As the seminar came to a close yesterday, I cannot help but commend the hard work of the organization in fulfilling its mission towards education of choral directors.

Aside from uniting many musicians in the last two seminars that it organized, the Philippine Choral Directors' Association has also helped promote awareness of intellectual property rights, especially campaining against unlicensed copies of choral music.

This would be the greatest legacy of the organization in the Philippines, and hopefully in the coming years, more people will be further informed, inspired and educated.

See you at the National PCDA Convention in April!

Congratulations to Peter, and Bing for their success in the Finals of the Choir Category of the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA)!

The quality of the performances in this year's competitions was very impressive, proving that the choral knowledge of the conductors in other Philippine regions is already at a very high level, and they could easily outperform groups from Manila.

Previous winners (not complete):

1980
1st – Ateneo de Manila College Glee Club (NCR)
2nd – The HIS Sounds (NCR)
3rd – Christ the King Choir (NCR)

1981
1st - MSU-Iligan Octava Chorale Society (Region XII)

1985
1st – West Negros College Glee Club (Region VI)
2nd – U.P. Singing Ambassadors (NCR)
3rd – Ateneo de Davao University Glee Club (Region XI)
Hon. Mention - Bicol Heritage Fdn. Inc. College Choir (Region V)

1987
1st – Bicol Heritage Foundation. Inc. College Choir (Region V)
2nd – Notre Dame University College Choir (Region XII)
3rd – Pagadian City College Choir (Region IX)

1990
1st – The Himig Singers (Region XI)
2nd – West Negros College Glee Club (Region VI)
3rd – UST Coro Tomasino (NCR)

1993
1st – The Himig Singers (Region XI)
2nd – Philippine Normal College Chorale (NCR)
3rd – PUC Ambassadors Chorale (Region IV)

1996
1st – Philippine Normal College Chorale (NCR)
2nd – Adventist University of the Phils. Chorale (Region IV)

1999
1st – The La Salle Chorale, Bacolod City (Region VI)
2nd – Philippine Women’s University Chorale (NCR)
3rd – University of Mindanao (Region XI)
Hon. Mention – University of the East Chorale (NCR)
Hon. Mention – Holy Trinity College Grand Chorale (Region IV)

2002
1st – San Beda College Chorale (NCR)
2nd - Imusicapella (Region IV)


2005
1st - Saint Louis University Glee Club (CAR)

2009
1st - University of Mindanao Chorale (Region XI)
2nd - Saint Louis University Glee Club (CAR)

祈り-あなたがいるから

You Were There is from the movie Dare mo mamotte kurenai and I just heard it on Youtube, performed by Libera with soloist Tom Cully.  The song is so beautiful, mostly because of its simplicity, and partly because of the beautiful voice of the soloist in the music video. 

We encourage you to join us in singing this song on Dec 13 2009 when we celebrate the World Day for Choral Singing (please respect copyright laws by singing for free and not commercially recording the song).  Also, kindly post a video on Youtube with the following details:

You Were There by Takatsugu Muramatsu
World Day for Choral Singing 2009
(Name of your Choir, and Director)
(Your country)

Let's do this so we can generate a new fan base for this artist, and promote his beautiful music.

Cheers!