The 2020 version schedules a wide variety of midday concerts from January 11 to 17, contributing free activities to the summer season.

Summer in the Coquimbo Region is not only synonymous with sun and beaches, but also with high-level music and cultural panoramas, such as the traditional La Serena Musical Encounters organized and executed every year by the ULS Music Department and the Foundation. La Serena Regional Symphony Orchestra, and that this 2020 will hold its thirty-fifth version with free concerts, prominent guest artists and groups from the region. Added to this are training activities such as the Encuentros Youth Symphony Orchestra, made up of music students from different parts of the local territory.

The XXXV version began this January 3, welcoming the more than 80 performers who give life to the youth group of these Meetings. These days, they are rehearsing with the bandleaders of the Universidad de La Serena Symphony Orchestra, with whom they are preparing the inaugural concert next Saturday, January 11, in the heart of the regional capital. During this year, the Musical Meetings will extend until the 17th of the same month with free concerts at noon.

The opening will be led by one of the most outstanding Chilean teachers and a regular friend of the regional ensemble's programming, José Luis Domínguez, current artistic director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, who will govern with agility and character a program as magnificent as it is diverse, with works such as 'Finlandia', Op. 26 (Jean Sibelius, Sweden), 'Carmen Suite Nº1' (Georges Bizet, France), 'Danzón 2' (Arturo Márquez, Mexico), 'Emperor Waltz' and 'Truenos and Lightning' (Johann Strauss II, Austria), 'Hungarian Dance No. 5' (Johannes Brahms), 'Fantastic Dance' and 'Tres Aires Chilenos No. 3' (Enrique Soro, Chile).

On Monday, January 13, Domínguez will continue conducting, but this time in charge of the La Serena University Symphony Orchestra, with a repertoire that will pay tribute to the Austrian genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with the Overture 'The Marriage of Figaro', Symphony No. 36 in C Major, K. 425, 'Linz' and the 'Concerto No. 1 in G Major for flute and orchestra'; The latter will be performed by Nicole Garrido Espinosa, the brand new winner of 2nd place, university category, of the 2019 Regional Young Soloists Competition. In the words of the performer, this concert means “a great challenge, since I am always perfecting it and I feel very excited “To play with a professional orchestra is an honor and a privilege that I want to enjoy to the fullest.”

The billboard of these Musical Meetings will also feature regional groups with vast experience, such as the Ensamble Villanueva de La Serena and Lican Antay, who will perform on Tuesday, January 14 and Wednesday, January 15. While on Thursday the 16th, the fifth day will fall to the talent of the Coquimbo Philharmonic Orchestra, who under the direction of Fernando Guede Rodríguez will offer the Overture 'The Magic Flute' (W. Mozart), the Symphony No. 8 in B Minor 'La Inconclusa' (F. Schubert), 'Romanza N°2 for violin and orchestra, with the soloist Yarec Rivera, and the 'Coroleano' Overture (both by Ludwig Van Beethoven).

Regarding the presentation on Tuesday, January 14, Tatiana Espinoza Lamatta, musical director and president of the Villanueva de La Serena Cultural Foundation, commented that the first part of the program was premiered with great success in September 2019, at the 6th Festival of Latin American Baroque in Cusco, Peru: "it is based mainly on the most important composer of the baroque born in America, the Peruvian José de Orejón y Aparicio." While the second part of the program will feature the participation of guests such as the children's and youth choir from the Allegro Academy, directed by Francisco Espinoza, with whom we will perform music written in Araucanía in the year 1777. These are simple songs based on works of Gregorian chant, with text in Mapudungun, written by a Jesuit missionary and transcribed by the musicologist Chilean Víctor Rondón”, he specified.

Regarding the symphonic concert that the Lican Antay group will offer, Gustavo Araya Pérez, founder and general director of the group, referred to the musical journey that they will carry out on Wednesday, January 15, together with the Latin American Symphony Orchestra of the Pedro Aguirre Cerda School of La Antena and the teacher Juan Ricardo Tabilo. The work called 'Tomás Paniri: the leader of the wind, the sun on the earth', is inspired by this Atacama leader who lived in the Alto Loa area, between the years 1780 and 1781: “it is a musical-historical story that tells the feat of Tomás Paniri and his Atacameño hosts who raised arms against the Catholic Church and the Spanish crown. It is a work that we originally composed for the group Lican Antay (…) Then, through the Music Fund, we obtained financing to make a symphonic version. It is a 45-minute program that includes, in addition to the work, a couple of versions that Juan Ricardo Tabilo made of other songs of ours that are not part of this historical story,” said the local musician and composer.

