Experiencing an overdose of the Christmas spirit, gifts, carols, carol contests, parties, lights, concerts, lanterns, stereos blaring loudly with songs of the season, somehow I miss Hamburg, where everything is magical leading up to Christmas day, and then on the 26th of December, everything is gone, as if nothing happened, no season went by.  The city cleans up pretty well.

Somehow I miss that.  Can we stop with the celebrations already?  Can our lives just go back to normal now?  It's beginning to be kind of stressful, ho, ho, ho!

'Tis the season I'm not playing any more Christmas songs, but I'm loving the 10-degree weather!

How many parties have we attended this year, and how many have we turned down?  I attended the SLU Glee Club Christmas party last night (thanks to Bing for inviting me), and laughed my a** off because of the antics of the kids, something that seems to me gets more and more humorous every year.

Last year I was with the UE Chorale who had their party at their conductor's (Anna Piquero's) house, and I still have the video of the most abominably comic presentations that made me roll off my seat, to the floor, to the neighbor's house and to the end of the street (okay that was an exaggeration!).  And I still keep the video very close to me, for fear that it may fall into the wrong hands and become a source of scandal online!

But whatever it is, the Christmas party for a choir, I believe, is the single-most important bonding activity that not only helps the voices blend together, but also helps build friendships for life.  Relationships are also rekindled, mended, renewed and given a new boost of excitement in anticipation of a productive new year.

Merry Christmas to Jojo, Mark, Robert, Anna, Bing, Kuya Ed, Kuya Boy, Sir Joel, Fidel, Jai, Masahiro, Tristan, Oscar, Malou, Luzvi, Stojan, Vytautas, Gintautas, Jonas, Javi, Luis and Luismi, Basilio, Zimfira, Oeystein, Dolf, Alain, and all their choirs.  If I happen to forget your name on this 6am morning, kindly call my attention and I will add you wth a big smile, and a note of apology :)

I also want to make special mention of some dear kids who are leaving the UV choir this year, we are lucky to have met and for our paths to have crossed even for just a brief moment in our lives.  Godspeed!

We just finished recording tonight a CD of ten Ave Maria songs by ten different composers: Balsamo, Bach, Caccini, Consolacion, Delgado, Mascagni, Pamintuan, Saint Saens, Santiago and Verdi. 

I played the piano for lyric soprano Kay Balajadia, whom I have worked with  since 1996 so the chemistry is there.  The atmosphere tonight was dynamic, and emotionally charged.  We tried different tonal colors in the treatment of the songs, and the result is up to you to judge :)

The CD will be out in Spring 2010, and will be available in the US and Canada at cdbaby.com, and elsewhere at amazon.com

You can send your pre-order to kgmb2005@gmail.com

Click here to listen to a sample recording of Verdi's Ave Maria from our rehearsal.  This is not the track in the actual CD.

Watch out for the world premiere of the musical on the Life of St. Louis Gonzaga.  Showing June 2011 in celebration of the centennial of the Saint Louis University, Baguio City

Yiruma is a Korean composer who writes new age music and I just love one of his compositions entitled Kiss the Rain.

The perfect sentimental music for today's gloomy weather