Roxana Jimenez reports for El Dia:
XI Festival of American Renaissance and Baroque music
Missionary music begins to be heard throughout the country
Unmissable. 146 concerts will be held for 10 days from April 22 to May 1 [2016].
Jealously guarded scores, baroque architecture, the Bolivian culture, and research that rescued the music of past centuries in Bolivia will be experienced in the eleventh edition of the International Festival of American Renaissance and Baroque Music “Chiquitos Missions” which will begin their presentations from this Friday, April 22 to May 1, in different parts of the country. On a tour of 21 communities and the presence of musicians from all continents, the feast of the ancient melodies organized by the Association Pro Art and Culture (APAC) starts with great news.
The musical work. More than presentations, and applause, for many participants, the festival is simply a magical fact to be invaded by the melodies. “The musicians are a passionate community,” says excited, Sarita Mansilla, the current president of APAC. “It’s a world of emotions and feelings. Those who will feel in this issue,” she added. “In communities young people create, restore [sic] and tested passionately for their interpretations,” says the authority of the institution, which conducts the Festival every two years with the aim of preserving and disseminating the musical treasures in the archives of Chiquitos, Moxos, Sucre and now Tarija.
Their contributions. To Mansilla, the festival has an invaluable contribution. Along this line, according to the institution, there is a network of fifteen missional orchestras in the towns that were former Jesuit and Franciscan missions, and a youth orchestra in the capital Santa Cruz. These orchestras, formed by mostly indigenous children and youth are part of, and have boosted the cultural life of their hometowns.
A baroque day. Under the festival, a “Baroque Sunday” is celebrated, in which national groups involved accompanying Masses throughout the day, in different parishes of the city of Santa Cruz. “The idea is that the role that this music had on everyday religious liturgy is understood from its beginnings,” said Paula Paz Soldan, APAC general manager. To enjoy this version, we give you the most outstanding productions and musical feast grid.
Productions
Journeying between Sucre and Misiones- Missa Roque Ceruti
Performed by the Choir and Orchestra of the country Arakaendar, Choir Palmarito (Bolivia) and RCM (England), the program is a free mix of works for choir drawn from Chiquitos, Moxos, Sucre and Italy’s music files, specially edited for this presentation.
Among French and missionary baroque
Played by Les Passion (France) and Urubichá is a co-production, that is born out of the impression that is generated by missionary music and talent of Bolivian musicians. The joint work was created especially for this 2016 festival.
40th Symphony. Pedro Ximenez de Abril y Tirado (1780-1856)
The research of this program was conducted by Father Nawrot and it is possibly about the most prolific composer who lived in Bolivia in the first half of the nineteenth century. The work shows a mature composer and musician well acquainted with his time.
Feast of San Ignacio: Road from Chiquitos to La Plata
Played by Bolivian choirs: Santa Cecilia, Art Canto Chamber Choir, Vox Antiqua and the choir of the Evangelical Bolivian University; the instrumental part will be accompanied by national orchestras. The main theme is the person of St. Ignatius Loyola, revered both in Sucre (inhabited by Spaniards and Indians).
Divertimento concertante. Pedro Ximenez de Abril y Tirado (1780-1856).
It is another important works of Ximénez. It consists of four movements. This musical form was popular in the eighteenth century; especially in Italy and France. The musical themes of this composition, often distributed between flute and guitar.
Unayay and Missa Potosi
Unayay in the program is a very special work, Missa Potosi, by the potosino composer, Julian Vargas (1770-1850). He was a violinist, singer, choirmaster and composer of that cathedral. His music had to be very popular at the time and circulated throughout the territory of Bolivia.
Bolivian Thoughts 