The second proposal of the 2018 season invites you on an interesting journey through English sounds and, furthermore, through the history of brave indigenous people who inhabited the extreme south of Chile.

With three spectacular works and a new country as the protagonist: Great Britain, the University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble belonging to the Network of Professional Regional Orchestras of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, promises its attendees a captivating night of music and history around their second concert of the 2018 season, framed in the program 'The Symphony of Cultures'.

The event that will take place at the Municipal Theater of La Serena next Friday, April 20, will be led by a prominent Chilean teacher. This is the director Rodolfo Fischer, who will inject his orchestral imprint into this presentation inspired by British roots. “At the time these works were written, tourism did not exist and composers used the resource of knowing the styles of other countries to travel through the imagination, and therefore, what the Orchestra is proposing is very interesting. Symphony University of La Serena, because we are precisely returning to the root of origin of these pieces,” highlighted the guest conductor.  

Fischer, the figure who triumphs in Switzerland - the country where he has resided since 2003 - made a reference to the migration currently experienced in Chile, alluding to the multiculturalism that has inspired the professional orchestra of the Coquimbo Region to forge this ambitious season. “We find ourselves in an interesting moment when it comes to immigration, with many of our Latin American brothers arriving in our country. So, this trip to the symphony of cultures is very appropriate because it shows the stylistic differences that exist and that are specific to each nation,” said the teacher, confessing that he was happy to visit the region. “Finally I will be able to meet the University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra and work with them, I have wanted to travel to the north of the country for many years and the opportunity had not been given, so this is my first time and I am happy about that; especially with this program, which has quite elegant lines and requires complete technical mastery in terms of finesse of orchestral writing,” he expressed.

A trip to history

According to the program of this second concert of the season, the professional ensemble has prepared an exciting repertoire, a magnanimous journey that is difficult to refuse in which they will perform 'Two Pieces for Small Orchestra' by the English composer Frederick Delius, the work 'Song of cradle for Fuegia Basket' by the young national promise, Tomás Brantmayer, and finally, the Suite 'Dream for a Midsummer Night', Op. 61 by the conductor and pianist, the German Félix Mendelssohn.

As its composer explains, the piece "Lullaby for Fuegia Basket" was inspired by the story of an aboriginal girl from the extreme south of Chile who, in 1830 and at only 9 years old, was taken hostage by Captain Fitz Roy. , to live under European customs. “The La Serena orchestra commissioned me to create a work that responded to the theme of their concert based in Great Britain. During this search I chose to work with the story of Fuegie Basket, a Kawésqar native from Tierra del Fuego who was kidnapped by English settlers at the end of the XNUMXth century. XIX to be taken and educated in England, and later, returned to her place of origin (...), I have a particular fascination with the peoples of the south, that is why I decided to take the history of these indigenous people, with special interest in this native, because "I believe that she has been an invisible figure and, on the other hand, she represents the three greatest dispossessions currently present in Chile: being indigenous, being a woman and being a child, and that historical fragility is what I was interested in capturing through music," Bratmayer deepened.

The Chilean also referred to his participation in this season, confessing that he felt “honored to have received this call from the Universidad de La Serena Symphony Orchestra, because in general in Chile there are not so many possibilities for a composer to work with symphonic groups, and In that sense I feel very privileged, especially because I respect the work that this orchestra has with Chilean composition,” he expressed. In the words of maestro Fischer, Bratmayer is on the right track, “I met Tomás a couple of years ago and I think that his music, although it is in a contemporary language, always brings us closer through very human motives and stories, so we will have a pleasant surprise in that sense.”

The appointment is for next Friday, April 20, at 20:00 p.m., at the Municipal Theater of the regional capital. For those who attend, tickets can only be purchased at the theater box office, on the same day of the event, with prices ranging from $3.000 for the general public and $2.000 for seniors, while admission is free for school students and the University of La Serena, presenting her credential.

It should be noted that this new concert season is developed thanks to the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, from whom it receives part of its financing through Glosa of the National Budget since 2016; in addition to the support provided by the University of La Serena and the Municipality of La Serena, through its Department of Culture.

Source: Press Symphony Orchestra University of La Serena

Among the participants are ULS students who received scholarships to take the course.

