An Inspired Chat with Pedro Pablo Cámara

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Pedro Pablo Cámara. Check out our conversation below.

Hi Pedro Pablo , thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
I’m pretty lazy in the mornings, it takes me a long time to wake up and feel active. My best time of the day is definitely late afternoon or evening. As a musician, I honestly can’t imagine making music before 10 a.m. My first minutes are usually spent listening to the radio, normally the podcast La Cafetera, to catch up on the news while I shower and prepare breakfast. Once I’ve had my first coffee of the day, I finally start functioning: I check my emails and any messages that might have arrived during the night. When I can, I like to answer emails before starting to work—although I always have a bunch of unanswered ones sitting in my inbox. After that, it depends on the day: sometimes I go teach, and other times I start working on my computer on some artistic research. I rarely begin my day practicing the saxophone.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi, I’m a musician and artistic researcher who works mainly with the saxophone. I’m not really interested in just playing the instrument; what drives me is finding a personal voice through it. My goal is to develop a way of playing that adapts the saxophone to different musical languages instead of letting the instrument dictate how I should sound.

A big part of my work focuses on sound experimentation — exploring new techniques, extended performance practices, and ways of expanding the expressive possibilities of the instrument. I collaborate closely with composers and artists to create new pieces, often mixing performance, staging, technology, and research.

Another essential part of what I do is pedagogy. I teach at CSKG Madrid, where I work with students on developing their own artistic identity and a flexible, contemporary approach to the saxophone and chamber music. I also teach masterclasses internationally, helping young musicians explore alternative ways of thinking about sound, performance, and artistic creation.

And beyond performing and teaching, I also direct Calle440, my own record label dedicated to classical and contemporary music. I created it to have more artistic freedom in my own projects, and to offer musicians a careful, supportive space to produce their recordings — helping them bring out who they are as artists.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
During my youth I worked extremely hard pursuing goals that felt very important to me at the time (and I don’t mean to say they weren’t). I think I achieved some of them, but before I could even fully feel that I had reached them, they had already disappeared and new paths and new questions had opened up. In music, I reached some very pragmatic milestones very early—goals that matter very little to me now, although they did help me a lot in those years.

Now my perspective has completely changed. Those goals dissolved; they’re either infinite or nonexistent. What truly interests me now is deepening my understanding as a musician and exploring new directions that keep me growing, while letting go of the rigid dogmas that definitely accompanied me in my youth.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There was never a moment when I truly considered giving up, but there was a point when I couldn’t see the purpose of practicing the saxophone so intensely anymore. I felt like a mere performer—someone who could produce a nice sound and clean technique, but with nothing meaningful to say. It was a serious crisis that made me question how I wanted to continue in music. Luckily, I explored other paths, like musicology, and soon after I met several teachers who helped me enjoy music again and understand it in ways I could never have imagined.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
I’m someone who strongly defends a life filled with culture, especially at a time when we all consume art without even noticing it, yet very few people truly value the role it plays in their lives. Following Nuccio Ordine’s idea in The Usefulness of the Useless, I try to share everything that is supposedly “useless” but deeply necessary. Without culture, we may not die physically, but we certainly do mentally.

However, it often feels like governments and nations direct their efforts toward other things—apparently more important and more “useful”—but they mean very little without a life enriched by meaningful, high-quality culture.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days. 
Approaching my work with a sense of excitement is essential for keeping the energy and strength needed in such a demanding field as music and pedagogy. I try to hold on to the same enthusiasm I had on my very first day, even if that’s not always easy.

But there have definitely been projects that made me feel tap dancing to work—moments of pure joy and anticipation. I still remember the thrill of my first day with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Simon Rattle, or the concert with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at the Alhambra in Granada. Those were unforgettable experiences that reminded me why I chose this life in the first place.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pedropablocamara.com
• Instagram: pedropablocamara
• Twitter: @CamaraPedroP
• Facebook: @pedrocamarasaxophone
• Youtube: Pedro Pablo Cámara

Image Credits
Main photo: Isabel Martín
1: Unknown
2: FKG
3: CSKG – Tijeraus.fots
4: Rubén Vejabalbán
5: Harold Abellán
6: Isabel Martín
7: Pablo F. Juárez
8: Isabel Martín