Viña del Mar International Song Festival

The Viña del Mar International Song Festival (also, Viña Festival) is a musical contest organized in the city of Viña del Mar in Chile. It began on February 21, 1960, and since then the event has been held annually, during the month of February, with the only exceptions being 2021 and 2022, when the festival was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is considered the largest and most important music festival in Latin America and the longest-running and most relevant Spanish-speaking festival in the world.

The festival takes place at the Quinta Vergara Amphitheater, a stage that has a capacity for 15,000 spectators and is broadcast live on radio, television, and online platforms, achieving record numbers with an estimated audience of around of 250 million people. Through television, the event reaches the entire American continent, a large part of Europe, North Africa and Australia; while streaming to the whole world. It moves millions of dollars in sponsorships, associated television programs, publicity and tourism.

Although popular and folk music competitions were the origin of the contest, for several decades they have been relegated to the background, giving preference to guest artists, who are the true highlight of the contest.

Since its LX edition, the organization, production and transmission of Festival de Viña has been in the hands of the alliance made up of Televisión Nacional de Chile, Canal 13 and Fox Networks Group Latin America (now currently Disney Media Networks Latin America), who the contest was awarded until 2026 for 9,038,656 UF (almost USD$400 million dollars).

History

Background and early years (1960-1970)

Gustavo Lorca, mayor of Viña del Mar (1958-1964), who was one of the promoters of the festival.

The origins of the Viña del Mar International Song Festival were modest. Thanks to the initiative of the mayor Gustavo Lorca and Carlos Ansaldo, director of the Department of Tourism and Public Relations of the Municipality of Viña del Mar, between February 21 and 28, 1960, a unique competition was organized, in which the Participants had to present an original song whose motif was the city of Viña del Mar; the winner would opt for a prize of 500 escudos in cash and an award called Lira de Oro. Six compositions participated, the winner being "Viña" by José Goles and Manuel Lira; In the show, the event was animated by Ricardo García and enlivened by nine invited local artists. In February 1961, a folkloric contest was incorporated.

In 1963, Channel 9 of Television of the University of Chile, experimentally broadcast the Festival for Santiago.

At the beginning of the festival, a stage was improvised next to the Palacio Vergara, a place where the audience sat on wooden chairs, or directly on the grass or dirt floor. In turn, many Spectators were located on the hills adjacent to the Fifth and on the tops of the nearby trees, giving the contest a provincial air.

In 1963, the architect Hernando López designed an open-air amphitheater with a paraboloid shape and crowned by a band shell, receiving the collaboration of the civil builder Juan Pinto Delgado. The structure was built in stages and its design was inspired by the Hollywood Bowl, the main amphitheater in the city of Los Angeles in the United States. The stage roof, which helped both to project sound towards the public and to protect the audience artists of the cold Viña Mar nights, it debuted in 1967. Built of wood and steel, it imitated the flight of a seagull, becoming the most distinctive detail of the construction, which over the years became an icon of the Festival, and in the image of the contest before the world. It stood for nearly four decades until its demolition and replacement in 2002.

Growth of the festival and political forum (1970-1980)

In the 1970s, the Festival began to spread to the masses, especially from 1971, when the transmission rights were granted to Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN), with coverage in much of the country.

During those same years, the political tension of the moment was strongly present. In 1970, the presidential elections were held in which the socialist Salvador Allende was elected president, which would mark the country, and would divide it politically, also influencing the Viñamarino contest. In 1971, representatives of the Soviet Union were applauded for their support for the Popular Unity (UP), while in 1972 South African Miriam Makeba was booed by the conservative sector for praising President Salvador Allende and exclaiming "Long live the Chilean revolution! ».

In the XIV edition (1973), the situation became chaotic due to the clash between Quilapayún, representative of the New Chilean Song, and Los Huasos Quincheros, opponents of the Allende government. Both groups were invited to the event on different nights.

