Post by voltairemad on Oct 12, 2010 0:06:28 GMT 9
lifestyle.inquirer.net/artsandbooks/artsandbooks/view/20100920-293211/Magnificent-seven-orchestras
Magnificent seven (orchestras)
By Amadís Ma. Guerrero
Philippine Daily Inquirer
DateFirst Posted 22:05:00 09/20/2010
THE IDEA as conceptualized by Raul Sunico, vice president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, was obviously Think Big: Bring together seven leading orchestras into a five-day fest celebrating classical symphonic music.
The result is the 1st National Orchestra Festival 2010, to be held at CCP Sept. 21-25, 8 p.m. It is titled, appropriately, “Magnitude 7 on the Orchestra Scale.”
And so we have a musical “magnificent seven” or “seven samurai” to challenge Steve McQueen or Akira Kurosawa (incidentally, the recent Kurosawa Film Festival was also held at CCP.)
In a press conference at CCP to announce the event, Sunico, who is concurrent dean of the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music, cited the “need to democratize the musical atmosphere in the Philippines, and so we opened our doors to the other orchestras. We hope this will generate interest in orchestral music.”
Rebuilding
The seven orchestras are FILharmoniKA, under Gerard Salonga; Manila Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Molina; University of the Philippines Orchestra, Edna Marcil Martinez; Angono Chamber Orchestra, Agripino Diestro; University of Santo Tomas Symphony Orchestra, Herminigildo Ranera; Predis Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Solares; and the host, Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, Olivier Ochanine.
During the presscon, the UP Orchestra led by Martinez played Rosendo Santos’ appealing “Balitaw sa Bukid.” This led one cultural writer to ask, during the open forum, why the UP College of Music has lagged behind in developing an orchestra (the UST Symphony Orchestra, for example, is now a resident orchestra of the CCP.)
Martinez took the floor to explain: “The orchestra for instrumental students depends on the number of enrollees, and at one time we had a small number of enrollees. Would you believe the quota was 50 freshmen every year?”
She added: “We had to circumvent this to revitalize the program. It was a long process. We had a mandate to come up with a string section, the wind and brass no problem. We practically had to rebuild from step one. We wanted to build up gradually, we had to keep the orchestra class going.”
Martinez concluded: “I think we are alive now. What you see here is an entire orchestra.”
Repertoire
The repertoire for Sept. 21-25 is a heady melange of compositions by European and Filipino masters spanning three centuries. The composers whose works will be played are Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, Bach, Grieg, Bartok, Peña, Stravinsky, Wagner, Sibelius, Chaplin, Mussorgsky, Feliciano, Bernstein, Buenaventura, Buencamino, San Pedro, Brahms, Vaughan Williams and Khachaturian.
“The highlight of the event (Sept. 25) is the performance of the Festival Orchestra, which is composed of selected members of the participating orchestras who shall be performing with the country’s eminent conductors,” announced Melissa Mantaring, head of the CCP’s music division.
Magnificent seven (orchestras)
By Amadís Ma. Guerrero
Philippine Daily Inquirer
DateFirst Posted 22:05:00 09/20/2010
THE IDEA as conceptualized by Raul Sunico, vice president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, was obviously Think Big: Bring together seven leading orchestras into a five-day fest celebrating classical symphonic music.
The result is the 1st National Orchestra Festival 2010, to be held at CCP Sept. 21-25, 8 p.m. It is titled, appropriately, “Magnitude 7 on the Orchestra Scale.”
And so we have a musical “magnificent seven” or “seven samurai” to challenge Steve McQueen or Akira Kurosawa (incidentally, the recent Kurosawa Film Festival was also held at CCP.)
In a press conference at CCP to announce the event, Sunico, who is concurrent dean of the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music, cited the “need to democratize the musical atmosphere in the Philippines, and so we opened our doors to the other orchestras. We hope this will generate interest in orchestral music.”
Rebuilding
The seven orchestras are FILharmoniKA, under Gerard Salonga; Manila Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Molina; University of the Philippines Orchestra, Edna Marcil Martinez; Angono Chamber Orchestra, Agripino Diestro; University of Santo Tomas Symphony Orchestra, Herminigildo Ranera; Predis Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Solares; and the host, Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, Olivier Ochanine.
During the presscon, the UP Orchestra led by Martinez played Rosendo Santos’ appealing “Balitaw sa Bukid.” This led one cultural writer to ask, during the open forum, why the UP College of Music has lagged behind in developing an orchestra (the UST Symphony Orchestra, for example, is now a resident orchestra of the CCP.)
Martinez took the floor to explain: “The orchestra for instrumental students depends on the number of enrollees, and at one time we had a small number of enrollees. Would you believe the quota was 50 freshmen every year?”
She added: “We had to circumvent this to revitalize the program. It was a long process. We had a mandate to come up with a string section, the wind and brass no problem. We practically had to rebuild from step one. We wanted to build up gradually, we had to keep the orchestra class going.”
Martinez concluded: “I think we are alive now. What you see here is an entire orchestra.”
Repertoire
The repertoire for Sept. 21-25 is a heady melange of compositions by European and Filipino masters spanning three centuries. The composers whose works will be played are Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, Bach, Grieg, Bartok, Peña, Stravinsky, Wagner, Sibelius, Chaplin, Mussorgsky, Feliciano, Bernstein, Buenaventura, Buencamino, San Pedro, Brahms, Vaughan Williams and Khachaturian.
“The highlight of the event (Sept. 25) is the performance of the Festival Orchestra, which is composed of selected members of the participating orchestras who shall be performing with the country’s eminent conductors,” announced Melissa Mantaring, head of the CCP’s music division.