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Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía, SOCHIAS presentan "Concierto del Cosmos”


Musical Concert on March 3rd

The cornerstone cultural activity of SOCHIAS' XIII Annual Meeting is a musical concert that will take place in the Teatro Municipal de Antofagasta on March 3rd at 20:00 h, courtesy of the Universidad de Antofagasta and the Corporación Cultural de Antofagasta. The performance, by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Antofagasta, will include some pieces which will see their debut in our country and even in the Southern Hemisphere! The program below may go through some minor changes but it will give you an idea:


  • William Herschel "Symphonia no. 9 in F major": Before devoting himself exclusively to astronomy, Herschel was a talented musician who composed 24 symphonies and several concertos amongst other music. His music has not been performed often and recordings are very rare. The "Symphonia no. 9" is not available in any recording we know of, so the attendants to the concert will have the rare privilege of listening first hand to music written by the discoverer of Uranus, being witnesses to the recording of a performance that will be shared with the world afterwards!

  • Eddie McGuire "Symphonies of galaxies" (movements I, III and IV). This work was commissioned by the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Music Centre of the University of St Andrews to celebrate the International Year of Light 2015. The work is inspired in the MaNGA survey, part of the SDSS project, in which Chile is now a member through seven universities making up the Chilean Participation Group. This work has only been performed once in 2015 in Scotland. This is the first spinoff performance after its premiere.


  • Alejandro Bianchi "Altiplano Místico": Suite of anonymous folklore music.


  • Sergio Berchenko "Tatio": This work was the winner of the contest "Una Composición Musical Sinfónica Nortina para el Bicentenario" in 2009. It was also chosen as the most popular work by the general public. The music is inspired by the Tatio geisers, one of the main natural attractions in the Región de Antofagasta.


We'll also include another surprises but these will remain as surprises until the event... Please note that in this opportunity we want to open the SOCHIAS meeting to the general community in Antofagasta, so the entry to the concert will be free and the general public will be encouraged to attend. Although we'll keep a range of seats for the participants in the meeting, we will only hold them up for you until 5 minutes before the performance begins, so plan to be a bit early if you want to be in the best seats!