In 2006 Corporación Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín, Colombia, under direction of Alfonso Arias, organized two free concerts in diverse public spaces in the areas of Medellín. For the occasion, popular Latin American music was orchestrated by composers and interpreted by the entire orchestra. The Prince Claus Fund supported this initiative. Read below the report of Alfonso Arias:
It is very satisfactory for us to inform you on the two concerts the Orchestra gave with the patronage of Prince Claus Fund, in Medellín, July 2006.
Both concerts were carried out during the month of July 2006. The presentations were in charge of the Assistant Conductor of the Orchestra, Gonzalo Ospina. Pieces of Latin American music were played and it was for that reason that we gave the concerts the name “LA FILARMÓNICA CON SABOR LATINO” (“THE PHILHARMONIC WITH LATIN FLAVOR.”). Some of the musical arrangements were made exclusively for these two events. The program included such musical genres as “Paseos”, “Danzas”, “Cumbias”, “Porros”, “Vallenatos” y “Salsa”, which constitutes a musical journey through the north part of Suramérica and the Caribbean.
The first concert was presented in the “Park of the Culture” in the neighborhood “12 de Octubre”. This neighborhood is part of a popular sector of the city located in the nor-western zone of Medellín. The concert was attended by about 500 people from the local community and fulfilled all our expectations. In the organization we had the support of the priests from the nearby church, Javier Villegas and Pedro Arenas, whom manifested their immense gratefulness to Prince Claus Fund for keeping in mind their neighborhood and for giving them moments of peace, tranquility, happiness and beauty.
The second concert was in the Church of Santa Mariana in the Neighborhood “El Picacho”. As in the first concert, we had a very good assistance of more than 300 people, the parish priest of the community Jorge Álvarez Vásquez sent a message of gratefulness. For him it was very important that the foreign community had shown interest and concern for the neighborhoods of our city so needy of art and culture, helping therewith to diminish the violence.
People of all the ages attended to the concerts; many of the assistants were kids and girls from the neighborhood's that went accompanied by their parents, their older brothers or their grandparents. Some people even, in the most moving moments of the concert, chose a couple to leave to dance before the public. When concluding the concerts there were strong applauses and screams of the assistants requesting “more” and “return soon”.
The local media was attentive and they carried out a good diffusion on the concerts sponsored by the Fund. The Orchestra gave leaflets with the logo of Prince Claus Fund where people could read the name of the musical pieces that were going to be interpreted, the author and other information of interest. During the presentations we exhibit banners with the logo of the Foundation, and remembered and recognized the sponsor of this event, the Prince Claus Fund. The whole assistance offered its gratefulness to the Foundation and the Orchestra.
For the musicians, for the conductor and for all of us, it was marvelous to work with a sponsor like Prince Claus Fund. We enjoyed it very much. Everybody had a great time and the music was tremendous. It really was an exciting and unforgettable event.
Definitively we consider a fact of great importance, to have been able to take the Orquesta Filarmónica to these two neighborhoods whose people normally don’t have access to a cultural event of this magnitude. That’s why we also express our gratefulness to the Fund.
Young audience during the concert
Musicians in Park of the Culture. In neighborhood ´´12 de Octubre´´
in the Church of Santa Mariana in the Neighborhood “El Picacho”