Finally, the XXXV version of the La Serena Musical Encounters will lower the curtain with a first-class concert by the professional cast, again under the guidance of Domínguez. The closing repertoire highlights the Overture 'The Barber of Seville' by G. Rossini; 'Romanza Op.1' by Antonín Dvorak performed by Camila Díaz (violin), winner of 1st place in the 2019 Regional Young Soloists Competition, university category; to end with the 'Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67' by the German genius, LV Beethoven.

It should be noted that all concerts are free entry, without withdrawal of invitations and will take place in Aula Magna ULS (Benavente #980).

The La Serena Musical Encounters is a regional event organized by the ULS Music Department and the La Serena Regional Symphony Orchestra Foundation, together with the support and sponsorship of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage; and the University of La Serena through the Directorate of Linkage with the Environment and Extension (DIVEULS). This initiative was proposed in 1984 by the orchestra director and musical manager, Fernando Rosas, with the idea of ​​taking advantage of the musical wealth developed in the commune around the legacy of maestro Jorge Peña Hen, crystallized in youth music, university musical life. and the rich tourist environment present in La Serena in the summer season.

Written by Camila Pérez, University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra

This project from the Universidad de La Serena Publishing House contributes to the “Coquimbo Region Reading Plan 2017-2022”, prepared by the then Coquimbo Culture and Arts Council.

The University of La Serena and the region received excellent news to end this year 2019, with the award of funds to develop the project: “Intensive practical workshop on editorial design with Adobe InDesing for agents of the book chain in the Region of Coquimbo", which consists of a free workshop, aimed at technical and professional agents, who will work on the link between editing and design, the use of the Adobe InDesing tool and the presentation and discussion of cases where graphic design enhances editorial work. .

The planning includes 6 sessions that will be led by specialists in their respective areas: Alejandro Abufom Heresi, in charge of the Publishing House of the University of La Serena; José Bodet (Adobe Certified Associate Visual Design Specialist), professor at Antalis Chile Ltda.; Nicolás Sagredo Duarte (founding partner of the Navaja graphic design studio and co-editor at Gran Negro Ediciones) and Daniela Escobar (graphic designer and founding partner of Ediciones Overol).

At the end of the course, participants will be able to know the important flows and considerations when planning the design and printed production of books as an editorial product; master the advanced tools and functions of InDesign, integration with Word, Excel, Adobe design applications and manage color according to standards and requirements of printed production; and obviously evaluate the editing work itself in order to incorporate practices that give value to the book produced in the Coquimbo Region.

In this regard, the manager of the ULS Publishing House, Alejandro Abufom, highlighted that “the situation of the regional publishing industry is precarious in many aspects, but particularly in editorial design. There are many graphic designers, but they barely know book design. To make up for this shortcoming, at the Universidad de La Serena Publishing House we have trained, in the last 10 years, several people, but we want to extend this benefit to more technicians and professionals in this industry. Editorial's experience is supported by its catalog of more than 130 titles, all of them circulating throughout Chile, the world and through web platforms."

Furthermore, Abufom added that “with initiatives like these, we are adding value to our regional book chain, strengthening human capital, for editorial production that can go out to Chile and the world with minimum technical and aesthetic standards, which will allow better circulation. and, therefore, appreciation of our artistic production.”

With this initiative, the University of La Serena will administer a total of $10.884.984 that directly contributes to the “Coquimbo Region Reading Plan 2017-2022”, prepared by the then Coquimbo Culture and Arts Council, which proposes, in the field of regional publishing production, “advance in the professionalization of the publishing sector.”

Written by Jenifer Araya, DIVEULS

Hand in hand with theater, storytelling and two acclaimed symphonic-choral presentations, the regional cast culminates its successful 2019 season.

The public was filled with feelings of 'Hope' after witnessing the XI Concert of the Universidad de La Serena Symphony Orchestra and its acclaimed proposal for this season's close, inspired by the famous “Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. The evenings contemplated playful narratives; as well as popular Christmas carols and famous choral extracts from Händel, Bach, Saint-Säens, Debussy and Prokofiev.

Nearly a thousand people, including children and adults, witnessed one of the most anticipated shows for families. On this occasion, the professional cast shared the stage with great talents from the region, uniting different art disciplines such as storytelling, theater and singing on a single large stage. The execution of the symphonic-choral works was carried out by the Citizen Singers of Elqui, which was composed of the choirs of the Renacer Choral Ensemble, Ensamble Vocal En Armonía and Ensamble Cantus Florida; while the retelling of Charles Dickens' story fell into the hands of the prominent actor and playwright Héctor Álvarez Godoy.

