National Symphonic Orchestra of Costa Rica Wins the Latin Grammy

This was announced by the AP news agency. The Symphonic Orchestra won with the album Música de Compositores Costarricenses Vol. 2 in the category Best Classical Music Album. The Costa Rican production was directed by Eddie Mora and produced by Carlos Pipo Chaves. The album contains works from composers Carlos Enrique Vargas, William Porras, Carlos Castro, and Alejandro Cardona.

The news was also confirmed by the Costa Rican producer and musician Jorge Castro (member of the Latin Recording Academy, organizer of the awards), who was at the pre-award ceremony that takes place before the grand gala that will be tonight. This was the 3rd nomination received from the Latin Grammy.

Eddie Mora, was in a meeting at the National Theater when the news of the orchestra’s victory in the Latin Grammy transcended. He and Pipo Chaves were responsible for the winning project.

“A prize of such level not only summarizes to a group of works, but to everything that comes after that. From the professional point of view, it is an honor to have directed the Symphonic with works from different composers, having integrated these works into the repertoire of the orchestras that I have directed in these years. It is a positive response to the work we are doing”, said the director.

“From the emotional point of view, I am trying to contain myself so that nothing extraordinary happens, but I feel a deep emotion that is very difficult to describe. There have been many conversations, many meetings that at this moment are receiving an international recognition to move forward and that tells us that we are on the right track”, he stated. “Pipo was the one who had the chance to go and was entrusted to us that he had to bring it (the prize) to Costa Rica. Pipo called me, I could not answer at that time, but I understood that the thing came seriously”, he added.

The album Música de Compositores Costarricenses Vol. 2 contains the works Sinfonía en mi minor op. 17 (1945), by Carlos Enrique Vargas; Rhapsody for Orchestra (1975), by William Porras; Serenade of the Moon for viola and strings (with Winnie Berg, as soloist in the viola), by Carlos Castro; and Son Mestizo II for orchestra, by Alejandro Cardona.

It should be remembered that Costa Rican art has been praised by the Latin Recording Academy on other occasions. The collaborations between the Panamanian Rubén Blades and the group of Costa Rican musicians that came to be identified as Éditus Ensemble gave the 1st celebrations to the country, when Blades and the nationals Edín Solís, Wálter Flores, and Óscar Marín received the Latin Grammy for their work on the album Mundo (2003), by Panamanian, in the category best contemporary tropical album. The Ticos also acceded to Blades when Mundo and his previous record Tiempos won 2 American Grammys.

Composer Carlos Castro received, in 2008, the Latin Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition thanks to Concierto del Sol for guitar and orchestra. In 2014, the Christian singer Danilo Montero won recognition for the Best Christian Music Album in Spanish for the production La Carta Perfecta.

In addition, among other Costa Ricans who have been nominated for the Latin Grammy, they are the groups Porpartes and Son de Tikizia, as well as the soloists Tamela Hëdstrom, Marianela Villalobos, Debi Nova, and the design firm Pupila Estudio.