The National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, together with the National Symphony Choir, will premiere the work “Song of Peace for the Ocean,” winner of the national musical composition competition launched as part of the Costa Rican government’s commitment to a culture of peace and the protection of the marine environment.
The work, composed by Costa Rican musician Andrés Soto Marín, winner of the competition, is a song born from Costa Rica to the world, as a symbol of hope, awareness, and action for life in the oceans.
Free performance
The premiere will be on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at 7:30 p.m., at the Melico Salazar Popular Theater, under the direction of Eddie Mora, as a guest. The show is free and open to the public.
“Costa Rica and France are coordinating the World Ocean Summit in Nice, France, in June 2025, and since we arrived at the Ministry of Culture and Youth, we wanted to contribute from our sector to this global celebration. Therefore, the summit will feature a “Song of Peace for the Ocean,” a work composed by Elena Zúñiga, with music by Andrés Soto and conducted by Eddie Mora, which is a guarantee of quality. It will also be performed by the National Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Choir. This will be very important because we will be able to share with the world, through the cultural sector, what Costa Rica expects from this summit,” said Jorge Rodríguez Vives, Minister of Culture and Youth.
The musical show will also include performances of Julio Fonseca’s “Leda Waltz” and “Orpheus in the Underworld.” An excerpt from the show “Sanctuary: A Journey to the Depths of the Ocean” will also be featured, featuring artists from the National Dance Company and the Band Directorate. This show was presented at the Carnival in Nice, France, in February 2025.
Song of Peace for the Ocean
The Government of the Republic of Costa Rica has made a commitment to the environment and a culture of peace, extending it to human relations with the ocean, to encourage good conservation and protection practices. For this reason, the “Song of Peace for the Ocean” will be performed by MCJ artists within the framework of the Third United Nations Conference on the Ocean (UNOC), which will be held in June 2025 in Nice, France.
This effort by the MCJ is supported by the La Libertad Foundation, as well as in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, the Ministry of Environment and Energy, and the Costa Rican Tourism Institute.
The initiative joins joint actions to conserve and protect the marine environment, as part of the “Declaration of Peace for the Ocean,” signed by ministers, government representatives, members of civil society, the academic and scientific community, and other stakeholders at the high-level event on “Ocean Action: Immersed in Change,” held in Costa Rica in 2024.
