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Arts & Culture

Ph is home to the world’s best choirs

By PABLO TARIMAN

WHY is the Philippines lagging behind in the sports Olympics while it continues to clobber small and big countries in the choral Olympiad?

In the last two years, the country saw its leading choirs winning one international prize after another, the latest of which was the Philippine Madrigal Singers’ victory at the prestigious European Grand Prix for Choral Singing.

The Madz, as the choir is popularly known, is the first and only choir to win twice in what is known as the choral Olympics of the world. Last year, the Madz also received the Unesco Artists for Peace Prize.

Another earthshaking music event of 2010 was the UST (University of Santo Tomas) Singers’ winning the Choir of the World (COTW) top prize. It is the same prize it won in 1995, making it the first and only Filipino and Asian choir to win the celebrated award twice. The prize  is now called Choir of the World- Luciano Pavarotti Grand Prize after  the  opera icon.

The first requirement of this competition is that the group should first win the top prize in the five major choir categories to qualify for the COTW finals. These categories include Mixed Choir, Chamber Choir, All-Male Choir, All-Female Choir, and Barbershop/Close Harmony Choir.

The UST Singers, under Prof. Fidel Calalang, beat the Cywair Choir of Wales, winner of the Chamber Choir category and also the Choir of the World champion in 2005; the White Rossettes Choir of England, winner of the Barbershop/Close Harmony Choir; the Cantabile Choir of Limburg, Germany, winner of the All-Male Choir Category; and the Chanterelles Choir of England, winner of All-Female choir.

In its latest yearend concert at the Philamlife Theater, the UST Singers were virtual show-stealers as they projected a galaxy of choral sounds that were simply magical.

Since its founding in 1992, the UST Singers has completed 18 concert tours around Europe, the USA, Canada, Mexico and Asia, and has won over 45 top prizes in various international choral competitions.

Calalang said of the choir’s 18 years: “Those years could be described as arduously inspiring but, in sum, very colorful and fulfilling. The first few steps were difficult. Just like any other organization or institution, the first few years are always tough, but as we went along, the fruits of our labor and hard work paid off.”

From the start, Calalang made sure the choir’s repertoire was varied and not focusing on just one genre or period. He also considered the different types of audience that they performed for, and made extra efforts to make their repertoire appealing to them.

“I stayed away from the common notion that choral music is confined to Church repertoire and, therefore, perceived as boring,” Calalang said. “For this reason, I have to keep myself updated on the changing trends, innovations and developments of choral music around the world.”

He continued: “I am blessed to have been given talented singers and members with varied but positive personalities. Perhaps the mix of singers that I always get sets us apart from other choirs. The sundry personalities, different voice qualities and assortment of talents create a distinctive kind of choir that is always a big challenge to a choir conductor.”

Calalang, who heads the Voice Department of the UST Conservatory of Music, recalled the birth pains of the UST choir: “A year after the choir’s inception, we courageously took on a big move of touring Europe. We braved the international competition arena without enough exposure and experience even on Philippine stage.”

“Naturally, the difficulties of planning for a tour and most especially financing it tested our endurance as a choir,” he added. “We only relied on our faith in God and our instincts and sense of unity to make us strong and surpass all the trials. It was very difficult aiming for international recognition as a beginner.”

Nevertheless, the choir ended up winning 2nd and 3rd prizes at the Harmonie International Competition in Lindenholzhausen, Germany and Llangollen Musical Eisteddfod in Wales, United Kingdom.

“Our vision brought us to greater heights as we won the Choir of the World grand prize together with four first prizes when we came back to Llangollen in 1995 and the years after, followed by a long line of awards and recognitions from international choral competitions up to the present,” he said with pride.

Jonathan Velasco, one of the country’s leading choral conductors and the only Filipino to sit in the jury of the choral Olympics in Bremen, Germany it is in the arts that Filipinos excel.

“The big irony is that only the revenue-rich boxers and dubious crime informants get millions in cash incentives while the country’s leading musicians bear the brunt of lack of government and corporate support,” Velasco said.