SAN DIEGO _ Because of the coronavirus, classical guitar star Pablo Sainz Villegas is stranded in San Diego _ or, more specifically, La Jolla. That puts him almost 6,000 miles away from his wife, Valeria, at their home in Madrid, which _ like all of Spain _ is now under a nationwide lockdown.
His March concert tour of Germany has been canceled, along with his April tour of Japan. The May recording of his new album in Los Angeles is on hold. So is pretty much everything else on his schedule, although he is currently brainstorming ideas to take his duties as the La Jolla Music Society's first education ambassador online.
Yet, while Villegas misses his wife, his parents _ who live in the northern Spanish province of La Rioja _ and the performances around the world that fuel his career, he also sees an unexpected opportunity the pandemic has provided.
"It is more challenging being away from my family. But it is in these moments of solitude where I can also find answers," Villegas, 42, said in a Wednesday phone interview.
"And it is a good time for reflection for all of us, not just me, or my family and my wife. For everyone, it is our choice whether to be distracted by spending 10 hours a day in front of the TV, or to also spend time with yourself reflecting on everything going on, and how our condition now has happened at other times in history and united us.
"Through this difficult moment, we will get stronger and also, I think, a little bit wiser. We'll have a different perception of the world, and each other, and have a better sense of the universality of who we are as humans. We'll also better be able to value many things that sometimes we take for granted.
"It is difficult and there is a lot of time of solitude. Happily, I have my guitar, which is a wonderful companion."
Villegas became the La Jolla Music Society's first education ambassador last year. But he first made an impact here as a champion of music and the guitar from 2006 to 2012 as a key force in Music Without Borders, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing music to public school students in San Diego and Tijuana.
"For six years, I crossed the border dozens of times and did outreach to thousands of young people," said Villegas, who now heads a similar music education organization in his native Spain.
"I told them stories, just me and my guitar. Those stories create images that stay in their mind and are very powerful. And those stories are related to learning, so the music sealed those values into their minds. I reached more than 25,000 kids, on both side of the border, also created connections with institutions on both sides.
"For example, the Youth Orchestra of Tijuana and the San Diego Youth Orchestra didn't know of each other at the time. I put them in touch and they collaborated and exchanged musicians. That evolved into some private funding and I was able to finance seven music programs with seven local music teachers in Tijuana. So it was a great way to develop that musical outreach."
For now, the majority of Villegas' musical outreach will be strictly online.
Starting at 3 p.m. PDT Friday, he will perform as part of Music Never Sleeps, a 24-hour live stream marathon concert. And at 10 a.m. Sunday, he will debut a weekly live stream performance on his website, pablosainzvillegas.com, and on his social media pages: Facebook.com/PabloVillegasGuitar; twitter.com/PVillegasGuitar; instagram.com/pablospanishguitar; and youtube.com/PabloSainzVillegas.
"In the past, I've done just a few online performances and mainly when I was playing a concert," said the guitarist, whose biggest gig to date was for 85,000 people at a stadium in Barcelona with opera superstar Placido Domingo.
"But this is different and I'm learning on the go how to do livestreams and how to communicate with everyone on social media during live performances. The best thing we can do is to adapt to the circumstances and maximize doing so. There is always a good side to everything. Despite the challenges right now, there are also good aspects of what we are experiencing and going through together."
