Only three years old, the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra (MSJO) has already caught the attention of the organizers of the international Summa Cum Laude Festival in Vienna where the ensemble has been invited to compete and perform.

Conductor Jeffrey Solares, who is also the Manila Symphony Orchestra’s (MSO) executive director, recalled how MSJO members and their families performed in various venues last year to help raise funds for MSO’s rehearsal hall and academy at Circuit Makati. As a reward for their hard work, he wanted to treat them to a performance outside the country.

He learned about the Vienna festival and sent sample videos and recordings of MSJO performances. Festival organizers assessed their ability and told him that MSJO qualified for the more demanding competition category rather than just the celebration category, which was open to groups of various levels of ability.

The core of the competition program will be Mozart’s “Divertimento in D,” the contest piece for all string orchestras. MSJO will also perform Bartok’s “Romanian Folk Dances” and Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings.” Ryan Cayabyab wrote a special piece for MSJO which would premiere in Vienna.

The competition will be held at the famous Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. MSJO is also performing in other concert venues in Salzburg, Prague and Munich. For these concerts it has lined up other works by Grieg, Hadyn, Bach, Vivaldi and more Filipino compositions.

Solares said of the coming journey from July 5 to 16: “Our main purpose is to experience the wonder of traveling and seeing these places where our kind of music was born, to breathe the air of art and music in these cities where Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Strauss once lived.”

He continued, “Even if we did not qualify for the competition category, I would still push to let our kids participate in this festival to expand their horizons and motivate them to perfect their craft as musicians and as artists.”

But the journey requires financing. MSJO has spent the entire summer raising funds. It got the support of Standard Insurance Inc, through chairman Ernesto Echauz, a supporter of young musical talents in classical music.

Solares cited Ayala Malls, nine of which engaged MSJO in paid performances this summer. MSJO will play Glorietta Activity Center on June 7 at 6 p.m. and in provincial malls in Laguna, Pampanga and in Subic’s Harbour Point on June 18 at 5 p.m. On June 29 at 6:30 p.m. at Ayala Museum, MSJO will have another fund-raising concert.

Special spark

Audience reception has been one of excitement. Solares said, “I feel very lucky to be in the middle of an amazing group of talented young musicians. I think our audience can recognize this special spark. We want this tour to be an inspiration to all young Filipinos to dedicate themselves to excel in whatever pursuit they are engaged in.”

The youngest orchestra member is 9-year-old cellist Damodar Das Castillo. About five kids are 13 years old and majority is between 14-17. For the trip Solares included a few MSO members who are below 21 years old “to give them this international exposure and share with them this experience. The festival accepts participants up to 26 years old so we expect to be competing with older children from other countries.”

He realized that preparing for competition artistically and raising funds is “a superhuman task.” He is assisted by colleagues Sara Maria Gonzales for the violins and Arnold Josue for the cellos.

He added, “I feel the excitement with each day that passes as we approach July. The kids have gone a long way. The progress they have achieved in the past weeks just to prepare for this event is for me a kind of victory. But the best is yet to come. We count on everyone’s support and the blessing of the the Almighty.” —CONTRIBUTED