In this way, who was in charge of taking the public on this journey through the past, present and future of Mr. Scrooge, highlighted the experience of having shared the stage with the orchestra and the choir: “They were two very beautiful days, of quite demanding because it is the first time that I have done a job of this nature and it was a very big show. Personally, I felt a great responsibility on my shoulders, but fortunately everything worked out and it was a wonderful job," explained Héctor Álvarez, and then delved deeper into the reflection left by this legendary Christmas story: "I find the message of Dickens' story remarkable, since he says that greedy people drag a heavy chain for an eternity or, on the other hand, their wealth is looted by the poor and to me the message of his story seems super contingent in the face of the social-political contingency that exists. So it seems very relevant to me to rescue figures like Dickens, where he shows us a society that must be revisited and visited; I felt a lot of emotion and one perceives that from the scenic side; So it was a beautiful and unforgettable experience to be here. Very beautiful,” confessed the prominent local actor.

On this occasion, the XI and last concert of 2019 was led by the pianist, composer and academic from the Department of Music of the University of La Serena and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Fernando Guede Rodríguez, who spoke about the assembly and the time that it took them a while to produce a show of these characteristics and format: “We spent a little more than 3 months preparing this, first looking at the script, then organizing the musical accompaniment part where there was a lot of work with the concertmaster; then, locate the actor and prepare the scores for this concert because there were original scores and some that were arrangements and in those cases, we had to produce some scores. So it was a job that was prepared well in advance,” the guest director explained.

Those who had the privilege of enjoying these concerts aimed at the family and free of charge, referred to the staging carried out by the regional group, both in the Performing Arts Room of the Palace Cultural Center of Coquimbo and in the Cathedral San Bartolome de La Serena. For Pamela Gallardo, who attended the first performance with her children, the presentation “was really beautiful and it is very nice to see this type of shows live; They were also based on a story that is known to us, my children have seen it on television and that makes them feel familiar with the concert and pay attention to what happens and is narrated on stage.”

For his part, Mauricio Labra, expressed that he was moved by the presentation held in the cathedral. “Enjoying a concert in that place gives another sensation to the show, it really surrounds you with the feelings of hope and love that are typical of these dates and that are so needed in these times of injustice, selfishness and repression. The orchestra shined as always, giving us a top-notch concert.”

It should be noted that this season was carried out thanks to the financing of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, which since 2016 has been attached to the National Budget Glosa; in addition to the important support provided by the University of La Serena and the Directorate of Linkage with the Environment and Extension (DIVEULS); the Municipality of La Serena and its Department of Culture; and the Municipality of Coquimbo together with its Department of Culture and the Palace Cultural Center.

The professional cast is already preparing its activities for the 2020 summer season, with Los Encuentros Musicales de La Serena, which will celebrate its XXXV version in the regional capital. Its programming includes midday concerts, the IV International Choral Conducting Course and the invitation to join the Encuentros Youth Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of the outstanding Chilean maestro who is triumphing in the United States, José Luis Domínguez; among more surprises that will extend from January 3 to 17, 2020.

For more information on this new programming and dates of our future artistic activities for 2020, just visit the portal www.sinfonicalaserena.cl, and follow the news and presentations on the Fanpage: “University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra”, Twitter: @sinfonicaLS and Instagram: sinfonicalaserena.

Written by Camila Pérez, University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra

This is the sixth version of the course taught by the academic of the Nursing Career of the University of La Serena, Mg. Carmen Retamal, along with students from the program.

According to the World Health Organization, due to increasing life expectancy and declining fertility rates, the proportion of people over the age of 60 is increasing faster than any other age group globally. This situation has been noticed for more than 20 years by the Department's academic. of Nursing from the University of La Serena, Mg. Carmen Retamal, who has focused her work directly on the care and dignified aging of older adults.

It is in this context that, for the 6th time, the course “Gerontological Caregivers” has been taught, in which 13 people have received the tools and skills that allow us to achieve a society of healthy older adults, who age in a dignified manner and who maintain their permanent self-worth.

In this regard, the academic of the Department of Nursing, Mg. Carmen Retamal highlighted the change in the content of this course compared to previous editions. "Although this course is its VI version in which the contents have been more or less the same, what has changed profoundly is that we are working with the new paradigm of care for the elderly, a model promoted by the WHO and which says relationship with being centered on the elderly person, looking at the adult as a subject of rights and not an object.”

“That is why all care must start from knowing the life history of the adult and in this way plan their care according to their preferences, tastes and desires, even in an advanced stage of dependency. With this model, we must put aside welfare and promote the autonomy of older people, regardless of their condition. In this way we will begin from our house of studies to promote the application of this new model, even if it takes a few years to achieve it,” added the academic.

