Fresh from its recent outreach concerts in Antique, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) performed at the St. Martin of Tours Poblacion in Bocaue, Bulacan, on July 5. Maestros Yoshikazu Fukumura and Herminigildo Ranera conducted the PPO.
The PPO’s performance was undertaken through the efforts of CCP president Arsenio J. Lizaso in partnership with the Office of Sen. Joel Villanueva and the local government of Bocaue, Bulacan.
Tribute to Mr. C Continuing with our first-quarter report card on the performing arts, the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and the Ateneo Chamber Singers, both led by guest conductor Jonathan Velasco, performed the choral and orchestral works of National Artist Ryan Cayabyab, in a festive tribute to the composer at the Areté building, Ateneo de Manila. The concert was enlivened by the presence of the artist, who said he was thrilled to hear his music conducted by someone else (apart from himself). Velasco amused the SRO audience at the Hyundai Hall with anecdotes about his former classmate and later teacher at the University of the Philippines College of Music.
The MSO first played Filipino folk songs transcribed for orchestra by Cayabyab, and then his major religious and secular works for film (“Ignatius of Loyola”) and musical plays. His masterwork “Misa 2000,” with its Credo and Te Deum, composed for the Archdiocese of Manila, with its overtones of Bach and Handel, was, one imagines, the main argument for his winning the coveted National Artist Award.—CONTRIBUTED
