From Madrid to Round Top With an Oboe

Spotlight on Festival Hill Musicians: Elena Suarez Davila 

To say Elena Suarez Davila, 23, has traveled far in her young life would be an understatement. From her hometown of Madrid, Spain, to Dublin, San Francisco, New York, and now Round Top, Texas, for this year’s Music Festival, her journey has been anything but ordinary or lonely because through it all, she’s had one constant traveling companion: her oboe.

Davila, who just finished getting her master’s at Mannes School of Music in New York City, NY, will be starting her Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Davila’s international journey with the oboe simply started with the hope of making her mother, an elementary school English teacher, happy. “My parents put me in kid music classes at the local music school in my town when I was six or seven,” she said. “Then, when you turn eight, because that’s the age when everyone has to pick an instrument, I wasn’t sure what to choose. So I just asked my mom what she liked.”

She told me she’s always loved the oboe, especially because of the oboe d’amore solo in Ravel’s Boléro. I thought, ‘Well, I want to make my mom happy,’ so I chose the oboe. And then I fell in love with it, so it worked out.”

Looking back, Davila believes her parents knew early on how much structure and meaning music could provide for her. “Music brings structure to kids’ lives and gives them a way to vocalize their goals and work toward something, maybe in a way that school doesn’t provide as much,” said Davila, who now knows this to be true.

She spent several years at her local public music school in Madrid, and then in an exchange program, she lived in Dublin, Ireland, for a year and was enrolled in the Dublin Conservatory. By eighth grade, she had continued her education at her local conservatory.

When Davila was 13, she and her family moved to San Francisco, where she started high school at the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of The Arts, where she was in the band program and played with the orchestra.

Davila, who auditions for music festivals once every two years, has only heard positive things about Round Top Music Festival. “I’ve never been to Texas before, and I’ve heard recordings of the festival, and I’ve heard many people really enjoy coming to Round Top. I’ve been telling others that I’m going to Round Top, and everyone says, ‘Oh, my God, I had the best time when I went, and you’re gonna have the best time.’ So I just knew that this is where I wanted to go.”

And for a Davila, Round Top is a far cry from New York, but in the best way possible. “ I love this little town. It’s not at all what I expected. It’s so cute and quaint. The people here are so nice. When I lived in New York City, you know, there are so many people that it’s hard to be in a personal environment. I know my neighbors and the people I go to school with, but it doesn’t feel like there’s like a really strong, close community. And I keep seeing the same people when I go to the coffee shop every morning, and I think that’s really nice.”

Her new found love and appreciation for Round Top go hand in hand with what music means to her: connections.

“For me, music at its core is a way to connect with other people. A different way to communicate beyond words, and a way to communicate, not just with your audience who is listening to you, but also with everyone else around you, like, there’s just those moments, and I feel this most in orchestra, which is why I think I enjoy it the most, where it just feels like we’re all connected in some way,” said Davila. “There’s a string going from my brain to everyone else’s brain and then all to the conductor, so there’s just that feeling of being a part of a whole that I think is really beautiful.”

If you want to see Davila and the rest of the Texas Festival Orchestra perform before their season ends on Saturday, July 12, at their closing concert, you can see their summer schedule and purchase tickets at FestivalHill.org.