During Quilapayún's performance, the totally polarized and inflamed audience began a battle in the amphitheater, between those in favor of Quilapayún and by extension the UP government, and others against them. The latter threw blunt objects towards the stage with the aim of getting the group out, while Quilapayún performed on stage the songs with the greatest political content in his repertoire, such as "Nuestro Cobre, La Batea y Las Ollitas". The incident was not broadcast by Televisión Nacional de Chile on the orders of Gonzalo Bertrán, director of the television broadcast, who, seeing the magnitude of the disorders and the climate of aggressiveness, decided to cut the recordings in the second song and eliminate the recording of the tapes.. On the other hand, the show was broadcast by Radio Minería, where the screams of the public are recorded, and the crowd is completely polarized. This situation that occurred endangered the holding of the festival in the future, especially due to the objects thrown onto the stage, which is why it was decided to cancel the holding of the contest for a few days until the atmosphere returned to normal.

In this version of the festival, the song "A la Bandera de Chile" also participated, written by the already Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda, an adherent of Allende, and set to music by the national music prize Vicente Bianchi, which won the 2.º place in the contest, and which was also strongly booed by the public totally divided for political reasons.

All the events mentioned above made the 1973 festival one of the most polarized and tense in the history of the contest, which in turn was closely linked to the political environment of the time.

After the coup d'état of September 11, 1973, the folkloric contest was suspended from 1974; however, the event began to gain prominence. That same year, the event was broadcast internationally for the first time: Argentina, Spain, Peru, the Dominican Republic, South Africa, Venezuela and the countries associated with Eurovision received the event for the first time in which the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet tried to show good faith. image of the country to the rest of the world. On the nights of the festival, during the first years of the dictatorship, it was common to see Pinochet, his wife Lucía Hiriart, among other members of the military junta sitting in the box, witnessing to the invited artists, who were also introduced upon arrival at the Quinta Vergara amphitheatre.

Leaving aside the political aspect, in 1975 during the XVI International Song Festival of Viña del Mar one of the most important milestones of Chilean television occurred, since in this contest and during the last night of the festival the first experimental record in colors in Chile, with the performances of Roberto Carlos and Sandro recorded in this format (but not broadcast in color). The experimental recording in colors was made at the same time as the recordings in "black and white", which is why there are recordings of the same artist in both formats, but with camera shots from different positions.

Three years later, in 1978, the festival became the first television program broadcast in color in Chile, specifically the award for the winning song of the contest, which was awarded to Fernando Ubiergo for his song «El time in the bastilles". However, for the most part the festival continued to be broadcast in black and white on television, but the technological advances of the time made the 1979 festival the last to be broadcast in this format, moving to the 1980s to be broadcast in its entirety. in color throughout the country.

This milestone meant its definitive internationalization when a European station broadcast it to Spain and other European countries.

Golden age of the festival (1980-1994)

Premiation of international competition at the festival held in 1986.

In the 1980s, the Viña Festival became a renowned event both nationally and internationally, especially for the wide variety of songs in competition, and for the invitation to artists of international stature and very popular from those years.

The XXII Festival de Viña (1981), has been considered the best edition of the contest due to the high level of the songs in the competitions and the quality of the invited artists. biggest Hispanic stars, Julio Iglesias, Camilo Sesto and Miguel Bosé, the Venezuelan José Luis Rodríguez "El Puma" and the Americans Ray Conniff and KC and The Sunshine Band.

Starting in the first half of the 1980s, and thanks to the management of Raúl Velasco, the festival began to be broadcast in Mexico through Televisa, and in the United States on the Univisión network. This alliance allows the arrival of Mexican artists such as Luis Miguel, Yuri, Emmanuel, Verónica Castro and Lucía Méndez.

The 1988 edition, for its part, was marked by the political events that occurred in the decade and especially before the next plebiscite that would be held that year. He highlighted the message of support given by the vocalist of Mister Mister to artists threatened with death, or the conflict generated by José Luis Rodríguez with the organization of the festival, where he launched his iconic phrase "Sometimes you have to listen to the voice of the people".

In this decade, the introduction of tropical and dance music as part of the show stands out, with artists such as Johnny Ventura and Pachuco y la Cubanacán. Likewise, it saw the debut of artists who years later would become icons of Latin music, such as Luis Miguel, as well as the continued presence of English-speaking stars such as Air Supply, Laura Branigan, Nazareth, REO Speedwagon, among others.

