Elisabeth Waldo Dies at 107; Fused Indigenous and Western Sounds
A classically-trained violinist, she incorporated traditional instruments native to Latin America in Western-style scores to create an atmospheric hybrid.
Ms. Waldo continued to perform and compose until she was over 100, largely on the West Coast.
David – Los Angeles ยท 4h ago
I spent a good deal of time with Miss Elizabeth (as she preferred to be called), recording her performances on my home camera gear. She was a lovely lady, continuing to regularly perform and conduct into her late 90’s and beyond. I offered to arrange professional recording and mastering with a multi-camera shoot but she had no budget beyond hiring musicians for her performances. As a musician myself, she respected my opinion and so was able to get her to limit her conducting to cueing entrances and guiding dynamics, thus avoiding rebellion from drummers and confusion in her ensemble.
Her home in Northridge is called Rancho de Cordillera. In addition to her living quarters, it has an adobe performance space that looks like a church and has several acres of garden with mature oaks. She used that space to support various ethnic dance groups by letting them perform at her Rancho, giving a chance for kids to carry on their cultural heritage on a stage that made them and their parents proud. Imagine for example, teenage Guatemalan folk dancers performing in a space congruent with their home country.
In short, she was good person, dedicated to the preservation and advancement of the cultural heritage of Latin America. I am so glad to see her obituary reach the front page of the New York Times.