During the certification ceremony, the 3 best grades in the course were awarded; Rossana Moro, Nancy Manríquez and María Cecilia Videla, in addition to two special recognitions as best colleagues to Juana Fuentes and Kevin Delso.

The 6th course of Gerontological Caregivers was held at the University of La Serena, through the Department of Nursing and the Directorate of Liaison with the Environment and Extension of the house of higher education.

The experience of connecting with the Environment

This workshop course has been developed since its inception in conjunction with the Directorate of Liaison with the Environment and Extension, a unit in charge of the Mg. Carlos Varas Madrid, who referred to the importance for the university of generating spaces that improve the quality of life of the community. “Not only is it our commitment to you as a university so that you are educated and have greater training because in this way we are contributing to the community, but it has to do with you and the people you are going to serve, that is the key.”

This experience was also gratifying for the students of the program, who expressed all their gratitude and challenges on this new path they are beginning.

Regarding the experience, student Daniela Tapia highlighted: “The experience was very pleasant, it was very nice, I really like the theme of the elderly. This work helped us to see past content, remember or reinforce things, but more than anything the human issue, the issue of teaching these students that not everything is the technique or the procedure, but that the work is from the heart... there is one thing left. teaching for life too.”

'Hope' will be the feeling that will star in the symphonic-choral performances this end of the season.

A new excitement is approaching the Coquimbo Region to crown what has been a magnificent season of activities by the Universidad de La Serena Symphony Orchestra in the local territory. On this occasion and alluding to the month of December, the professional cast is preparing to bring the purest and most sincere feelings of 'Hope' to the hearts of each of the attendees, around a great presentation with symphonic-choral and pleasant works surprises to enjoy with the family.

The XI Concert of the year 2019 will be inspired by the well-known and legendary Christmas story by Charles Dickens (1843), which tells the story of an evil and unsociable man who changes his way of being during a cold Christmas due to the visit he receives. They make three ghosts and that the public will be able to see materialized in two high-level shows, with the fusion of different art disciplines on stage.

“We have made a journey through each of the emotions, finding new repertoires and we reached the end of this journey considering hope and looking for a link with other disciplines such as theater. In this case we will have the story by Charles Dickens, which we have put to music by selecting universal repertoire for our orchestra with outstanding works, managing to search for the emotions of each part of the story and that is what the public will be able to appreciate in the concerts," describes the concertmaster and Artistic Director of the regional ensemble, Leonardo Godoy Sepúlveda.

The evenings that will conclude the 2019 season will feature the participation of prominent regional artists. The conduct of these concerts will fall to the pianist, composer and academic of the Department of Music of the University of La Serena and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Fernando Guede Rodríguez, who will not only conduct the orchestra but also the guest choir for this edition Christmas: the Citizen Singers of Elqui, which is made up of the choirs of the Renacer Choral Ensemble, Ensamble Vocal En Armonía and Ensamble Cantus Florida. This program will also feature the participation of the actor and playwright Héctor Álvarez Godoy, who will narrate each of the episodes of this famous Christmas story.

“Without a doubt it is a very special concert; First, because it escapes the 'traditional' concept of a concert. What we have prepared is a dramatized and musicalized story based on Charles Dikens' text 'A Christmas Carol'; Actor Héctor Álvarez will participate in this production, who will play Mr. Scrooge. The story will be accompanied by the orchestra and the choir that will perform a varied ad hoc repertoire for the story. In this you can hear everything from popular Christmas carols to famous choral extracts from Handel and Bach, and other beautiful pieces by Saint-Säens, Debussy and Prokófiev have also been included. In short, a varied musical experience sustained by Dickens's story," explained the guest conductor, who will also make her debut on the podium.

“I feel it as a challenge because this will be my debut as an orchestral director and doing it together with the Symphony Orchestra, in the circumstances that our country is experiencing and especially on this date, without a doubt gives it a nuance that I hope will be unforgettable. I greatly appreciate this group because I know its history and the efforts of its members to place it in the place it has in the country today. I feel great joy to be able to contribute to carrying out this idea of ​​the artistic committee in this long-awaited Christmas concert,” said Guede.

The XI concert of the Regional Symphony Orchestra will make its premiere in the Performing Arts Room of the Palace Cultural Center (Aldunate #599) next Thursday, December 19 with a special noon performance; and then, on Friday the 20th of this month, replicate this same repertoire in the Cathedral of San Bartolomé de La Serena, in front of the city's Plaza de Armas (Los Carrera s/n, corner Gregorio Cordovez), at 16:00 p.m. hours. Both presentations are with free entry, without withdrawal of invitations until the total capacity of the venues.

