Registrations open for “Music to Grow”, the 1st National Competition of Bolivia’s Youth Orchestras

(La Paz, September 9, 2013). Registration to participate in the "Music to Grow" First National Competition of Symphonic and String Youth Orchestras of Bolivia opened on September 1^st and will extend through September 15^th. Associations of children and youth interested in being a part of the event, may access the requirements and registration form on the website www.caf.com  and   www.facebook.com/ConcursoNacionalOrquestas.  

The competition is a CAF initiative jointly with the Federación de Empresarios Privados de Santa Cruz (Federation of Private Entrepreneurs of Santa Cruz) (FEPSZ, for its acronym in Spanish), the World Bank (WB), and the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism of Bolivia, with the objective of showing the advances achieved in the realm of music in Bolivia and sensitizing other actors, public and private, regarding the potential that musical training has as a tool for social transformation. 

The competition is open to orchestras made up of groups of between 15 to 50 musicians, children and youth up to 25 years old, in the symphonic and string orchestra categories. Those interested should present a video interpreting one of the works indicated in the Technical Administrative Requirements. 

At the same time, the organizers set-up CAF's offices (Av. Arce # 2915 corner of Clavijo, San Jorge area) in La Paz and offices in the Federation of Private Entrepreneurs of Santa Cruz (Calle René Moreno # 259, building of the Banco Nacional de Bolivia, 9th floor) in Santa Cruz for the reception of hard copies. 

The initiative also has the support of the Government of the Department of Santa Cruz, the Municipal Government of Santa Cruz, the entrepreneurial Council for Sustainable Development (CEDES Bolivia), and i3 Impacto Social. 

The selection process 

All the videos of the registered orchestras will be evaluated following the established criteria and from there, 10 semifinalists will be selected. Between September 22 and 30, the 10 selected semifinalists from the previous phase will be visited by the juries in their respective cities, and will be asked to interpret two musical works live. 

Finally, five finalist orchestras will be selected, and they will participate in five day orchestral training workshop given by teachers from the Orchestra System of Venezuela. The Competition will conclude with a presentation of these orchestras in a Master Concert to be held in December in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where the winners will be selected for the symphonic orchestra category and the string orchestra category.