Five orchestras were selected as finalists in the "Music to Grow" contest

After evaluating the semifinalists in their cities of origin, the jury of the II "Music to Grow" National Contest of Youth Orchestras of Bolivia chose the five finalists, who come from Oruro, Santa Cruz and Tarija; they were selected according to the criteria established in the technical guidelines. 

In the symphonic category, the two orchestras that classified were the Departmental Orchestra of Tarija, and the Youth Orchestra of Urubicha; in the chamber orchestra category, those selected were the Philharmonic Orchestra of Oruro, the Children-Youth Orchestra Paz y Bien, and the Municipal string Orchestra of San Jose de Chiquitos. 

The three members of the jury in charge of selecting the finalists, Gaston Arce, Nazario Tirado, and Freddy Terrazas, renowned Bolivian professionals, carried out the task of evaluating each one of the orchestras during a live presentation. The classification criteria were:  tuning, balance, phrasing and coordination, precision, flexibility and expressiveness, and coherence in the musical discourse, as well as social inclusion, a key aspect in the philosophy of CAF's Mus¡c to Grow  program.

In coming days, the members of the five finalist orchestras will attend a workshop on orchestra training delivered by members of the Orchestra System of Venezuela during eight days in the city of Santa Cruz. Later, they will participate in a master concert which is open to the public, to take place in the  Hotel Los Tajibos in December, where the two winning orchestras will be selected, one per category. 

The contest is an initiative of CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Bolivia, the Federacion de Empresarios Privados de Santa Cruz ( Federation of Private Entrepreneurs of Santa Cruz, and the Gobierno Departamental de Santa Cruz (Departmental Government of Santa Cruz), sponsored by the Banco Nacional de Bolivia (National Bank of Bolivia).

In addition, the contest is supported by the Ingenio Azucarero Guabira (Sugar Factory), the Los Tajibos Hotel, and the Santa Cruz Chamber of Industry, Commerce, Services and Tourism (CAINCO, for its acronym in Spanish), and the collaboration of the Centro de la Cultura Plurinacional Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz Plurinational Culture Center), the Asociacion Pro Arte y Cultura (Pro Art and Culture Association - APAC, for its acronym in Spanish), i3 Impacto Social, CEDES Bolivia, and the newspaper El Deber.

All the information regarding the following steps of the contest will be available at www.caf.com or in Facebook.com/ConcursoNacionalOrquestas