On June 23, the Ambassador of Colombia in Spain, Luis Guillermo Plata, conferred the Orden de San Carlos en el Grado de Comendador on the General Director of the Liceu Conservatory Foundation, Dr. Maria Serrat Martín, in recognition of her contribution to the strengthening of relations between Colombia and Spain in the field of music and culture and for the impact in Colombia of the Ibero-American Collaboration Program, a program directed by her at the Conservatory, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year.
The event, held at the Embassy of Colombia in Madrid, was attended by the President of the Republic of Colombia, Mr. Iván Duque, who highlighted the importance of the work of the Liceu Conservatory, which, thanks to the management of Dr. Serrat, has made possible not only the development of joint projects of great cultural and musical impact, but has enabled more than 400 young Colombian musicians to study in Barcelona, many of them thanks to scholarships awarded and managed by the Liceu Conservatory Foundation itself.
Colombia, the country that inspired the Collaboration with Ibero-America program, inaugurated the Liceu Conservatory’s long series of institutional agreements with Conservatories, Universities and Cultural Organizations in several countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Brazil. Colombia occupies a special place in this program not only because of the large percentage of young Colombians among the Latin American musicians who have studied at the Liceu Conservatory (30%), but above all because of the richness of the cultural and educational projects that have been built and the social impact of some of these projects.
In her speech, Dr. Serrat expressed her gratitude to the Government of Colombia and to all the institutions and people who have accompanied her and who have contributed to create this common space of cultural exchange with important projects in which teachers and students of the Center have been protagonists. The General Director of the Liceu Conservatory Foundation highlighted the importance of working together and hosting in Barcelona activities of great social impact such as those that starred the Symphonic Band of Villamaría Caldas (2015) or the Municipal Symphonic Band of Soacha (2018), among others.
The Orden de San Carlos is the most important decoration of the Republic of Colombia to honor foreign individuals who have excelled for the benefit of the country, especially in the field of international relations.