The interventions framed in the IV version of 'Active Musicians Uniting Traditions', included workshops and advice for brass instruments, as well as educational and gala concerts.

For six days, the trombonist and director of the Music Department of the University of La Serena, Martín Herrera Mauad, and the corn player and teacher of said unit, Alejandro Meléndez Pino, visited the Rapa Nui territory with the aim of offering a series of activities artistic activities to the inhabitants of the island and also share their musical and pedagogical experiences with teachers and students from the Toki Music School.

The cultural exchange included advice for bronze instruments, educational concerts and gala presentations, with a high pedagogical and formative nature, which were framed in the IV version of 'Active Musicians Uniting Traditions', a project devised and headed by the former academic from the house of higher education, Valeria Prado Zárate, who has lived in the island territory for more than six years and who currently teaches the new trumpet class in the establishment founded by the concert pianist Mahani Teave, where until 2016 there were only classes piano, violin, cello, as well as ukulele and ancestral singing.

Regarding the realization and scope of this new musical call on the island, Prado stated, via telephone, that she was very happy and grateful to those who allowed this success: “for me it has been very nice and a pleasant surprise to be able to make this fourth version since the first and second musical calls had the support of the Music Fund of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, while this year we only have the support of private parties, the community and the Cultural Corporation of the Municipality of Rapa Nui”.

However, despite the efforts to maintain and be able to perform these cycles of learned music, Valeria feels a social responsibility with the community with which she shares daily: “it has been very nice to be able to perform 'Active Musicians Uniting Traditions' because the people of The island is looking forward to them and they always ask me when more musicians will come or when the next concerts will be, and I notice that there is a captive audience that goes to these events a lot and is waiting to participate," said the musician from Hanga Roa.

Musical journey to the Navel of the World

For the prominent Serenense horn player, this was his second trip to Rapa Nui. The first one was held in 2016, where he offered, together with Valeria, a series of educational and gala concerts at different venues in the territory. On this occasion, he was accompanied by the Director of the ULS Music Department, Martín Herrera, with the aim of promoting recitals and musical workshops for bronze instruments, forging ties and future collaborations.

“Since 2016, this project has been very well received by the people of Rapa Nui, which is why it has continued to be independent of funding applications. This year I suggested to Valeria to invite Martín Herrera, in his capacity as Director of the Music Department of the University of La Serena and trombonist, to perform recitals and horn and trombone workshops, but mainly to begin establishing ties with the Corporation itself. Municipal of Rapa Nui and the Toki Music School (…). The idea is to provide support and provide advice to those who carry out these classes, like Valeria, who is currently in charge of teaching these classes. She is a pianist and has dabbled in the trumpet for a few years; However, since there is no human resource on the island, she had to take charge of these chairs and we went to advise her, and also to support the possibility of opening to other instruments within the bronze area,” commented Alejandro Meléndez.

In the case of the Director of the ULS Music Department, his first cultural exchange with the island meant a very special moment: “it was magical, as were its people who were willing to receive new musical knowledge. The workshop we held at the Toki Music School was a success, together with Alejandro we covered everything from stretching and breathing exercises to sound emission and interpretation (...). Furthermore, during our stay we performed two recitals with Valeria Prado, one at the Toki Music School and another at the Tongariki Cultural Center, both with a good audience and with a very varied program, from baroque music to XNUMXst century music. At the end of each recital, the attendees approached us to talk and learn about our work and our instruments that have not yet been developed on the island, so the interest shown by the attendees was very comforting,” Martín Herrera explained.

In the words of Valeria Prado, “it was super nice that Martín and Alejandro came because at this moment, somewhat coincidentally, there are quite a few people on the island who play wind and brass instruments specifically. For now, at the Toki Music School there is only one student taking trumpet classes, but there are several people or musicians who have arrived from Santiago who have their bands and who play self-taught. So the advice provided by my colleagues was key; Furthermore, they allowed me to extend the invitation to the entire island and not just to the students of Toki, where many people went; There were kids who played saxophone, flute, trombone and trumpet, so it was super good for them to have a more professional opinion and be able to clarify several of their doubts.”

