Nick Nañgit took up business administration and accounting at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, graduated cum laude and placed second in the CPA board exams. He then took up law, also at UP and, not content with this, studied music at Philippine Women’s University.
As a lawyer, Nañgit, who is in his 30s, specializes in taxes, corporate and business practices. “I also do litigation,” he says. “But I choose my cases. Family law, land cases, a few criminal cases.” And as an accountant, he wrote an accounting textbook.
A formally trained pianist of professional caliber, Nañgit does not charge a TF (talent fee) for his services. He chooses his concerts; they have to be concerts for a cause, his advocacy, for something he believes in. He has been playing the piano since he was 12; and when he passed the bar exams, he celebrated this in 2003 with his first public concert, playing a Mozart concerto at the Cultural Center of the Philippines with the Manila Symphony Orchestra.
Previous concerts through the years have included one for an exhibit for the artist Jun Impas at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila; at the Rizal Park Gallery in celebration of Children’s Month; and a concert for the Makati Garden Club’s Festival of Trees.
His most recent performance was at the “Timeless” concert sponsored by the Department of Tourism and other agencies, and held at the City of Manila’s Clock Tower Museum, with its grim exhibits of the Battle for Manila (1945). It was a unique concert which fused music, visual arts and literature. Before each composition was played, poems were read and visual artist Sherwin Paul Gonzales painted on the spot.
In addition to the pianist, there was the Metro East Chamber Orchestra. The music was eclectic, ranging from classical to Hollywood and OPM (Original Pilipino Music). Nañgit was in his element, playing with bombast during the fortissimo passages while waxing tender and lyrical when pianissimo.
The poets whose works were read Ophelia A. Dimalanto Danton Remoto, Elsa Martinez Coscolluela, Ralph Semino Galán, Pedro Cañas Flores-Serrano (who read his own poem, a tribute to his mother), Anthony L. Tan and Ester Tapia.
Composers whose composition were played after each poem was read (often in Filipino transition) were Frederic Chopin, Claude Debussy, Sergei Rachmaninov, Franz Schubert, Willy Cruz (“Sana’y Wala nang Wakas”), Lucio D. San Pedro, Francisco Buencamino (“Ang Larawan”), Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast”).
The concert was held to celebrate National Museum Month. “This is my passion, my advocacy,” declared Nañgit. “We combined music, art and literature so people will appreciate what is sublime. Another advocacy is for people to be aware of museums, especially government-run museums, which will remain open free until the end of the year.” —Contributed INQ
