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We are 4 emerging Costa Rican composers based abroad who were chosen to write new original works for an upcoming July concert by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Heredia. Since it is rare in Costa Rica to have a concert showcasing the music of young composers, we want to take this opportunity to professionally film and record it – our goal is to encourage the current establishment of concert music in Costa Rica to entrust a new generation of composers with more opportunities to have our music performed.
We need your financial support to cover expenses for video/audio recording, traveling to Costa Rica for the rehearsals, mixing & mastering, album art design, and CD production, among other things. Usually these expenses are covered by state funds (the private sector's help in art is almost non-existent in Costa Rica), but shrinking budgets in times of economic austerity have made it difficult to find the financial assistance we need.
We agreed to write these works for free because we believe in the value that creating new art has in the shaping of culture. We are simply hoping to cover the expenses associated with producing a top-notch audiovisual recording and making it available for online streaming, as well as having a hard copy that we can share with our contacts. Scroll down to get to know who we are!
Event Details
Mostly comprised by young musicians, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Heredia is an orchestra that focuses on new and unexplored music from Latin America. Under the leadership of Latin Grammy winner composer and conductor Eddie Mora, it has risen to a prominent role in Costa Rican culture, performing works by Latin American composers and recording several albums during the last few years. For its fourth concert of the 2018 season, Eddie decided to yield the baton to a young Costa Rican conductor based in South Dakota, Luis A. Viquez, and let him premiere 4 new works by 4 emerging composers who live outside of Costa Rica: Pablo Chin (who lives in NYC), Jose Mora Jimenez (who lives in the Netherlands), Guido Sanchez (who lives in Illinois, USA) and Andrés Soto (who lives in New Jersey, USA)
Two concerts are scheduled:
July 21st, Parroquia Inmaculada Concepción, Heredia, Costa Rica. (8pm)
July 22nd, Eugene O'Neill Theater, San José, Costa Rica. (11am)
Carlos "Pipo" Chaves, a Latin Grammy-winning sound engineer, has offered to record the concert for us for a reduced fee, so we are hoping to produce a first-rate audiovisual recording that shows a new generation of Costa Rican musicians coming into their own with the help of two established figures.
What We Need
We need a total of $5250, to cover the following expenses:
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$2000 for audio/visual live recording expenses for the orchestra concert + mixing/mastering.
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$1600 for traveling expenses to Costa Rica for 2 composers, 2 weeks (Soto and Chin)
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$1000 for CD-production expenses (printing, editing, streaming fees, etc)
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$400 for album cover artwork design*
- IndieGogo charges 5% of our crowdfunding total ($250)
*We want to comission a young Costa Rican artist (TBA) to design the cover art for our album.
If we don't reach the goal, whatever we get will go towards recording and traveling expenses. Keep in mind IndieGogo charges 5% of our crowdfunding campaign!
Check the perks we offer!
The Impact
With your generous donation, you would be supporting the development of Costa Rica's next generation of composers and contributing towards having a stronger presence in the Latin American concert music scene. We plan to share this album around the world so we can inspire younger composers to continue to strive in their quest for obtaining commissions, while also hoping to encourage other institutions (both in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America) to support Hispanic composers by commissioning their music more often. Last year, the National Symphony of Costa Rica actually won a Latin Grammy for the first time with an album of works by Costa Rican composers from previous generations (which was, incidentally, produced by Eddie Mora and Carlos "Pipo" Chaves). With their help, we plan to submit this CD to try to compete in the same category next year.
We thank you for your generous donation, and please remember to share this campaign on your social media platforms!
Meet the Composers
Pablo Santiago Chin
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Having just relocated from Chicago to New York, Pablo Chin is an adjunct professor of electronic music at Drew University. Recent works by Chin draw inspiration from the narratives of film and literature, phonetic structures in text, and the use of idiosyncratic transcription methods that enable imaginative exploration of pre-existent musical sources.
His music has been performed in South, Central and North America; in Israel, Asia and in Europe. Chin is co-founder and artistic director of the Fonema Consort, a Chicago-based ensemble dedicated to commissioning and fostering works that explore the capabilities of the human voice in the context of late 20th and 21st centuries.
Website: http://www.pablochin.com/
Jose Mora-Jimenez
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Jose Mora-Jimenez resides in the Netherlands since 2006 and completed his composition studies at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague under Gilius van Bergeijk and Cornelis de Bondt. He has received several awards, including the International Timo Korhonen Composition Competition, the 4th Calefax Reed Quintet Competition, 50th anniversary award of the "Vrienden van het Lied" association. A multitalented man, he also is an active composer for video games and has a Masters degree in Cultural Economics and Entrepeneurship from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. His music is performed in different countries around the world and is published by Berben Edizioni Musicali in Italy and Les Productions D’OZ in Canada.
