President Bachelet’s Musical U.S. Welcome

Back in May, I got an email from Mary Garay, the band director for a middle school in Maryland. She needed the sheet music for the Chilean national anthem because of the expected arrival of Chilean President Bachelet. That inquiry lead to my response which I posted earlier.

This last week, Chilean President Bachelet visited that very school and spoke with students. She had attended Western Middle School while her father served at the Chilean embassy in 1960s.

President Bachelet’s visit was a success and I like to think I helped with the music just a little. According to reporters:

Bachelet walked into her old school as the school band played the Chilean national anthem, a difficult piece written in a key that band director Mary Garay said includes more sharp notes than the young musicians are used to.

Days earlier, the band had recorded the piece and sent it to the Chilean Embassy, just to be safe.

“They sent back word they were very impressed,” said Garay. “They said in the past they’ve had some surprises.”

Great job to Mary Garay and her musicians!

Posted June 9th, 2006 in In the News.

Keep up-to-date with the latest from Pepe's Chile:
Sign up for email updates Subscribe to Pepe's RSS Feed