A new approach to Japanese culture was presented by the Directorate of Liaison with the Environment and Extension of the University of La Serena. With an emotional ceremony, the Basic Japanese Language course taught by the volunteer of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, Ritsuko Kohara, culminated, which was held in the second half of 2017 and early 2018.

On the occasion, 10 students certified the knowledge they received about the Japanese language and received words of congratulations from the Director of Liaison with the Environment and Extension, Dr. Catalina Cvitanic, and the language teacher, Ritsuko Kohara.

In her words, Dr. Cvitanic highlighted the presence of 4 ULS students, who were awarded scholarships to take the course. “I want to highlight the participation of our ULS students. For us, something essential was giving the students other activities that complement their professional development," she said, and then congratulated them "since studying involves a personal effort, it involves discipline and perhaps sacrificing other things to be able to carry out your initiative."

In this regard, Professor Ritsuko Kohara commented: “I am glad that you are interested in Japan and that you came to my classes to learn the Japanese language (...), learning a foreign language is having a broader vision and possibilities (...). My job is to help you achieve your dreams. I wish you every success in your Japanese studies and good luck,” said the JICA volunteer.

The Japanese Language I course fulfilled its objective of providing knowledge about the vocabulary, grammar and reading of the Japanese language, also managing to develop in the student the ability to form small basic conversations in this language.

This activity is carried out thanks to a collaboration process between the University of La Serena and the JICA Agency, where Professor Ritsuko Kohara is a volunteer.

Source: DIVEULS press

The exhibition is part of the DIVEULS Exhibition Cycle and will be open to the community from April 20 to May 18.

As an artistic milestone that commemorates the 30 years since the death of José Venturelli and the 37 years of the University of La Serena, the Foundation that honors this historical Chilean artist, together with the house of studies, will present the exhibition “Venturelli: territory, origin and freedom”, being the first time that the graphic work of this great muralist reaches the Region of Coquimbo and Norte Chico.

The exhibition, which takes place in the Exhibition Hall of the ULS Environment and Extension Directorate (Benavente 950, La Serena), is a project financed by the Fund for Cultural Development and the Arts, Fondart, 2018 call, with the collaboration of the Gabriel González Videla Cultural Corporation, the Department of Culture of the Illustrious Municipality of La Serena and the audiovisual production company Mutante Films.

The selection highlights engravings that illustrated the clandestine edition of Pablo Neruda's Canto General, pieces made in China and Switzerland and even creations never before exhibited, among other works of interest. The exhibition covers different modalities of the graphic medium: woodcut, lithographic and serigraphic engravings, as well as posters and drawings. In addition, it includes a curatorial text and the rotating projection of a video that records one of the most important interviews conducted with Venturelli, in Europe.

The exhibition, curated by Christian Leyssen Silva, establishes the deep link between this artist and the North, where the foundations that define the great basal themes of his production are born: identity, humanity and political commitment. It is a tour of some of the most representative graphic works of the different themes and plastic languages ​​that articulate the artist's worldview.

This exhibition will be available from April 20 to May 18, from 10:00 a.m. to 13:00 p.m. and from 14:30 p.m. to 18:30 p.m., Monday to Thursday, and on Fridays from 14:00 p.m. to 17:00 p.m.

Complementary activities

As part of this exhibition, the conversation “Art, identity and political commitment: José Venturelli and the Norte Chico” will be held, with the participation of academics from the University of La Serena, Luis Rivera and Daniel Palominos, and the curator of the project , Christian Leyssen, on April 20, at 15:00 p.m., in the ULS Exhibition Hall, with free entry.

In addition, guided tours will be carried out for school establishments in the city, led by the Directorate of Liaison with the Environment and Extension of the ULS. Finally, a catalog will be published with a thousand copies that will be distributed free of charge in the city of La Serena, through its Department of Culture, and also in different public institutions throughout the country.

The production will be presented this Thursday, April 12 and Friday, April 13, at 20:30 p.m., at the Amphitheater of the University of La Serena.

Claudia Hernández, playwright, actress, teacher and director of the Experimental Theater group of the University of La Serena, will present the production “Larynx and Sword”, a work of her own, directed by Rodrigo Medina and by the company “Teatro del Viento” , accompanied by a cast of three performers from the area. The presentation will take place this Thursday, April 12 and Friday, April 13, at 20:30 p.m., in the Amphitheater Hall of the ULS, Isabel Bongard Campus (Amunátegui #851), and Your membership is voluntary.

