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.