Website: http://www.josemorajimenez.com/
Guido Sanchez Portuguez
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An active performer, educator and composer based in Illinois, Guido is one of the most talented guitarists to come out of Costa Rica, having obtained a full scholarship to study guitar at the University of Indiana, where he completed his doctorate in 2012. He has recorded 5 albums with Costa Rican guitar orchestras, and has produced and arranged albums for Grammy winner Sylvia McNair and the Latin American Popular Music Ensemble of the Jacobs School of Music.
He is currently professor of classical guitar at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Website: https://www.guidoguitar.com/
Andrés Soto Marín
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Based in New York City, Andrés Soto is an active composer of both film music and concert music. He obtained a scholarship from the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts to study at New York University, where he obtained a masters degree in 2011. Recently, his Suite No.1 from "La Rosa y el Niño", was premiered at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain, where it was well received. The National Symphony of Costa Rica has commissioned him with large-scale works in two occasions, in 2015 and 2016. Incidentally, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Heredia was the first ensemble to ever commission a piece from him, in 2012. Recent film scores include "Buscando a Marcos Ramirez" and "He Matado a mi Marido", as well as the video game "Guns of Icarus: Alliance." His music is published by Abundant Silence.
Website: www.andres-soto.net / www.facebook.com/andres.soto.composer
Meet the Conductor
Luis A. Viquez
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Luis A. Viquez is a Costa Rican native who enjoys an international career both as a clarinetist and as an orchestral, opera and wind band conductor. As Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of South Dakota (USA) Víquez is the Music Director of the University of South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. Víquez has performed and conducted throughout the United States, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, England and Taiwan. As a guest conductor, Víquez has led the orchestras of the University of Missouri, the Cartago Symphony Orchestra, the Midwest Chamber Ensemble of Kansas City, the Truman Symphony Orchestra, the Truman State University Wind Symphony and Concert Band, and the National Symphonic Band of San Jose. He has been a featured conductor at the 2013 Music Teachers National Association Conference in Anaheim, California, and recently performed as a guest soloist at the 2016 Missouri Music Educators Conference and at the 2016 NACUSA National Composers USA Conference in Knoxville, TN. Opera conducting appearances include Menotti's "The Old Maid and the Thief" with the Truman Opera Theater in 2013, Mozart's "Die Zauberflote" and Britten's "The Turn of the Screw" with the UMKC Opera Theater in 2015 and 2016; and "Die Fledermaus" wiith the University of South Dakota Opera in 2017.
Guest Soloist - Marcela Alfaro, mezzo soprano
Marcela Alfaro is a Costa Rican mezzo soprano with an active international career, having performed in festivals and recitals in Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Cuba, and Central America. She’s the lead mezzo soprano of Syntagma Musicum, a chamber ensemble that won the National Music Award in 2013. In 2007 she won the Young Soloists Competition in Costa Rica. Recent performances include featured soloist in Handel’s Messiah at the Teatro Ruben Dario in Nicaragua, and in Beethoven’s 9th at the National Theater of Costa Rica. She is also an active educator at the University of Costa Rica (her alma mater) and the Innova Music School.
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Some photos related to the people involved in this campaign:
Carlos "Pipo" Chaves receiving the Latin Grammy for Best Classical Album, as producer of the National Symphony of Costa Rica's "Musica de Compositores Costarricenses, Vol.2". He will produce our album too!
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Eddie Mora, artistic director of the OSH, being interviewed on CNN en Español.
La Jove Orquestra de la UMA performing Suite No.1 from La Rosa y el Niño, by Andrés Soto, in Valencia, Spain. Conducted by Enric Parreño at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia.
"Mobile #3: Schizo", by Jose Mora Jimenez, performed at the 8th CALEFAN Festival in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
"Ausencia", for Guitar Quartet, by Guido Sanchez Portuguez, performed in The Hague, Netherlands.
"In the Form of a Shell", by Pablo Chin, in a coreographed setting at Scripps College in Claremont, California.
Luis Viquez conducting the University of North Dakota Symphony Orchestra.
A personal message from Maestro Viquez:
The Orquesta Sinfónica de Heredia performing Andres Soto's "Tio Conejo", a symphonic tale for narrator and orchestra. Rodolfo Gonzalez, narrator. Eddie Mora, conductor. Story by Carmen Lyra.