90 Musicians Launch Colombia Youth Philharmonic’s 5-City Tour

Music: Cali

The Filarmónica Joven de Colombia launches its “Colisionantes” tour in Cali on 6 August 2026, taking Mahler’s Fifth Symphony and a message on emotional wellbeing to five cities in eight days.

A Youth Orchestra Opens Its Tour in Cali

Cali opens a national tour by one of Colombia’s most ambitious youth ensembles. On 6 August 2026, the Filarmónica Joven de Colombia begins its “Colisionantes” tour at the Teatro Municipal Enrique Buenaventura, with the concert starting at 7:00 p.m.

The orchestra brings together roughly 90 young musicians drawn from across the country. Created by the Fundación Bolívar Davivienda, it has spent more than 15 years training over 800 instrumentalists and performing in Colombia, Central America, Europe and the United States.

The Full Five-City Route

“Colisionantes” is a compact tour: five cities in eight days. After Cali on 6 August, it travels to Pereira on 8 August, Manizales on 9 August, Medellín on 11 August and closes in Bogotá on 13 August.

Each stop uses a landmark theatre, from Pereira’s Teatro Municipal Santiago Londoño and the Teatro Los Fundadores in Manizales to Medellín’s Teatro Metropolitano and the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá. The Cali opening is the tour’s first public performance.

Mahler and a New Colombian Work

The programme’s centrepiece is Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a work written amid personal upheaval that moves between grief and hope, fragility and strength. It is a demanding choice for a youth orchestra and a showcase of the ensemble’s ambition.

Alongside it, the musicians perform “Das grüne Wunder” (“The Green Miracle”) by Colombian composer Yeison Buitrago Vargas, a piece that traces a seed growing into a tree and then a forest. Chilean conductor Paolo Bortolameolli leads both works.

Music Tied to Mental Health

“Colisionantes” is built around a theme beyond the music: emotional wellbeing. The orchestra frames Mahler’s contradictory moods as a way to talk about how conflicting emotions coexist, and it partners with a mental-health platform to extend that conversation.

In Medellín and Bogotá, free 40-minute talks precede the concerts, exploring frustration, grief, hope and uncertainty through the lens of Mahler’s symphony. Audiences can also take part in an anonymous digital exercise that will feed an “Emotional X-Ray of Colombia” compiled across the five cities.

Cali’s Teatro Municipal Enrique Buenaventura

The tour’s opening venue is the Teatro Municipal Enrique Buenaventura, one of Cali’s principal stages for classical and staged performance. Its central location makes the 6 August concert an easy evening out for residents of the city, capital of the Valle del Cauca region in southwest Colombia.

Ticketing and scheduling details are published by the Fundación Bolívar Davivienda, and the city has flagged the visit through Cali’s culture office.

Why the Tour Resonates Beyond the Concert Hall

For expats in Cali, the concert is a rare chance to hear a full symphonic programme performed by a national youth orchestra without travelling to Bogotá. It also offers a window into a Colombian cultural institution that blends music education with social outreach.

The wellbeing theme gives the tour wider relevance. By tying a canonical symphony to a public conversation about mental health, the orchestra reaches beyond regular concert-goers and connects with a subject that resonates with residents and newcomers alike.

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Frequently Asked Questions

When and where does the Filarmónica Joven de Colombia play in Cali?

The Filarmónica Joven de Colombia opens its “Colisionantes” tour in Cali on 6 August 2026 at 7:00 p.m. at the Teatro Municipal Enrique Buenaventura, in southwest Colombia.

Which cities are on the “Colisionantes” tour?

The tour visits five Colombian cities from 6 to 13 August 2026: Cali (6 August), Pereira (8 August), Manizales (9 August), Medellín (11 August) and Bogotá (13 August).

What music does the orchestra perform on the tour?

The programme features Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony and “Das grüne Wunder” by Colombian composer Yeison Buitrago Vargas, performed by around 90 young musicians under Chilean conductor Paolo Bortolameolli.

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