bed close to midnight, so I don’t get too tired the following day. On weekends, I catch up on my sleep.

What do you miss most from home?

Oh, definitely the food. I miss my mom’s spaghetti, daing na bangus, adobo and bibingka. One can’t cook adobo and daing na bangus in Munich without risking the ire of the neighbors because the aroma will permeate the entire building. My lola used to fry saging na saba just perfectly, and it’s one of those things that you never really find a replacement for in Germany. I can do it but it’s not quite the same, probably because her bananas were fried with love. Of course, I enjoy the schnitzel and bratwurst, but you can only eat so much in one week.

Name your favorite household chore and the one you least like.

I love to vacuum. It’s so much fun. It’s a quirk I inherited from my mom – the little clinks you hear when vacuuming makes me feel as if I’m winning points, like in Super Mario the video game. I also suffer from allergies, so I despise dust, and truly do my best to keep my dorm room really clean.

The chore I least like would have to be cleaning the toilet.

Aside from music, what is your favorite pastime?

Without a doubt, reading! Reading is the first thing I ever did – I taught myself to read at age 2 – and my passion for music is only matched by my love for books. So many of my childhood pictures show me with a book, and up to the present, I am hardly ever without one, either in my hand or in my bag. When I was very young, my parents would just give me a book to read while walking, and they could navigate me through the mall for hours on end, without a word of complaint. I was literally drugged into submission – the books were my opium!

I guess it wouldn’t come as a surprise to know that my other favorite pastime is games. I was born in the 90s, when video games were still very much being honed as an art form, and my parents fostered this appreciation – without sharing it themselves – by finding me games that were both intellectually stimulating and fun.

Right now, I play in my spare time Kerbal Space Program, a game where you build and fly rockets for the hapless, cartoonish Kerbals, and Europa Universalis 4, a historical strategy game set in the Age of Exploration.

Name your favorite movie.

Gosh, there are so many to choose from! One that has really stuck with me is the film adaptation of Camelot, with Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero. It’s classic Arthurian legend, but the music and the sets make it so much more tragic.

One other movie I remember enjoying very much is Shrek – and later, Shrek 2 – turned so many folktale conventions on its head, and in such a clever way. As someone who grew up on myths and legends and classic fairy tales, seeing these familiar tropes be converted in new ways, felt surprising and thrilling. The wordplay and dialogue was genius, too. Speaking of which, fine wordplay is something I value in a prospective partner.

No movie list of mine would be complete without a mention of Star Wars. I first saw the original trilogy when I was 4 or perhaps 5, and have watched and enjoyed it innumerable times since.

Name some of the little things that make you happy, say smile in an instant.

Dogs and cats. I have a pug named Igor – after Frankenstein’s assistant, not the composer – as our pug also has a slightly lopsided gait. He never fails to make me smile, especially at the end of a long, tiring day. He’s a highly intelligent, intrepid, naughty character but also supladito in his own right, so it probably feels like the greatest indignity to him that we all fuss over him like an overgrown teddy bear.

Name three highlights, so far, in your young life.

The first would probably be when I initially moved to Germany to study violin. As a young teenager, the move opened up an entire world I had never thought I could live in.

The second highlight would be performing as soloist under Oscar Yatco in 2005, with the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Yatco was the first person who saw my potential as an international soloist, and helped pave the road that brought me to Germany. For this concert, which was held in celebration of his birthday, he could have chosen any more senior violinist to be his soloist, but instead he chose me.

The third highlight would be a dual event: my two recent concerts, Revelry and Passion, A Violin Recital. I cite these due to the overwhelming public response I received, both from classical aficionados and first-time concertgoers alike. They showed me that yes, classical music does have an audience in the Philippines, that people are hungry for good performances, and it only motivates me to learn more and share my music further.