It should be noted that this season is carried out thanks to the financing of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, which since 2016 has been attached to the National Budget Glosa; in addition to the important support provided by the University of La Serena and the Directorate of Linkage with the Environment and Extension (DIVEULS); the Municipality of La Serena and its Department of Culture; and the Municipality of Coquimbo together with its Department of Culture and the Palace Cultural Center.

Written by Camila Pérez, University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra

The evening featured the mastery of prominent guest artists, who provided a pleasant moment of reflection on the feelings of this season.

With a valuable selection of operas from the classical repertoire and a new state of soul, the University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra performed two successful special midday concerts in the cities of Coquimbo and La Serena. The evenings not only stood out for their bold programming, but also for the quality of their guests along with the impeccable register of the soprano Patricia Cifuentes (Chile) and the baritone Eleomar Cuello (Cuba), while the current director of the Camerata Universidad de Los Andes, Eduardo Browne, was in charge of conducting the tenth concert of 2019.

The presentations offered in the territory, both of the highest level, embodied the feelings of 'Love & Tenderness'. Given this and due to the difficult situation the country is going through, the guest teacher assured that art and music must continue: “There is still a lot to sing. We still have to sing for Christmas, during the summer and especially at this time in Chile, we have to sing and make a lot of music, very important. The work that we musicians have, I think is going to be a very good remedy for the soul of Chileans," he said, and then assured that he feels "very grateful that they have invited me again, that means that there is trust with teacher. I am a demanding conductor, I am very detailed and the orchestra is very willing to work, and that makes me very happy.”

In both special noon performances the musical program was marked by a vast list of famous operas from around the world, in which works for solo orchestra stand out; soloists and duos. Among the selection presented, the invited artists surprised with Mozart's pieces 'Laci darem la mano' by Don Giovanni, 'Lippen schweigen of the Merry Widow' written by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár and 'En mi Tierra Extremadura by Luisa Fernanda' by maestro Federico Moreno Torroba. In the words of the Cuban baritone, this presentation featured “well-known works within classical music, in the same way, it had that different click with very refreshing works. It was beautiful music with a variety of composers; We have four different languages ​​where we had German, French, Italian and Spanish. The last one was Luisa Fernanda's zarzuela, which I don't think is done much in the orchestra, but it was a good thing and the audience also finished on a high note because they understand what we are singing,” said Eleomar.

As for the rest of the program, the acclaimed soloist added that it was a “very pleasant surprise to sing with the orchestra,” highlighting his performance in pieces as sublime as the 'Danza Ritual del Fuego', belonging to the composer's ballet 'El Amor Brujo'. Spanish Manuel de Falla; the 'Intermezzo de Cavallería Rusticana' by maestro Pietro Mascagni and the famous piece by Richard Wagner 'Idyll of Siegfried'. Regarding this last work, Cuello maintained that “an orchestra of 80 musicians is needed and although the Symphony Orchestra is half of it, it was not noticed and it sounded wonderful for the approximately 18 minutes that this beautiful work by Wagner lasts. The cast really shined and in my parts, I felt really accompanied by the orchestra (…) In addition, we are very happy with the audience that attended, they responded very well in both concerts, they were very grateful and you could feel the energy of the people Every time we finished a work, they were well connected. We singers can look into people's eyes and the reaction of the people was appreciated, it was impressive,” the soloist elaborated.

For her part, soprano Patricia Cifuentes referred to the vision that the orchestra has maintained of being able to express itself - in times of social outbreak - through art and music, and how this is the best weapon to deliver 'Love and Tenderness' to people: “our goal as musicians and what I wanted personally, was to deliver quality music to people so that we could fill ourselves with positive energy, learn a little more or just feel. I was super focused on delivering the best, with a strength and energy that would go beyond the violence or this generalized bad vibe that exists at the moment in Chile. I believe that we should not stop, that we should not stop making music, we should not stop doing concerts, we should not stop moving people to these instances where one can, a little, enter into people to make a "A better family and that already generates a small change because everything good adds up to more," said one of the most important voices on the national scene.

It should be noted that the 2019 season is carried out thanks to the important financing provided to us by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, which since 2016 has been attached to the National Budget Glosa; in addition to the fundamental support provided by the University of La Serena and the Directorate of Linkage with the Environment and Extension (DIVEULS); the Municipality of La Serena and its Department of Culture; and the Municipality of Coquimbo in conjunction with its Department of Culture.

Written by Camila Pérez, University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra