Thursday, October 19, 2006

WILMINGTON, N.C. - For Colombian-born Pedro Esparza, music is like another language. "It is a language where we don't have to say a word to say a lot. We can express our feelings, whether they are great or mournful. We can express anything we want," said the 21-year-old junior classical and jazz performance major at University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Although still young, Esparza is an accomplished musician who performs with several Wilmington area groups and who plans to teach at the college level. He plays saxophone, flute, piano and clarinet.

On Saturday, Nov. 4, his own group - After Hours - will be one of the headliners at Festival Latino at Hugh MacRae Park in Wilmington, an event sponsored by Amigos International.

As a child, Esparza was first exposed to music by his older brother, Carlos, who listened to salsa and Latin bands, and later joined a band playing drums and brass.

"I was very young, but I remember we would go everywhere he was performing," Esparza said. "Now that I reflect back on it, I think that had much to do with my interest in music."

When Esparza was 10, his family left Colombia and eventually settled in New Bern, seeking a better way of life, away from the violence, crime and drugs.

His interest blossomed in the fifth grade, during the Grove C. Fields Middle School band's recruitment concert in New Bern. He said he and his best friend Daniel Heath "tried out and we liked it." They stuck with it through high school, where they were influenced by band instructor, Alexander Williams.

"He opened my eyes and my ears," Pedro said. "He exposed me to a lot of things that most students don't get in high school."

The winner of the Louis Armstrong award for best performance in jazz and the John Philip Sousa award for best performance in classical music at New Bern High School, Esparza supplemented his education during summer jazz camps at UNCW, which he said helped him decide to pursue music as a field of study. "If it wasn't for the camps, I definitely wouldn't have come here," he said.

The interaction with faculty, in the classroom and outside - playing basketball and volleyball - impressed the young man. In high school, he was told that college professors don't care. "I don't think any of them are like that here. They're the best group of people," Esparza said. "You learn so much from them whether or not you're in their class."

Esparza attended the jazz camps for three years as a high school student then served as counselor for two years after he enrolled at UNCW. "I really loved it," he said.

When he decided to study music and pursue it as a career, his parents, Pedro and Cecilia Esparza, were "not too crazy about it," he said. They were worried that he'd be living off the $50 he made after working in a bar every night.

While he does do some of that, his goal is much loftier. At first he wanted to get a music education degree, to teach in high school, but later decided he'd rather teach at the college level. "I like the college environment. College professor - that's what I'm going to be now," Esparza said. The two majors, he said, help make him "well rounded."

Speaking of being well rounded, the young man is taking advantage of his heritage to help others in the community. This summer he worked at Amigos International in Wilmington, which provides a variety of social services for the Hispanic community. He did things like translating letters and birth certificates, settling labor disputes and helping individuals abandoned by family and friends.

He recounted a story about a man from Maryland whose friends abandoned him in Wilmington. Esparza worked with Amigos International staff to help the man get work so he could earn enough money to return to Maryland.

"It was a very nice job, very fun. You don't do the same thing everyday. The self-satisfaction is definitely something money can't pay," Esparza said.

As summer progressed he was also working as a writer and translator for Amigos, a bilingual magazine. He found himself putting in 12-hour days, four days a week. If his music education wasn't his top priority, he could have become editor of the magazine.

"A lot of the work at Amigos wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for my high school Spanish teacher Victor Garcia who taught me a lot of basic and advanced grammar," Esparza said.

"I hated to see him go," said Amigos editor Lucy Vasquez of Esparza. "He is one of those rare people who can do anything."

His focus now is his music and his sights are set on his "never been to Europe" trip this summer.

"My philosophy about music is that it should be something you should enjoy doing whether it's whistling a tune or playing on a upside down garbage can. Music - it's everywhere, and the only way to understand it is to listen," he believes.

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Contacts: Marybeth Bianchi, UNCW Marketing and Communications, 910-964-4164

Pedro Esparza, 252-626-5192

Frank Bongiorno, chair, UNCW Department of Music, 910-962-3990

Lucy Vasquez, editor, Amigos magazine, 910-799-9829

PHOTO CAPTIONS: Please credit UNCW and the photographer.
Esparza_performance_formal.jpg - Flanked by UNCW music faculty member Karen Rice on piano, Pedro Esparza plays the alto saxophone at the Student Honors Recital hosted by the UNCW Department of Music on May 2, 2006, in Kenan Auditorium. UNCW/Jamie Moncrief

Esparza_performance_casual.jpg - Pedro Esparza performs during a jam session during the UNCW Summer Jazz Workshop on July 17, 2006. UNCW/Laura Johnston

Esparza_pedro_workshop.jpg - Pedro Esparza leads a jazz workshop for high school students Tuesday, June 28, 2005. UNCW/Jamie Moncrief