Raul Vergara

 
The Ensemble seeks to connect and inform all people who are committed to ensemble music education for youth empowerment and social change.
 
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Patagonia’s Huilo Huilo Festival Blends Musical Excellence with Social Impact

Barbara Domingos, Artistic Producer, São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP); Artistic Operations Manager, Huilo Huilo Music Festival; 2022 cohort member, Global Leaders Institute

07-09-2025

In the heart of Chilean Patagonia, the strings of a violin resonate deep within the temperate forest. Birds sing in harmony with the refined sounds of bows gliding over the strings; leaves whisper centuries-old stories. The Huilo Huilo Biological Reserve, where endangered species are protected, also embraces a group of young musicians—along with their mentors, who are string principals in the Brussels Philharmonic—during daily rehearsals and performances. It’s an inspiring fusion of human artistry and Patagonian majesty.

The Life of Jorge Peña Hen, Part I: A Giant of Our Cultural Heritage

Raúl Vergara, Cofounder and International Programs Director, Global Leaders Program; Graduate, La Escuela Experimental de Música Jorge Peña Hen

08-04-2021

Winter 2012, La Serena, Chile: an overcast but mild day, with a soft, chilly ocean breeze from the Pacific Ocean’s Humboldt Current. I was with Victor Hugo, a high school friend of mine who had put his trumpet aside to study law and journalism at the university before becoming the editor of a local newspaper. We were both accompanying Don Juan Orrego Salas, a 93-year-old gentleman who was visiting our city to pay a posthumous tribute to a dear friend of his, to whom he had never gotten to say goodbye in person. We bought a bouquet of flowers and entered the front gate of the cemetery without an exact knowledge of where we were going—which was not a problem, since everyone we passed knew the precise location of the memorial to Jorge Peña Hen.

The Global Leaders Plant a Musical Seed in Tlaxcala, Mexico

Raul Vergara, Cofounder and International Programs Director, Global Leaders Program

10-02-2019

Tlaxcala, located in the heart of Mexico, is one of the states with the greatest cultural activism in the country. In fact, it is a referent at the national level in terms of student participation of musical programs, a process inspired by the Venezuelan model “El Sistema”, which was first implemented in Tlaxcala 30 years ago. Within this process, the role of Casa de Música (Music Home)—an initiative of the Tlaxcalan Institute of Culture—has been very important, allowing for thousands the opportunity to approach a musical instrument through the different venues offered by the state.

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