Changing times (1994-2004)

In the mid-1990s the Festival began to undergo changes. In part, due to the rise of cable television and its music channels, and also because a new tender determined which channel would broadcast the contest: the historic channel that had broadcast it since 1971, TVN, ceased to have the rights, which passed into the hands of de Megavisión (today Mega) a channel that at that time was relatively new, had been founded for 4 years when it obtained the tender. The new channel strengthened alliances with the Mexican network Televisa, and together they carried out Viña '94; edition known by the media in Chile as the "Mexicanization" of the Festival. The Mega era, which lasted until 1999, is remembered for being populated by Mexican figures such as Luis Miguel, Lucero, Emmanuel, Juan Gabriel, Thalía, Paulina Rubio, Fey, Café Tacuba, Maná, to mention a few, as well as other international artists such as Shakira, Sofía Vergara, Laura Pausini and Donna Summer.

Anfiteatro de la Quinta Vergara inaugurated in 2002.

Viña 2000, now in the hands of Canal 13, is considered a historic edition as it was co-presented by a single presenter –Cecilia Bolocco– along with Antonio Vodanovic. That edition is also remembered for the scandal on stage with de Xuxa and her song "Ilariê", and for granting Celia Cruz the Festival Reign.

The acoustic shell of Quinta Vergara, the stage that housed the festival since 1967, was demolished in April 2001, to build a renovated amphitheater in its place, which would be premiered at the XLIII International Song Festival of Viña del Sea, year 2002.

In 2004, the event's host, Antonio Vodanovic, announced his retirement after hosting it 29 times. He was later replaced by various presenters, including Ricardo Montaner, Sergio Lagos and Felipe Camiroaga.

Decline in relevance (2004-present)

Presentation of the Franz Ferdinand band at the festival of 2006.

Starting in the 2000s, the festival gradually declined in relevance internationally, due to competition from other musical events in Latin America, and it has been criticized "for bringing unattractive artists or with careers based on hits of the past".

There is also criticism of the growing focus on aspects external to the festival itself, linked to show business, such as the election of the queen (and to a lesser extent the king) of the festival, and the traditional gala party that opens the festival, where administrative authorities, invited artists, the jury, competition participants and other entertainment and television figures participate. Since 2011 the red carpet of the gala has been broadcast live, similar to the broadcasts at American award ceremonies such as the Grammys or the Oscars carried out by the E! channel.

During this period, the festival has been interrupted for reasons of force majeure. The closing day of the 2010 festival, the last event produced by the first period of the Canal 13-TVN alliance, which would be broadcast on February 27 of that year, was canceled due to the earthquake that hit the center-south of the country with a magnitude of 8.8.

After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the organizing channels –TVN and Canal 13, who re-broadcast the event after a period of Chilevisión (2011-2018)– requested to suspend the event; however, the Illustrious Municipality of Viña del Mar rejected the request, causing controversy. After concluding that the 62nd version of the Festival could not be held, on November 10, 2020, Mayor Virginia Reginato officially announced the cancellation of the Viña Festival for the first time in its history, due to the health crisis. The same happened with the 2022 version, whose cancellation was announced on September 15, 2021 by the City Municipal Council, now headed by the mayor Macarena Ripamonti. On March 16, 2022, the return of the Viña Festival was confirmed in February 2023.

Show

Competencies

Up to 2020, sixty-one editions of the Festival have been held, with two winning songs —one in the popular music category and another in the folk music category— per year, except on three occasions: in 1960, when it was held a unique competition; in 1971, when the winning song of the popular contest was disqualified for not being unpublished; and during the period 1974-1980, when the folkloric contest was suspended. The winning songs amount to 113: 60 in the popular music category and 53 in the folk music category.

Invited artists

This section is an excerpt from Annex:Artists who have participated in the Festival de la Canción de Viña del Mar.[chuckles]edit]

Presentation by Franz Ferdinand, February 27, 2006.

Since 1960, various artists have been invited to attend the International Festival of the Song of Viña del Mar, an event focused on musical competitions. However, over the years, guests began to gain a growing prominence to become the most important of the Festival, mainly due to their pre-event popularity.

