She has traveled halfway around the world as an organist, and this afternoon she will play the organ at the Cathedral of Teruel, offering a concert as a prelude to the III National Congress of Rural Schools taking place this Friday, May 16, in Teruel. Ester Ciudad is one of the few four or five organists in Spain, the only one in Aragón, a vocation she has combined with cultural management and teaching. The organ is a part of me; it has made me resilient—she affirms in this interview—and it has confronted me with myself. I believe the instrument chose me.
What is special about the organ? Whenever I am asked, I have to return to my childhood, which is when we absorb and experience things that leave a mark on us. I come from a very Christian family deeply involved in the religious and cultural life of Ejea de los Caballeros. I spent a lot of time in the hermitage of the Virgin of Oliva, which my mother took care of, and for some reason, I felt attracted to and connected with it. Life has been very generous to me because when I went to France on an exchange with a friend, her grandfather was an organist, and I found myself in the same environment.
Do you feel part of a minority, musically speaking? How has this process been? Education is at a very interesting moment. There are musicians of high caliber, and almost all have had to go abroad to study, not because we have not had good training here, but because that is what European higher education requires at the moment. In the world of the organ, it is much more important to go abroad due to the quality of the instrument, its requirements, and needs. An organist is not made in a parish; an organist is made in the world because each organ, in each place, has its peculiarities and differences. The organ I studied on in Toulouse is nothing like the one I later studied in Freiburg or in Ghent or in Aragón… with its constructive, aesthetic, and sound peculiarities. Each organ requires a particular repertoire, and to train as an organist, it is essential to know as many organs as possible. In my case, I studied in Zaragoza, then moved to Barcelona, Freiburg (Germany), Toulouse, and Ghent.
Have you played many organs around the world? More than 200, for sure. I have played almost all the organs in Aragón, I have also played extensively in Spain and in France, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Mexico, Austria, Norway, etc. In many towns, there is an organ in each parish, and without a doubt, this is a very important element of territorial and cultural cohesion to take into account.
It is easy to have a guitar, a violin, a clarinet, and even a piano at home. But with the organ, things get complicated. Is it a little-known instrument? Does the public understand the musicality of the organ? It is truly a mysterious instrument. Over the years, I have identified two types of audiences that come to the concerts. Either they love the instrument and know it, or those who have never heard it are surprised and impacted. This second type of audience is fascinated by an instrument they did not know existed, with a repertoire they have not heard before, which reaches them directly to the heart. Interestingly, the organ was created before the modern piano, in the 3rd century BC. It is the instrument with the most organological history in the world, because since it was invented in the 3rd century until the 21st century, it has continued to evolve and has always had music composed for that instrument.
What was your teaching experience like at the Conservatories of Zaragoza and Teruel? I have really covered all educational areas, teaching for 25 years in higher conservatories and previously in secondary and primary education. I am very proud of my teaching contribution at the Conservatory of Zaragoza, where I taught for 14 years and had up to 16 students every year. A milestone, considering I only had 3 students when I started. Even Monserrat Torrent, the dean of Spanish organists, said that I had created a school. Humbly, I believe I did a good job with the students, an intense and powerful work.
In addition to being an organ concertist and a teacher, you are very involved in cultural and educational management. Yes. There is more than one Ester. One is the professional interpreter, but there is another Ester, a lover of public management and cultural action. Through the Kultus Foundation, which I preside over, we organize the National Culture Forum, as well as activities to promote our heritage throughout the Aragonese territory. We have promoted cycles, conferences, festivals, live sessions, productions such as those we developed on the Camino de Santiago in collaboration with Neopercusión, the Advent Festival, etc. The instrument needs to be transcended to be disseminated, to be made known.
What role can music, and particularly the organ, play in the context of rural education? Music is a fundamental discipline that generates not only cultural industry and job insertion. There are many schools performing a function of social cohesion in the rural world throughout Aragón, in addition to fulfilling an essential educational role, occupying free time, outside what are the digital tools for education, sensitivity, discipline, good taste… This work is extremely important, and I believe the function of music in rural areas is a very remarkable aspect.
