INTERNATIONAL BAROQUE MUSIC FESTIVAL

"MISIONES DE CHIQUITOS"

WHAT IS THE INTERNATIONAL AMERICAN RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE MUSIC FESTIVAL?

The old Jesuitic missions of Chiquitos (1691 - 1767) and those of Moxos (1681 - 1767) represent one of the most important treasures pertaining to the national and regional culture heritage.

During the restoration process of Jesuitic temples at the aforementioned missions, a musical wealth of the first magnitude was discovered: more than 5,000 sacred music sheets in Chiquitos and another 4,000 in Moxos, written by both European and local indigenous composers between the XVII and XVIII centuries. This music was used to play in those missional towns every day up to midnineteenth century. It should be added to this treasure that in 1991 the UNESCO has declared six missional towns and the temples therein a Humankind Cultural Heritage.

In order to preserve the beauty of this world heritage, and disseminate the wealthy musical archive of Chiquitos and Moxos, a bunch of volunteers entertained the idea of organizing an international musical festival which would have the magnificent temples as its stage scenery; however this goal is deeply rooted in a grounding "leit motiv": to awaken the citizens to the importance of this historical legacy as the kernel of our culture identity by means of turning the old Jesuitic Missions of Chiquitos and Moxos into public knowledge icons, disclosing besides an unknown facet of our own country which involves several pillars from its cultural wealth.

Since 1996 such dream is being succesfully accomplished. Deemed to be the most important cultural event within Bolivia, and the world's largest event at its kind, the festival is carried out by APAC every two years. This festival constitutes a joyous occassion, wherein music makes tropical forests harmonize with scattered tokens of Baroque architecture which are throughout a journey 3,000 kilometers long insterspersed among conspicuous symbols of art and craft, that depict the living multiculturalism actually existing in 18 communities which are found in Eastern Bolivia.

In addition, on each festival occasion a companion event, namely a scientific meeting, is also organized by APAC under the name of Scientific Encounter "International Musicology Symposium" (abbreviated to ECSIM in Spanish), wherein historians, researchers and musicologists discuss any subject related to ancient music. Without any exception, the expositions read at the symposium become published and are distributed by APAC through an established Publishing Fund.

Domestic as well as international echoes of the "Misiones de Chiquitos" festival have had a strong positive impact on the people who live at the festival seats, prompting them to give life to new choirs and orchestras so as to actively participate in the event.

There exists nowadays a network of fifteen missional orchestras at the towns which formerly were Jesuitic or Franciscan missions and there is also a youth orchestra whose members live in a Santa Cruz quarter. Being mostly made up of indigenous children and youngsters, and having turned more active the culture life within their communities as well, these orchestras involve a significant constituent part of the festivals. The young people playing in them have found a livelihood within the music, and many of them have toured a large number of foreign countries exhibiting in performance their artistic skills.(more information www.sicor.org.bo)

Considering the festival's success and the fast development of music schools at the mission towns, APAC deemed that a symphony orchestra for Santa Cruz de la Sierra would be necessary. For this purpose, APAC was awarded a Fullbright grant providing for an American professor who was called upon to pick out the best music learners studying at the city's schools of music*, thereby forming the covetted Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz Juvenile Symphony Orchestra). Said orchestra currently comprises 60 musicians (including some Air Force Military Band members amongst them) who regularly give several concert seasons a year, and offers also an option for local musicians wishing to continue their music careers and the studies of orchestra instruments. In addition, the orchestra is currently being headed by an independent board of directors made up of notabilities. (more information www.sinfonicajuvenil-scz.org)

* (Instituto Integral Bellas Artes/Fine Arts Integral Institute, Conservatorio Madre Vicenta Uboldi/Mother Vicenta Uboldi Conservatoire, Escuela de cuerdas Método Suzuki/String School Suzuki Method, and Orquesta Hombres Nuevos/New Men Orchestra)

More information:

APAC (Asociación Pro Arte y Cultura): http://www.festivalesapac.com
CEPAD (Centro para la participación y el desarollo humano sostenible): http://www.cepad.org/

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