By the amphitheater of the Fifth Vergara, artists of all musical varieties have passed, from docta music to popular music — scoring from classical music and opera, with the participations of the tenor Plácido Domingo and the soprano Verónica Villarroel, to the salsa, the cumbia, the Reguetón, the bachata and the merengue with the performances of Celia Cruznk, Ráfaga, In the Festival, the main Hispanic and Latin American artists have been presented; the contest has also served as a platform for various emerging artists.

Because of the isolation in which Chile was in the 1980s, the Viña del Mar Festival was practically the only place where Anglo-Saxon artists could present themselves to the Chilean public: it was the only scenario that could pay the values of the time to bring international artists and that had the acoustic and technological demands at that time. However, since 1990, Anglo-Saxon artists began to perform various concerts in the country and began to decay their interest in the Festival de Viña, focusing on the Spanish-speaking programmatic grill. Despite the fact that since the early 21st century the Anglo-speaking artists have been mainly bands and vocalists of memory, there have also been artists of the English Anglo-Saxons who presented themselves at their best, such as The Police, Sheena Easton, Faith No More, Franz Ferdinand, Backstreet Boys, Nelly Furtado, Jonas Brothers, Olivia Newton-John, Peter Cetera, Jamiroquai, Europe and Beck.

The humor presentations have also been features throughout the history of the Festival, catapulting artists such as Bombo Fica, Dinamita Show, Coco Legrand, Alvaro Salas, Stefan Kramer or Felipe Avello to the star of comedy and the stand up comedy national, as well as foreign humorists of the size of Carlos "Mono" Sánchez, Alejandra Azcárate and Bongo Quiñstru Thus, since 2000, the number of humorists at the Festival has been reduced from one each night in 2000 to just one in 2012. Some of these numbers have been replaced by numbers of varieties from abroad.

With a million dollars for his presentation in 2012, Mexican Luis Miguel became the best-paid artist in the history of the Festival—in addition to being the first prized artist with an unprecedented platinum seagull— followed by the British Elton John with $850 000 in 2013.

Miguel Bosé, is the artist who has most times presented at the Festival, with his performance of 2018, there are 10 presentations on this stage. He was awarded with Gold and Silver Gaviotas; in addition to an unprecedented award to the Icon Artist of Viña del Mar, the most important so far in the history of the Fifth Vergara.

Audience and awards ceremony

Mick Hucknall of the Simply Red group holds the torches of silver and gold, two of the awards that are given in the contest.

In February 1960, the prize for the winner of the first edition of the Festival was a commemorative plaque along with Eº 500. The following year, the Golden Lira was added as a trophy to the winners. In 1969, the Silver Seagull replaced both the Lira de Oro—the original award for international competition between 1961 and 1968 and for folkloric since 1961 until 1964— as for the Arpa de Oro —the prize for the folkloric competition between 1965 and 1968. The amount awarded to the first place in the folkloric and international categories has increased throughout the time —in 1963, it rose to Eº 1000; in 1965, to Eº 1500; and in 1966, to Eº 2,000—until reaching USD 35,000 in 2013.

The first time it was awarded to an artist who was not participating in the international competition was in 1972, when it was awarded to the Argentine-Chilean humorist Bigote Arrocet. Two years later, he received it again, when he sang, among other songs, the song "Libre", original by the Spanish artist Nino Bravo. Despite subsequent interpretations of it, the humorist's intention was only to pay homage to the singer who died in April of the previous year in a car accident.

Since the late 1970s, it became common for the public to demand the delivery of the Seagull to guest artists who stood out in their performance. The Festival public began to applaud, ignore or boo the artists every night, which gave rise to its nickname of The Monster due to its tradition of "devouring" those it did not like. In 1981, the Gaviota de Plata was awarded to the Spanish singers Camilo Sesto and Julio Iglesias, a fact that was repeated in 1988, due to the pressure exerted by the artist in favor of the delivery, the Venezuelan Jose Luis "Puma" Rodriguez. The famous phrase "Sometimes you have to listen to the voice of the people" said by the singer himself, forced the mayoress of the city at that time Eugenia Garrido to decide to award the Silver Gaviota to a artist not participating in the song contest.

