The presentations were given by the group's String Ensemble, while the master classes were given by the violin, viola and trumpet leaders.

Nine educational establishments, 6 simultaneous concerts and 3 orchestral instruction visits is what the La Serena University Symphony Orchestra carried out with great success in the regional capital and surrounding sectors of the commune. An important territorial work that responds to the guidelines embodied in its educational work, promotion and dissemination of orchestral music to the boys, girls and young people of the Coquimbo Region.

On this occasion, the interventions began with orchestral instruction visits by the violin, viola and trumpet leaders of the professional ensemble. The itinerary included rehearsals and training of the instrument for the String Orchestra of the emblematic Liceo Gregorio Cordovez, led by the musician Cecilia Olmos Pujado. Then, it was the turn of the String Orchestra of the Manuel Balmaceda School where didactic viola classes were held with Professor Ricardo Muñoz Bórquez. Finally, the visits culminated in the Pedro Aguirre Cerda de La Antena School of the Arts, where the row of bronzes could perfect themselves and improve their technique on the instrument together with the trumpeter Sergio Fuentes Ibarra.

After the master classes for the students, hundreds of pre-school and school students from different educational venues had the opportunity to learn about and enjoy the playful repertoire offered by the String Ensembles of the Symphony Orchestra. A total of 6 educational concerts, presented simultaneously at the Alonso de Ercilla School, Jardín Manitas Grandes, Manuel Rodríguez School, Quebrada de Talca School, Arturo Prat Chacón School and Carlos Condell de la Aza School were part of the sustained cooperation agreement. once again, with the Gabriel González Videla Corporation.

“We are very happy to be able to reaffirm this alliance with the Regional Orchestra for the third consecutive year. Every time we are improving and seeing more details about the selection of schools, which allows us to favor the educational perspective that the orchestra has. This year there is a high demand from you, to provide quality teaching work and generate new audiences in our schoolchildren,” commented Lucía Bolados Martínez, in charge of Heritage and Culture of the GGV Corporation.

This 2019, the ensemble belonging to the Network of Professional Regional Symphony Orchestras of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage has proposed to work and respond to three fundamental lines of action in the educational approach. “For the first time, we worked on motivational talks to the 3rd and 4th middle classes of our establishments, in which musicians were there to motivate about the role of music, make known the work of a musician and, above all, instill in our young people the doing what they are passionate about, focused on the vocation of doing what makes them happy,” Bolados highlighted.

The Orchestra closest to you

More than two hundred students of different levels were part of the first cycle of educational concerts of 2019, who were grateful for the opportunity to enjoy, know and learn different themes of an orchestra, such as the name and sound of the string instruments, some passages of the works and their composers, clear up doubts about the interpretations and express their emotions regarding the pieces they heard.

Licán Piñones Piñones, from the Alonso de Ercilla School in Las Compañías, happily indicated that “I liked the musicians very much and I liked everything they did: the songs, the sound of the instruments, the emotions, everything. I learned what the instruments are called, and that there are different types and sizes of string instruments such as the violin, which is the smallest, and the double bass, which is the largest; and also the sound that stands out in each of them. I really liked participating in this class and telling them everything I felt when they played,” said the student.

For his part, Alejandro Tirado Correa, from the Manuel Rodríguez School, was very participatory and receptive in each of the works that the String Ensemble performed in his educational facility: “I really liked what the musicians played, especially the violin because My sister also plays this instrument and I really like its sound. In addition, I learned that string instruments are played with an element called a bow,” he commented.

Written by Camila Pérez, University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra