The children’s orchestra was born thanks to the initiative of the cellist Taide Prieto and the pianist Francisco Fernandez, who in alliance with the American School Foundation.
of Chiapas launched a call to all school children to become part of a music program. In September 2013 the orchestra began its activities with 20 violins and 10 cellos played by students of various ages and abilities. It is currently under the direction of the Violist Marcela Escobedo who has led the orchestra through its first international presentations.
The Children’s Orchestra has been recognized for its prestige and high level of preparation and has been invited to numerous events of great cultural importance in the state, such as the Book Fair in San Cristobal de las Casas for three consecutive years.
Our musicians were also invited to be part of the cultural activities of the International Book Fair at UNACH (Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas) and have also performed at the
former Convent of Santo Domingo in Chiapa de Corzo for the 2nd Festival “Los niños y los libros».
As part of the activities to enforce the principles and values taught by the orchestra program, our students were invited to take part in the Music Therapy project by Dr. David Sánchez
Guillen, at the Pediatric Hospital and the Gilberto Gómez Maza Hospital.
Internationally, the orchestra was invited to be part of the summer camp at Longy School of Music of Board College in Boston, USA, in 2016 and 2017, and participated in the ELEVARE camp based in Guadalajara, Mexico where they performed a concert at the Teatro Degollado. Since 2016 ASFC partnered with renowned Venezuelan teacher, Susan Siman, founder of the program “El Sistema” used by Venezuelan orchestras, member of the Miami Orchestra and Head of Simanof Orchestra through which she remains a mentor for our orchestra’s curriculum as well as a guidance for students and teachers through intensive courses on site.
In October 2017 the Academy was part of the Cadi-Simanof European tour performing in auditoriums in Amsterdam, Paris and Madrid.
In July 2018 students traveled to the cities of Washington DC and New York representing Mexico, and also took part in the Tour Simanof 2018 which brought them to South Korea.
In July 2019 the orchestra represented the Chiapas delegation that participated in the Simanof Korea 2019 tour in the cities of Chuncheon, Incheon and Seoul .