Over the years, the delivery of Gaviotas was repeated, becoming a tradition, despite the fact that in 1983 the Organizing Commission had created the Silver Torch, in honor of the torches that the public of the Quinta Vergara lit up in approval of the singers. Although the Torch originated to replace the Seagull and definitively reserve it for the participants, public pressure forced the delivery of Torches and Seagulls.

In 1999, the Gaviota de Oro was born as a way of recognizing Mexican singer-songwriter and composer Juan Gabriel for his successful performance at four consecutive festivals. However, the Mexican singer-songwriter withdrew days before, so the trophy was given to Ricardo Arjona, also a Guatemalan singer-songwriter, who had also had a remarkable performance and who had been chosen the most popular artist that year. Although in 2000 an attempt was made to reserve this award only for that year's special international competition, where the best song in the history of the international competition was chosen, the Golden Seagull began to be distributed indiscriminate. Although later a new attempt to regulate the delivery of Gaviotas gave rise to the Golden Torch, in recent events it has been common for all the awards to be given to invited artists, which has led to various criticisms. and mockery, for which the Golden Gull was stopped in 2005, but was reinstated in 2011, in its 52nd version.

In 2003, one of the greatest exponents of rock and Latin American music, Argentinean Charly García, performed for the first time at the Festival, dazzling the audience that had been waiting for him for years. In the same edition, the Italian singer-songwriter Franco Simone, for having gathered thirty years of success in South America with his songs translated into Spanish, received the "Lifetime Achievement Award".^{[citation needed]}

From 2005 to 2010, the awards given, in order of importance, were the Silver Torch, the Golden Torch and the Silver Seagull. However, the public insistently requested the non-existent Golden Seagull for some artists, before which the animators, to calm the Monster and thus be able to continue with the remaining artists of the day, they delivered a symbolic Golden Gull, in the form of a second Silver Gull. In that period, the Puerto Rican Ricky Martin received a double Silver Seagull in the same presentation in 2007, as well as the Chilean based in the United States, Américo; and Ricardo Arjona himself in 2010. As a way of commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the event in 2009, the Lira de Oro was reinstated for the winners of the competition, this award being given in a unique way.

In 2011, the legendary Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos opened the Festival, after 20 years without performing there, and the Golden Gaviota was restored, which was awarded, on the fourth night, to the Puerto Rican singer Chayanne, on the fifth night the British singer Sting and the Chilean group Los Jaivas, and on the last night the Spanish Alejandro Sanz. Later, the two Gaviotas were also given to the Spanish singer-songwriter José Luis Perales, who is one of the greatest exponents of Spanish-speaking music and also one of the great guests at this event.

In 2012, the Platinum Seagull was awarded for the first time, especially to the Mexican Luis Miguel, in recognition of his 30-year career celebrated on February 22, 2012. In addition, the then mayor of the city, Virginia Reginato, gave him the keys to the city as a symbol of affection and recognizing the artist's career. In the 2017 edition, this award was given for the second time, this time to the Spanish Isabel Pantoja, in honor of her friendship with Juan Gabriel, who died before being able to participate with her in the Festival. Two years later, on the first night of the 2019 edition, this recognition was awarded for the third time, this time, posthumously to the Chilean singer Lucho Gatica for his years of career; and on his behalf, it was delivered by his nephew, the Chilean music producer Humberto Gatica, who was the president of the jury for this edition and in the 2023 edition, the mayoress Macarena Ripamonti presented the platinum seagull to the Chilean musical group Los Jaivas for 60 years of experience and is the first musical group to receive that award.

In January 2015, it was decided to eliminate the Silver Torch and the Golden Torch, replacing it with the Seagull and an award for the artists, this would start from the LVI edition of the International Festival. The reason is due to the "devaluation" that he would have suffered in previous years and to the "excessive" intervention of the presenters, which in general were 4 times the interventions when delivering them.

Organization

TV broadcast

In 1963, the Festival was televised experimentally in Santiago on Channel 9 of Television of the University of Chile. In 1969 Channel 13 broadcast the finals of that year's contest.