The montage “Larynx and Sword” talks about the memory of pain and its transmutation in an autopsy room, where three thanatologists in the 80s find themselves prisoners of the collective dream that confronts the country's historical memory. It is a cleansing ritual about what condemns the memory and in the bodies through the necessary scream. In the work there are three female characters, one of them is the boss of the others, who intends to stay in her job and continue hiding the aberrations that society sees every day; while the other wants to show everything that is happening to the country and, finally, the youngest of the three suffers in silence all the pain that seeing everything that happens causes her, this is the moral-ethical conflict in which the characters in the montage.

Regarding the importance of the work, the playwright Claudia Hernández commented that "the memory of the country's pain and trauma is revisited through a dreamlike atmosphere, which contributes to the poetics of the staging, it is a form of see the events that occurred from other perspectives".

For the actress María Cecilia Aguilera, the work generates empathy between the characters and the audience, reaching the point of feeling at some point the pain of all those who lived through that period in history. "The work invites us to awaken the most hidden, our most hidden feelings to protect ourselves from memory, but we need to see the truth from the story of these three women who are the protagonists of the work," she said.

“Teatro del Viento” is one of the companies with the longest history in the Coquimbo Region, with more than 20 years on the local scene, presenting works such as "1975" and "Las preaches de Tartufo", and returns this year with a new premiere of this new montage.

The interventions carried out by the performers of the Universidad de La Serena Symphony Orchestra made it possible to make their cultural work known to new audiences in the territory.

Accompanied by a renewed programming, the group belonging to the Network of Regional Professional Orchestras of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage inaugurated the first cycle of educational mediations of the 2018 season in new destinations in the Coquimbo Region.

As has been customary since previous years, these interventions included musical classes and educational concerts in different parts of the conurbation, including rural establishments, such as Colegio Algarrobito, Colegio El Romeral and Colegio Las Rojas, in addition to the Liceo Juan Bautista de la Salle, Colegio Special Manuel Rodríguez and Liceo Ignacio Carrera Pinto de La Serena. Along with these presentations and in an unprecedented way, this year motivational and technical talks were included aimed at students from the Claudio Arrau School in Coquimbo and music teachers from the Carlos Condell School and Luis Braile School, belonging to the Gabriel González Videla Corporation.

Lucía Bolados Martínez, support professional in the Innovation and Management Unit of the municipal entity and for these purposes, coordinator of said concerts, assured that “for us it is a pleasure to be able to keep active, for 3 years, this enriching alliance with the orchestra. This year we want to extend the mediation process and for that we have focused on three programmatic lines: inclusion, technical high schools and continuing to visit rural establishments. It is proven that music is a transversal educational element that benefits the development of personal skills, music itself and general culture.”

Regarding the recently incorporated talks, he maintained that symphonic training “in and of itself is something unknown to our students for the most part; However, thanks to music teachers, it has been possible to expand the musical spectrum and with it, its different styles (...). This year's work was intensified in two aspects: improving the mediation processes and for this we included a motivational talk to music educators, and on the other hand, there is learning about instruments, new for our students, which are reaching others. schools,” the professional emphasized.

Music available to new audiences

During the development of this first cycle of musical interventions in the region, led by the string ensembles of the professional group, it was possible to bring the music and cultural work of the symphonic ensemble to new audiences in the territory, disseminating it in a playful and explanatory way. the beginnings of this art and the evolution that music has had according to the different periods in history.

For the educational communities, these instances were of great help to learn about and open up to new styles and composers, in addition to sharing musical experiences with the performers and experiencing a masterful, participatory and motivational music class on their own campus.

For the 2nd year student of the Claudio Arrau School, Rayen Mery Cancino, the talk offered by the first bassoon of the orchestra, Alevi Peña, “allowed me to clear up several doubts about the musical career, and he also shared key data about his life as a musician. . In my case, I want to dedicate myself to this and this talk helped me a lot to know what I am going to face in the future, which is studying composition.”

For his part, Felipe Lamas Callejas, from the Liceo Juan Bautista de la Salle, indicated that “he had never seen a string ensemble and it really was great. I found the concert to be very rewarding and relaxing at the same time, because they showed diverse styles of music, from classical composers to more modern authors and that musical journey was spectacular, I learned a lot.”

