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Blessed with a friendly disposition and a knack for composition, Roberto Pace deems music a godsend capable of cutting through discord and uplifting spirits.
The 63-year-old has fostered a four-decade career as a champion of notes and resolve and will continue his advocacy 7 p.m. May 21 when he and 120 children debut “Time Machine,” an exploration of testing one’s tolerance that will help the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to celebrate its spring festival.
“I came of age in an era that had amazing pluses, including the fluidity of possibilities in music,” the composer recently said from his home on the 1500 block of East Passyunk Avenue. “Everything now seems so compartmentalized, but I’m hoping this piece captures a diverse sound and tells a compelling story.”
Pace crafted most of the nearly 20-minute work last year following the receipt of a commission from Ben Auger, a benefactor of CHOP and the Settlement Music School family, including the Mary Louise Curtis Branch, 416 Queen St. Having enjoyed a 16-year tenure as a music theory and piano instructor at the Queen Village site, the Passyunk Square resident set out to produce something that would address the participants’ and the audience members’ needs to analyze uncertainty. Scoring the creation for acoustic bass, children’s choir, percussion, piano and synthesizer, he will present the tale of youngsters who happen upon a time machine while on a class trip to a science museum. Their curiosity leads them to enter the device through which they gain insight on the Lenape culture courtesy of a chant and encounter a stegosaurus. Aside from the Native-American homage, Pace penned the entire project and designed it as a tribute to the hospital’s patients.
“The work is really a metaphor for coming out on the other side after having shown enough bravery to face the unknown,” the tunesmith, who will play the piano, said. “Because of what those kids are going through, I hope to build their hope and let them know how proud they should be of themselves.”
His singers will represent Settlement’s combined choir and thus far have impressed their overseer through their handling of his output, which he said has urban elements to reflect their diverse backgrounds and social intelligence. Theatrical and situational, their participation is furthering his fondness for honing an artistic voice that shuns complacency.
“I think of my style as lyrical, rhythmically vibrant, intense and pursuing a dictum of maximum variety,” Pace said. “There’s always a kinship between the past and present, and I’m excited to explore that and plot for the future.”
The New York City native and 13-year South Philly dweller began his infatuation with progression as a youth, with the thumping soldiers’ chorus from French composer Charles Gounod’s opera “Faust” enthralling his ears and soul. Using the trumpet as his first tool, he noticed an innate ability to play and gained enough confidence in his competence to shift his focus from valves to keys.
“I started composing immediately upon taking piano lessons,” Pace, who tabbed heavyweights such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Arnold Schoenberg and Béla Bartók as inspirations, said. “My instructors told me I had my own voice and, again, I benefited from maturing during a period that welcomed exploration.”
His curiosity and acumen led him to Boston’s New England Conservatory for Music, with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Donald Martino guiding his gumption, and to the Milan Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music. Crediting his Italian and Scottish ancestry for his diligence, Pace possesses a penchant for polishing pieces until they contain a viable vibe and identity. He has prospered from having that trait through positions with and commissions from notables such as the Dance Theater of Harlem, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the New York Philharmonic, the Viola Society of Philadelphia, the American Composers Forum of Philadelphia and Rowan University, his four-year employer.
“I love engaging myself in my endeavors because there’s such a thrill in creating, refining and presenting,” Pace, whose 1981 production of “Man of La Mancha” scored the Kennedy Award for Best Musical, said.
In addition to stops across the country, the spry figure has reveled in performing in Canada, Europe and Japan. Further distinction includes claiming the first Anthony Newman Prize for artistic and academic excellence upon his ’97 receipt of a master of fine arts degree in composition from Purchase College, State University of New York and a 2002 work for the canonization of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, his first Philadelphia commission.
“This city, with its flow of people, can be difficult to grasp at times, but I find South Philly to be unpretentious and accessible, and that’s won my respect,” Pace, who purchased his home in ’03 and as engagement present to Eve Friedman, his wife of nine years, said.
He and his spouse, a flutist for Bella Vista’s Tempesta di Mare, 1034 Carpenter St., have a 4-year-old son who is strengthening his musical appreciation, a joy for the patriarch to behold especially since children will dominate “Time Machine.” He finds himself beholden to Augur for his artistic sensitivities and considers his collaborators on the free performance a collection of future originators who have likewise committed themselves to promoting music’s healing qualities.
“Spreading happiness will be our mission,” Pace, currently preparing his works for publication by the Association for the Promotion of New Music, which added him to its advocates two years ago, said. “We’re serious about being silly.”
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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