In 1971, the broadcasting rights were granted to Televisión Nacional de Chile, which would broadcast the festival uninterruptedly until 1993.

In 1994, the full transmission of the Festival was assigned to Megavisión for five years, in co-production with Televisa de México, due to public disagreements with Televisión Nacional, which reached the courts; in 1996, said concession was renewed for another three years.

In 2000, the transmission was handed over to Channel 13 for the second time, a contract that lasted until 2006.

In April 2006, Channel 13 was awarded for another four years to hold the event, after the municipality of Viña Mar rejected Mega's proposal. Channel 13 had announced on the day of the closing of the inscriptions to the bidding, a strategic alliance with Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) for the second time, allowing its transmission through the international signal TV Chile. The closing day of the last event produced by the Canal 13-TVN alliance, corresponding to February 27, 2010, was canceled due to the earthquake that affected the center and south of the country, reaching 8.8 degrees of magnitude.

In May of that year, Chilevisión was awarded the tender for the contest for the period 2011-2014 for the second time. This tender produced a controversy between the center-left and left sectors, mainly parties of the Concertación, due to the fact that the channel was still administered by the President of the Republic, Sebastián Piñera, for which reason they threatened not to vote against the appointments in TVN and CNTV. In April 2014, the concession for the event was renewed with Chilevisión for another four years (2015-2018), which offered the amount of 10 million UF.

In March 2018, Chilevisión once again tried to renew the tender, but Channel 13 and TVN again allied themselves, this third time with the Fox group and Ibero Americana Radio Chile, to pay an amount much higher than what Chilevisión offered and they would stay with the tender for the period 2019-2027; The official announcement was scheduled for May 15 of that year, however, it was brought forward to April 12, when the Municipal Council of Viña del Mar officially confirmed Channel 13 and TVN as the new official channels of the event..

Presenters

Antonio Vodanovic, host of the Festival between 1976 and 2004.

Rafael Araneda and Carolina de Moras were the hosts of the festival from 2014 to 2018.

Martin Carcamo and Maria Luisa Godoy are in charge of animation since 2019.

During its early years, the Viña del Mar Festival was animated by different people, standing out Ricardo García, who was one of the first hosts of the festival, and who during the 1970s was the presenter of the official animators, and the invited artists. García earned recognition, and the affection of the public, his last festival as co-host was in 1976.

Who also stood out in animation was the renowned Chilean journalist Raúl Matas, and Ricardo García.

In 1968, César Antonio Santis became the first permanent presenter of the festival, which lasted until 1975. Santis stood out thanks to his style and the elegance with which he presented the different artists on stage.

In 1976, Santis is replaced by Antonio Vodanovic, who became a symbol of the Festival, this due to the charisma he had from the beginning with the public, which made him host the contest for twenty-nine consecutive years, being accompanied by various co-presenters, including María Graciela Gómez, María Olga Fernández, Paulina Nin de Cardona and Pamela Hodar.

In 2000, Cecilia Bolocco took over as presenter along with Vodanovic and, between 2003 and 2006, the singer Myriam Hernández acted as the official presenter. Antonio Vodanovic announced his retirement from animation after the XLV Viña del Mar International Song Festival, in 2004. The following summer, Vodanovic was replaced by the Argentine/Venezuelan singer Ricardo Montaner, who accompanied Hernández. of the press due to his inexperience in the role of presenter made him not accept to participate in the 2006 event, being replaced by Sergio Lagos. The alliance between the Universidad Católica de Chile Televisión (Channel 13) and Televisión Nacional de Chile debuted at the 2007 event, this being presented by Sergio Lagos (Channel 13) and Tonka Tomicic (TVN), a duo that lasted until 2008. As of that year, the main faces of each of the host channels began to be chosen, so that they would be in charge of the animation of the festival. In 2009 and 2010, the event was hosted by Felipe Camiroaga (TVN) and Soledad Onetto (Channel 13).

