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A14 LOCAL
Friday 5 July 2019

Aruba Symphony Festival Introduces VIP Access Tickets

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The Aruba Symphony Festival tries to involve Arubans in
its activities. Last year the Festival featured the two best
known Aruban songs, "Aruba Dushi Tera," "Abo So" and
other songs by wellknown Aruban composers, and sung
by the two best known choirs of Aruba: "Ars Nova" and
"Cantare" directed by Mayra Kock - Garrido, accompa-
nied by icons of the Aruban musical scene, Edwin Kock,
Ryan Maduro among others. In past years the Festival
gave scholarships to an Aruban pianist and a trombone
player, and has advertised that more scholarships are
available this year.

Culture and Education, together with the Family, form the
backbone of the Aruban society.
The Aruban government has embraced the concept of
the LeerOrkest that education without music is not edu-
cation, and it is now striving to bring music back into the
curriculum of the basic schools. According to the philoso-
pher/educator Emil Friedman, culture without music is not
culture. The Aruba Symphony Festival is Aruba's strongest
expression of our musical culture and we are indebted to
Gollo for his decision to stage the Festival here. Because
the musicians come from so many parts of the world, the
Aruba Symphony Festival, like the festivals of Tanglewood
and Aspen, has also become a strong platform for pub-
licity of Aruba as a tourist destination. q

VIP Access tickets are obtainable at all bookstores, at the four stores of Aruba Vision Center, at Cas di Cultura and at the board members of
the Aruba Symphony Festival: Alberto Perret-Gentil (aperret@perretingenieros.com), Johnny Croes (johnnycroes62@gmail.com), Clyde Harms
(clydeharms@yahoo.com) y Orietta Mansur (oriettamansur@gmail.com). VIP Access tickets make wonderful gifts for family and friends, personal
or commercial. For more about the program and the performers at the Aruba Symphony Festival 2019, visit www.arubasymphonyfestival.com.