This Sunday, January 13, a new version of the Portillo International Music Academy Festival began. For a week, 57 musicians from different countries meet in the mountain range to share and focus fully on musical development.
Since 2019, the Hotel Portillo has been visited by outstanding young musicians to rehearse with teachers and prepare for the closing concert – which this year will be held on January 22 and 23 at the Municipal Theater of Santiago – directed by the orchestra director, violinist and creator of the festival, Alejandra Urrutia.
From early until late at night, violins, flutes, cellos and other instruments can be heard in the hotel hallways. The young people start the day early with yoga classes taught by teacher Juan Pablo Jara and then begin rehearsals in quartets and quintets with different teachers who are specialists in their areas.
“Music for us is our life, it is our air to breathe and when we can share this with others the meaning is much greater,” said Alejandra Urrutia at the opening of the festival.
The hotel offers them spectacular views and large spaces so that they have a unique training session in Chile. For this year’s version, 321 students applied, of which 57 musicians from eight different countries were selected.
During the inauguration of the 2024 version, Australian musician David Griffiths performed a concert on clarinet, along with Svetlana Bogosavljevic on cello and Eugenio Urrutia-Borlando on piano. Among the audience were the Australian ambassador, Todd Mercer, and residents of the Calle Larga commune.
“We know that music can change lives and we know that cultures and arts can change the world. Proof of this was the pandemic, during that time museums, concerts, conversations and interviews were opened online and that gave access, and that is what we are doing with this festival, creating access. We want to make our local artists true export jewels and we want to use music as the common territory,” said Alejandra Urrutia.
This year one of the novelties is that they will perform 28 concerts in the communes of Calle Larga, Los Andes, San Esteban, Catemu, Til Til, La Pintana and Santiago. In addition, they will hold master classes with musicians from the different communities.
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2024-01-15 03:33:23
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