Costa Rica Student Orchestra Residency

April 2022.

The Augsburg University Orchestra received a delegation of students from the University of Costa Rica – Pacific for a week-long residency featuring visits with local high school orchestras, master classes, and a performance with the Augsburg Orchestra on April 14, 2022. This was the first visit by students from abroad since the start of the pandemic. This visit builds on the long-term partnership that Rafael shares with his orchestral colleague in Costa Rica, Lic. Jorge Siliézar Ruíz. Their work together in the Costa Rica “Sistema” program shapes their view of the orchestra as a vehicle for social justice, access, and opportunity. Augsburg University music students were received by Maestro Siliézar’s orchestra at the UCR, the “Orquesta del Mar,” in 2018, and will return to Puntarenas in 2022 to perform with the National Band of Costa Rica in Puntarenas.