David García, general director of the Bogotá Philharmonic, spoke about the difficulties that the orchestra had during its tour in Sweden

After two years of not performing on international stages as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra (OFB) will once again bring national musical talent to the world by being part of the groups invited to the International Tommie Haglund Festival 2022, an event that will be held until April 28 .

The Philharmonic will also recite some of the works that have influenced Haglund's composition over the years, such as pieces by Jean-Phillipe Rameau; Mozart and Frederick Delius. He will also perform other works such as “The Daughter of the Voice”, by sopranos Teresia Bokor and Malin Christensson; Astor Piazzolla's “Great Tango”, and “Five Piano Pieces” by Frederick Delius, headed by maestro Marcos Madrigal, among other musical pieces.

After the return to the tables, to events with the public and the reactivation of tourism, each country has established a series of biosecurity policies in order to reduce and control the spread of the coronavirus. The Bogota Philharmonic's trip was marked by a series of procedures due to these instructions, in addition, they only had the financial support of the International Tommie Haglund Festival 2022 to carry out the tour of the cities of Sweden.

In an interview with Infobae David García, general director of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, told how the whole process of the trip went, the documentation and paperwork at each airport, as well as confessed that, despite the budget that the Bogotá Mayor's Office allocates for the Philharmonic, they had to resort to international financial support in order to be able to to make the tour of Europe.

“A trip of this dimension requires many things, because just as we travel with small instruments we also carry others that must go as if they were a person, for example, cellos must go in a chair on the plane because of their size. Faced with this, the logistics of the trip is something that we had to plan several months ago to make everything happen in the best way.”

Regarding the requirements they request at the respective airports that they had to pass through, García explained that: “After reviewing all the regulations associated with COVID, every week, prior to the trip, international policies were monitored so as not to suffer any setbacks.”

He added that: “In addition, we had to make several updates on the issues of vaccination, PCR tests and antigens that are required at certain airports linked to transit countries that have to do with the vaccination schedule allowed by each country. For example, one of the connecting flights was Frankfurt Airport, which requires that you have the full vaccination schedule, but certain vaccines.”

The Philharmonic is an Orchestra that receives 100% of a budget from the Bogotá Mayor's Office, which is approved annually by the Bogotá Council. This money allows the Philharmonic to hold all the events it will be presenting throughout the year. It should be borne in mind that there is independence in the administrative part even if the Ministry of Culture is the one that is keeping an eye on our agenda. Although we have this budget, everything regarding the tour was fully assumed by the International Tommie Haglund Festival 2022, with financial support with which we were able to carry out this tour.”

In addition, Garcia said that the musicians arrived in Sweden well and have adapted to the thermal conditions and the time change without any complications. “Before the opening, some of our teachers and musicians will be teaching classes this Thursday to the children of Halmstad schools, an activity that we decided to do to not only stay in the performances, but also leave something of Colombia in Europe.”

Finally, the CEO confessed that this return to the international stage was something they longed for, although the Philharmonic never stopped having presentations during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Being at this festival and touring again is wonderful, besides, people here are much calmer about public events, so we hope that there will be a great reception in the different presentations.”

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