In 2010, the tender for the transmission was awarded to Chilevisión. This channel brought in Rafael Araneda, from TVN, so that together with Eva Gómez he would animate the Festival in its 2011, 2012 and 2013 versions. Since 2014, Carolina de Moras was chosen to accompany Araneda in the animation of the Festival, a duo which was maintained until 2018. In 2018, it was announced that the animators for the LX edition of the festival will be Martín Cárcamo on Channel 13 and María Luisa Godoy on TVN, channels that were awarded it. Dupla that debuted in 2019 and that remains until today.

Orchestra and choir

During the 1960s, the festival's music was in charge of the Viña del Mar Casino Orchestra, directed by maestro Izidor Handler, who would be in charge from the first festival of the song, until 1969.

In 1970, the renowned maestro Vicente Bianchi took charge of the orchestra and choir. In 1971, maestro Horacio Saavedra took over the orchestra direction together with Saúl San Martín, an Argentine conductor living in Chile. Both are in charge of directing the festival's orchestra and choir, but it would be the newcomer Horario Saavedra who would win the recognition of the public, and would become the musical image of the contest. Saavedra would remain in charge of the orchestra for almost 40 years, until 2010, with the exception of the 1975, 1978 and 1991 editions when maestro Juan Azúa took over as conductor, and in 1992, when maestro Juan Salazar took over as conductor.

During the 1970s and part of the 1980s, the festival's orchestra and choir gained great prominence, as they would be in charge of musically accompanying the representatives of the various countries in international and folkloric competitions, and especially to many of the great artists who performed on stage. Among the international artists that the orchestra accompanied are Sandro (1975), Albert Hammond (1977 and 2013), Maria Creuza (1978), José Luis Rodríguez (1980 and 1981), Julio Iglesias (1981), Salvatore Adamo (1982), Raffaella Carrà (1982), Paloma San Basilio (1983), Massiel (1984) and Yuri (1984). Among the national artists accompanied by the festival orchestra are Luis Dimas (1977).

In those years, the orchestra and especially its director Horacio Saavedra won important recognitions from each of these artists, who praised the musicians of the orchestra and highlighted the level of musical mastery present in these musicians. Many times these accolades occurred on stage and in the midst of the shows of these artists, and these recognitions in turn allowed these musicians to be directed by great orchestral masters in Viña del Mar, such as Paul Mauriat in 1980, Don Costa in 1982, Claude Caravelli in 1982, and Ray Conniff in 1978, 1979, and 1981.

It is important to note that, in the construction of the first stage of the Quinta Vergara, the well-remembered Acoustic Shell, an exclusive space was designated for the orchestra, which was located in an orchestra pit in front of the main stage. That space was used throughout the 1970s and on various occasions in the 1980s, which gave the characteristic that the artists often found themselves "alone" on stage, having the entire orchestra in front of them (a phenomenon similar to what happens in theaters) and which also allowed the public to see all these Chilean musicians, professors and professors while they played live for world-class artists.

Over the years, especially from the 1990s onwards, the festival's orchestra and choir was left solely in charge of the musicalization of the international and folkloric competitions, due to the fact that the invited artists preferred to bring along to them to their own musicians. This played a disadvantage for the orchestra, which went from being the permanent protagonists of international shows, to only accompanying the performers of the competitions, and making the musical curtains of each contest.

In addition to the above, in the remodeling of the amphitheater in 2001, the space for the festival orchestra was eliminated, and the musicians were placed at the back of the stage. These days the festival orchestra is often hidden from the public, giving attendees the feeling that the current curtains and fanfares are a 'recording', when in fact they are not.

In 2010, after the festival of that year ended, a controversy arose around the director Horacio Saavedra, who was accused of both technical and administrative irregularities committed against the musicians of the orchestra, this situation arose know through a letter sent by the saxophonist Andrés Pérez Muñoz, "on behalf of the musicians of the Viña Festival Orchestra". In said letter, the expulsion of Horacio Saavedra was requested as a director of the Chilean Copyright Society.

In 2011, the festival orchestra was led by drummer and music producer Carlos Figueroa Salazar, who was in charge of the orchestra from 2011 to 2020.

Editing and animators

In the list that is detailed below, the presenters of the contest and the television channels and radio stations that have broadcast it are named: