The collaboration between Francisco Núñez Palacios and the legendary Chilean band Congreso began in 2011 with the symphonic concert Congreso Sinfónico. Since then, the partnership has grown stronger. Following the project’s success, they released the album Sinfónico in 2013, featuring the University of Concepción Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Núñez Palacios.

This fruitful collaboration continued with several projects that have helped diversify the Chilean symphonic repertoire. One example is Volver a Violeta, a collection of orchestral arrangements of Violeta Parra’s music,
featuring soloists such as Isabel and “Tita” Parra, Francisco Sazo, Magdalena Matthey, and Nano Stern. Among these, a standout is the instrumental adaptation of El Gavilán, written by Sergio González from the original piece by the distinguished Chilean composer. These pieces paved the way for the orchestration of Sergio González’s own compositions in the project titled Músicas Retocadas, commissioned by the University of Santiago Classical Orchestra.

As part of the same project, Núñez and González also arranged the suite Canto Libre, based on songs by Chilean singer and songwriter Víctor Jara, commemorating the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

In 2019, Congreso and the Quintessence Ensemble came together once again to perform Jazz en Todas las Esquinas at the Valparaíso Municipal Theater during the Chile Jazz Festival. Later, in 2020, Núñez conducted
the Orquesta Nocturna for the recording of Ya es tiempo – Homenaje a Congreso, released by Nano Stern and arranged musically by Simón González.