The traditional regional event will be held virtually for the first time and will put the finishing touch to the classical music category.        

Together with the expertise of the great Chilean musician, Ángel Parra, the University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra will have the honor of participating one more year in the Luis Advis Musical Composition Competition, organized by the Seremi de las Culturas, Artes y Heritage Region from Coquimbo. This is the XVI version of this traditional regional competition that from this Thursday, December 17 to Saturday, December 19, at 20:00 p.m., will be broadcasting the winning works in the Folk, Popular and Classical Music categories.

The OSULS and the guitarist Ángel Parra 'son' (Ángel Cereceda Orrego) will be in charge of executing with great mastery and determination the three winning pieces in the Classical Genre, titled 'Small concert for guitar and orchestra' by the oboist and composer José Aranda Riveros; the piece 'Wakolda' by Marcelo Collao Miranda and 'Autoestimas' by the renowned Serenense musician and composer, Orlando Sánchez Placencia. “Each of the three works that were selected are impressive in the talent and effort behind each of their composers,” said Ángel Parra.

Likewise, he said he was extremely excited to participate in this version of the Luis Advis Musical Composition Contest: “I was quite excited because I had not really had the opportunity to have a direct relationship with contemporary music, so to speak; And the other thing that caught my attention is that it is a competition for national composers (...) Furthermore, the competition has a particularity since it is not necessary to have a degree to compete in it and it is open to all types of audiences. To this, I add that I have always known that in this country there is a lot of talent and that there are many people making very good music,” said Parra.

Regarding virtually sharing the stage with the regional cast, the renowned guitarist only offered words of gratitude and admiration for the musical and heritage work carried out by OSULS during his career, with emphasis on 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. “I wish a tribute of deep and absolute gratitude on my part to the Universidad de La Serena Symphony Orchestra because they are in charge of executing these works and they have been doing so since we are in a pandemic. A very important job, maintaining the course of their repertoire week by week, month by month, with a programming that has had to change and be online.”

The exhibition in the category of classical or learned music will take place this Saturday, December 19 at 20:00 p.m., through the Facebook Live of the Seremi of Cultures, Arts and Heritage of the Coquimbo Region (https://www.facebook.com/culturas.coquimbo). The winners of each category will receive a prize of four million pesos, while the second places will receive two million. The rest of the finalists, meanwhile, will be awarded the sum of one million.

It should be noted that since 2012, this important event has been taking place physically in Coquimbo, but due to the health crisis this year the election of the winners will be carried out remotely. Among the juries for this final, the presence of Pascuala Ilabaca, Sergio “Tilo” González, Denisse Malebrán, Álvaro Scaramelli, Matilde Svensson, Alejandro Guarello and Sebastián Errázuriz, among others, stands out.

Written by Camila Pérez, OSULS