Archive - Arts & Culture

I have received three gifts from two persons I truly admire which have become even more meaningful now.

The Philippine Visual Arts Festival Bohol 2018 caught Boholanos and Central Visayas by surprise with its varied art offerings, including art installations that used the island province’s iconic heritage landscapes as backdrops.

One cannot abandon Renato Barja’s Children’s Stories (as told by Daniel Tayona and Gigo Alampay) without being haunted by the pools of pain found in the exaggeratedly large eyes of his subjects—children who have lost all, especially their innocence. The book comes with a warning: “Contains sensitive material. Parental guidance advised.”

And now comes the Rag-O Duo (rag-o is a deep Iloko word for “joy”) made up of pianist Gabriel Allan Ferros Paguirigan and his cousin, flutist John Owen Castro. The two won first prize in the Duo for Piano or One String or Wind Instrument Category at this year’s Princess Galyani Vadhana Ensemble Competition in Bangkok, Thailand.

Fine music in the midst of history.

Tenor Dondi Ong, the only Filipino in the international cast of Phantom of the Opera and last seen playing the role of Mr. Chua in Binondo: A Tsinoy Musical, felt that he had become relevant when he went into music therapy for his masters at St. Paul University (SPU) Manila

Catch the Venice Biennale in Taft, Manila! A restaging of the 2015 Philippine Pavilion, Tie a String Around The World, is on show at the College of St Benilde, De La Salle University until August 4, 2018.

Soprano Jasmin Salvo started singing pop songs when she was just five. Because she liked singing with the karaoke, her parents enrolled her at a music studio. From there she started joining singing contests.

There are those who are tempted to read Jenny Romero Llaguno’s first fiction collection as a veiled biography of her and her late husband Frankie’s lives together. Our answer to that is, where else can one draw stories but from the life that one has intimately known or the lives of others that one has observed with soul-piercing scrutiny?

The 48-member Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra under Jeffrey Solares made another history when they bagged the first prize Sunday July 8 in the 12th edition of the Summa Cum Laude Festival in Vienna.

A cornucopia of Philippine prints is on display at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Association of Pinoyprintmakers, formerly known as Philippine Association of Printmakers. With prints made by mostly established artists, it is a veritable roll call of who's who in Philippine contemporary art. Entitled Tirada 50 Years of Philippine Printmaking1968-2018, the exhibition runs until July 15, 2018.

The LA-based Filipino composer Nilo B. Alcala is having a ball with selections from his choral works getting more exposure in the recent CCP concert of the Philippine Madrigal Singers.

Today's Manila is the world's most densely populated city filled with loud jeepneys, carcinogenic fumes, and filthy sidewalks — a far cry from its fame as the "Pearl of the Orient Seas" downgraded further to the inglorious title of "the gates of hell."

There is a bit of history and nostalgia as the concert series, American Songbook (A Retrospect), unfolded in Baguio City over the weekend at the University of the Cordillera and UP Baguio’s Teatro Amianan.

They used to be the main feature in fiestas and rituals. They still are but their platform is no longer limited to tables. They are now in laboratories as subject of studies on organic meat for the health-conscious.

New CCP chair Margie Moran Floirendo is thankful for her early exposure to the arts and thinks that should be encouraged by parents for their growing children.

A ticket to a typical concert of the 92-year old Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) would cost an exorbitant P5,000 if there were no corporate or individual sponsors, patrons and donors or season subscribers.

Tenor Radnel Ofalsa, 22, is this year’s top winner of the Jovita Fuentes Vocal Competition but he admits his earlier fascination for pop singing.