Strengthening ties

After this enriching cultural exchange, the Serenense musicians have envisioned in the medium term working on new projects linking with the environment that will allow them to promote and increase the musical world of students from both territories: “I feel the responsibility of planting a seed in Rapa Nui so that over time a tree rich in fruits grows. Our next challenge is to visit the island with an ensemble of brass instrument students with the aim of performing recitals; In addition, with the support of our university authorities, donate brass instruments to the Toki Music School: a trombone, a trumpet, a French horn, and prepare three instructors during our stay and implement the teaching of these instruments on the island.” , specified the Director of the ULS Music Department.

Finally, Alejandro Meléndez added that they are working on “how to continue encouraging the bronze chair in Rapa Nui, and for that we need to generate a second connection; At least that is my idea, so that kids from the Toki Music School come to play on the continent, at the University of La Serena, and students from our higher education institution or the Jorge Peña Hen Music School also have the possibility to travel and offer recitals on the island.”

The regional group led by brothers Jorge and Claudio Araya will be the protagonist of the seventh installment of this space, winner of the National Music Fund 2018. The broadcast will be this Saturday, October 06, starting at 20:00 p.m., on Radio Universitaria 94.5 FM from La Serena and Coquimbo.

Radio Universitaria FM, station of the University of La Serena, will broadcast this week the seventh episode of its program cycle called "Our Sounds: Musical Creators of the Coquimbo Region", dedicated exclusively to the dissemination of regional authors and musicians.

This week's guest will be Jorge “Coke” Araya, vocalist and founder of the regional blues band Magnolia.

Chicago electric blues, '60s British rock and Diaguita music are on the horizon at Magnolia. The group has been inspired by guitarists Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, as well as some closer figures, such as guitarist Ricardo Mollo and the Argentine group Divididos.  

Magnolia was born in the summer of 2000 in the old Croata pub in Serena, the hometown of brothers Jorge and Claudio Araya, together with bassist Freddy Muñoz and percussionist Boris Vega.

Then, upon settling in Santiago in 2004, the group rejected the use of percussion, following the line of the electric trio, basing its music on existential and everyday themes. In the capital, the band performed on blues and hard rock circuits, coinciding on stages with groups such as Los Jaivas, Ángel Parra Trío, and the Argentine guitarist of the group Almendra.

In its years of experience, Magnolia has toured much of Latin America, performing successful shows not only in Chile, but also in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico, thus becoming a benchmark for blues in Chile and a kind of emblem of local music.

“Our Sounds” is a project promoted by the Department of Corporate Communications of the ULS, which was the winner of the 2018 National Music Fund, Chilean Music Radio Broadcasting line.

The invitation is to tune in to this seventh episode, which will be broadcast this Saturday, October 06, starting at 20.00:94.5 p.m., through the XNUMX frequency of Radio Universitaria FM for La Serena and Coquimbo and on its online signal available at www. userena.cl.

The activity is part of the concert series in conjunction with DIVEULS and is free of charge.

A new musical invitation is being made by the Directorate of Linkage with the Environment and Extension of the University of La Serena, to appreciate the interpretation of the regional artists Francisco Vergara and Matías Rojas, from the Music Degree program of the house of studies superiors. On this occasion, the repertoire will include works from different parts of the world, especially works for quartets from the XNUMXst century.

The invitation is for Wednesday, October 10, at 19:30 p.m., in the Exhibition Hall of the university.

Regarding his experience and dedication with different concerts at the regional level, Francisco Vergara, pointed out that “for about 2 years I have had the goal that in the cultural grid of the commune and the region there are at least 2 or 3 guitar concert activities. of people from here, so every year I am trying to prepare different formats. In addition to the concerts, we are also doing semiannual auditions with the students, with the ensemble we go to schools, among other invitations.”

Finally, Vergara referred to one of the long-term objectives of these concerts. “The idea is to institutionalize these groups, that they exist and that, beyond the people, they are maintained over time, to leave that legacy (…), that the guitar moves, that people listen to it, that we find new audiences and new projects of interpreters.”

This is a free entry activity, which will take place in the ULS Exhibition Hall, located at Benavente 950, La Serena.

Source: DIVEULS press

The student cast of the Music Department of the University of La Serena will offer a new concert on Saturday, October 06, at 20:00 p.m., in the facilities of said unit of the state campus.

This Saturday, October 06, at 20:00 p.m., in the MECESUP concert hall of the Department of Music of the University of La Serena, the University Orchestra, a student cast led by the academic and artistic director, Manuel Figueroa-Bolvarán, will present a new concert from their 2018 season, accompanied by the first flutist of the Universidad de La Serena Symphony Orchestra, Rodrigo López.  

The repertoire to be presented this coming Saturday will open with the well-known dramatic overture "Egmont" Op. 84, by the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven and based on the tragedy written by Goethe. Next, the student group will present the flute concerto in G minor BWV 1056R, by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Rodrigo López.  

To close this concert, the orchestra will present the ninth symphony by the Czech composer, Antonín Dvořák, the crowning work of his symphonic catalog and an important challenge for young musicians.

The concert will be led by its artistic and academic director of the ULS Music Department, Manuel Figueroa-Bolvarán, who will guide the public through the details of the works to be presented.  

It should be noted that the La Serena University Orchestra is a cast open to young musicians from the Coquimbo Region, with a strong focus on the professional development of students, providing tools to strengthen and direct their advancement in the different training orchestras of the region. It is currently made up of students from the Bachelor's Degree in Music and Pedagogy in Musical Education, as well as advanced musicians from the Jorge Peña Hen Experimental School of Music and different youth orchestras in the area.

The new radio space will present the legacy of the outstanding professor and musician, who was director of the ULS Folkloric Ensemble and founder of the Tuna San Bartolomé.

“Sixto Cortés Alcayaga, a figure of folklore in our University and the Coquimbo Region” is the title of the new cycle of programs that Radio Universitaria FM, the station of the University of La Serena, will broadcast starting this Sunday, October 7 thanks to the financing of the Fund for the Promotion of Social Communication Media of the Government of Chile and the Regional Council.

The cycle considers 4 programs in which the audience will be made aware of the legacy of the professor and musician, Sixto Cortés Alcayaga, who was director of the Folkloric Ensemble of the University of La Serena for more than forty years and founder of the first tuna university of the region, Tuna San Bartolomé, on December 13, 1990.

The host of this new radio space, Raúl “Talo” Pinto, will interview people linked to the musician, which will be complemented with the broadcast of musical recordings, the results of which will be sent via CD to various establishments in La Serena and Coquimbo.

“Sixto Cortés Alcayaga, a figure of folklore” will be broadcast on Sundays, at noon, through 94.5 FM and its online signal: http://www.userena.cl/index.php/comunicaciones/radio-universita.

Project financed by the Social Media Promotion Fund of the Government of Chile and the Regional Council.

The presentation for said release will be in charge of the Surkos Quartet, which will exhibit a series of 'Works for string quartet'.

After two years of musicological research into the legacy of the creator of the first Children's Symphony Orchestra in Chile and Latin America - which included the recovery of 41 complete works, the preparation of its catalog of scores, transcription and musical edition of each of his invaluable pieces -, the Mismar Cultural Association will inaugurate the 'Jorge Peña Hen Musical Festival: A tribute to the maestro' during the month of October.

The long-awaited regional event will take place free of charge for four days, from Tuesday, October 16 to Friday, October 19, at different times and venues in La Serena. The objective is to enhance and promote the invaluable legacy of the maestro, his acclaimed facet as a leader, born creator and irrefutable talent as a composer and musical arranger with city residents, students, soloists and learned national and international groups, through an attractive artistic proposal that They include talks, lectures, educational concerts and symphonies, and a wide variety of artists.

The Festival will commemorate the 45 years since the death of the great composer, and will be inaugurated at the Liceo Gregorio Cordovez in La Serena, the teacher's former school, where there is an important legacy of his memory that is maintained not only with the vestiges and memories of his time at high school, but is visualized in the musical work that said institution is doing. The activity will begin on Tuesday, October 16, at 11:00 a.m., with an educational concert by the Surkos Quartet; to end with the tribute in memory of the illustrious son and the offering of a wreath by the high school.

On this day, the Surkos Quartet will perform, a famous national group that has developed a vast career in musicological research, with the performance of new string quartets. Precisely, today they are dedicated to the development and production of works for Jorge Peña Hen's string quartet, through the recording of an album. In the words of the group's violinist, Marcelo Pérez, recording the album 'Obras para Cuarteto de Cuerdas' -produced this year with financing from the 2018 Music Funds of the Ministry of Arts, Cultures and Heritage-, was a true privilege: “I had the opportunity to get to know Peña Hen's family a little more. During the investigation we found the scores that were lost in the archives and that was something very significant; taking into account that in addition to all the legacy that he left in pedagogical and orchestral terms, the work of these works reveals the high level of composer that he was,” he explained.

The musician also referred to the realization and significance of this Festival, indicating that “during this investigation I realized that many people do not know of the legacy that the maestro left, and others have not even heard his name; Therefore, it is very important to make it known through these instances outside of Santiago.” As a consequence of Peña Hen's musical imprint, the violinist added that there is so much richness in the works written by the maestro "that rescuing them to be studied seems incredible to me, and something that catches my attention a lot and that is more noticeable in the works that he composed when he was little, are the fugues and the quartet that we find as a posthumous opus. Also his mastery of counterpoint and composition techniques written for the time he lived in Chile makes his innate talent very clear; Furthermore, in one way or another, he always put into his works his own identity as a Latin American and Chilean, through some sounds that marked his preferences,” Marcelo Pérez explained.

This album will be officially launched within the framework of the Festival, at 18:00 p.m., at the Gabriela Mistral Regional Library in La Serena, which will be accompanied by a discussion where the most important points of this research and the works for quartet will be explained. of strings composed by Jorge Peña Hen. Later, at 19:00 p.m., a concert will be held where these works will be performed.

The Gabriela Mistral Regional Library will concentrate a series of activities related to the festival, and as a starting point for this event, Ximena Sobarzo, director of the cultural establishment, said that “Jorge Peña Hen is part of the musical and artistic heritage of our region. 90 years after his birth, we are committed to disseminating part of his cultural legacy as founder of the first children's orchestra in Latin America and to expanding the cultural rights of boys, girls and young people, especially those who lived in conditions of greater vulnerability (... ). We believe that reading is much more than books, it is also music, sound and images, just as writing is also composition.”

The 'Jorge Peña Hen Musical Festival: A tribute to the maestro' is a project designed and carried out by the Mismar Cultural Association, financed through the 2018 Music Funds, of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage. Its realization included extensive musicological research, rescue, transcription, editing and publication of a large part of the maestro's work as a composer, which was covered by the FNDR 2016 Competitive Culture Funds of the Regional Government of Coquimbo.

It should be noted that the event will run until Friday, October 19, with a varied artistic program, in which international names stand out such as the Russian concert artist, Svetlana Kotova; regional groups such as the ULS String Quartet, the La Serena Wind Quintet, the Vocal Ensemble of the University of La Serena and the University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra. The latter, a collaborative group of the Mismar Cultural Association, will close the event with a masterful presentation, which will be led by the young national conductor, Miguel Ángel Castro Reveco.