Finally, student John Zamora, from the 4th year of the Ignacio Carrera Pinto High School, thanked him for the opportunity he had at his establishment, commenting that “not only was I able to listen to a very good program, but I was also able to interact with the musicians and clear up my own doubts.” ", like managing frustration when you reach a point where you feel like you are no longer advancing, but with this exchange of experience I am eager to continue practicing and improve my instrument, which is percussion."

As part of the itinerary and responding to the orchestra's mission to bring music to new audiences, the performers taught and interacted with hundreds of young people with different abilities.

For the director of the Manuel Rodríguez Special School, Marcela Góngora Flores, “this presentation was a valuable opportunity for our students, they were able to enjoy the music and become little conductors for a few minutes, which puts them on the same path as people without disability, managing to enjoy these cultural spaces inclusively.”

Finally, María Soledad Hernández, director of the Luis Braile School, extended her gratitude to the Gabriel González Videla Corporation and the professional orchestra for performing at the establishment, “since one of our hallmarks of the school is music where we have orchestras and bands made up of children (as) with multideficit. The fact that they listen to the experience of a musician is highly significant because they can project their work into the future and learn about musical concepts.”

It should be noted that these mediation activities are part of the 2018 season and are developed thanks to the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, from whom it receives part of its financing through Glosa of the National Budget since 2016; in addition to the support provided by the University of La Serena and the Municipality of La Serena, through its Department of Culture.

Currently the group is preparing its second concert of the season inspired by British roots, within the framework of the 'Symphonies of Cultures' program. For more information about this and other presentations, visit the portal www.sinfonicalaserena.cl and follow the Fanpage: 'Orquesta Sinfónica Universidad de La Serena', Twitter: @sinfonicaLS and Instagram: sinfonicalaserena.

Source: La Serena University Symphony Orchestra

The presentation was part of the XXXVII anniversary of the school, beginning its borderless programming, called 'The Symphony of Cultures'.

With an exciting night of music, inspired by multiculturalism and the imprint that foreign communities present in our country have left, highlighted by their valuable contribution to national culture, the University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra inaugurated its long-awaited 2018 season, celebrating a new anniversary of the house of higher education.

The massive event commemorated the 37th birthday of the University of La Serena, being described as “a great gift for all of us who are part of this University. Really, it has been a wonderful show and we see that every day our musicians are playing better, it is clear that there is work full of professionalism. I congratulate these tremendous performers for the concert they have given us, because it is a true gift for the institution, but also for the community of the city of La Serena, and that makes us very proud," said the Rector of the house of studies. , Dr. Nibaldo Avilés Pizarro.

The first concert of the season began with Sergio Berchenko's work called 'The Sacred Plot', 'Symphony No. 4 'The Italian', Op. 90' by the German Félix Mendelssohn, and later 'Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. .33' by the Russian composer Piotr I. Tchaikovsky, which was performed by the outstanding world-class soloist, the Spanish cellist Elisa Rodríguez Sádaba, who surprised the audience with her impeccable execution and her passion on stage.

For her part, Elisa R. Sádaba stated that “it has been a pleasant experience playing with this great orchestra, highlighting that it is the first time that I have performed in the city of La Serena. In addition, they prepared a very nice program with Mendelssohn's Rococo and Italian works that I love; and from the beginning of rehearsals I felt very comfortable.”

Those who enjoyed the first night of 'The Symphony of Cultures' agreed on the interesting and diverse nature of its programming. For Wiebke Spitczok, originally from Germany, “after this presentation I had very high expectations for the coming months, I am glad that this is the first concert and that there are several dates ahead. It really was a beautiful concert, the soloist was excellent, a beautiful gift," highlighted the attendee at this presentation, adding that the "inspiration they had to create this season addresses topics that are very important today, such as knowledge and connection with other cultures, and what a significant connection it is that it is through music,” he stated.

For his part, Emilio Jorquera, a faithful assistant to the presentations of the Universidad de La Serena Symphony Orchestra, explained that “I was looking forward to this season; once again, the ensemble has delivered an impeccable presentation. The soloist tonight was fabulous, you can see her passion when playing the cello and that was very exciting.”

This new season of concerts is developed thanks to the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, from whom it receives part of its financing through Glosa of the National Budget since 2016, in addition to the support provided by the University of La Serena and the Municipality of La Serena, through its Department of Culture.

Source: Press Symphony Orchestra University of La Serena