Manila, Philippines. Brainstorming for the choir started about a year ago when over their usual dinner and bellini, Robert Delgado and John Pamintuan thought of forming an elite group of singers that would go beyond the usual thrust of competitions by amateur choirs. Things even got better when Dean Acoymo of the UP College of Music suggested that the mandate of the group be: to constantly output new Filipino and Asian choral works, not only to edify Asian choral literature but also to present the ever-changing paradigm of Filipino compositions which always set a trend in the international stage. It would then be the group's aim to create a strong movement beginning in Southeast Asia affecting the whole world. And so The Chamber Choir of Asia is born, with much interest and eagerness coming from the invited singers, comprising the creme de la creme of the Philippines' choral music scene. Once a month, internationally prominent Filipino conductors, composers and singers come together for two hours and sight-sing through the most terribly challenging and demanding choral music ever written and share with each other their musical intelligence, energy and soul. "It was as if the gods decided to take a break and go down to earth, and play frisbee while singing their music," said an observer. And of course, the night is not complete without a scrumptious fare care of the group's dear partners Clawdaddy and Crustasia, through the support of Red Crab Managing Partner, Raymund Magdaluyo, himself a choral enthusiast having sung with the Ateneo College Glee Club. If music be the bond of our souls, let food be the bond of our hearts. The group munches about 17 new pieces over the short rehearsal and would have digested a total of about 50 new titles by John Pamintuan and new arrangements of Asian folksongs by Robert Delgado until the launching concert on the opening night of the Philippine Choral Directors' Association (PCDA) National Convention in April 2010. As Artistic Director Jonathan Velasco so aptly puts it, "life without music is a mistake; resistance is futile."    our proud partner from the Red Crab group, located at the 6th level Shangrila Mall, and at the High Street Fort Bonifacio 8 Comments  Conservatorio Udal Musika Eskola Leioa Two of our principal lines of work throughout all these years have been, on the one hand, the direct contact with composers of different styles and countries in order to enrich our repertoire, and on the other, acquiring a commitment with the creation of new musical piece for children's choir. We sum up next the most notable orders of our aims carried out by some excellent persons of the world in composition, owing to the different realized recordings, tours or other important moments in the life of the choir. click here to redirect to website in Spanish COMMISSIONED COMPOSERS: LAMINAK. Albert Alcaraz. Alicante 1978 NON DEGUN, NON? Junkal Guerrero. Euskadi 1968 DONA NOBIS PACEM. Francisco Ibáñez-Iribarria. Euskadi 1965 IRATXOA. Eva Ugalde. Euskadi 1973 DIZDIZKA ZERUAN. Eva Ugalde. Euskadi 1973 TRES VILLANCICOS DEL PERÚ. Dante Andreo. Argentina 1949 MISA DE LEIOA. Dante Andreo. Argentina 1949 CON TOMILLO Y ROMERO. Mariano Jiménez. Navarra 1970 PELAGRIA. Mariano Jiménez. Navarra 1970 AVE MARIA. Mariano Jiménez. Navarra 1970 QUANDO CORPUS MORIETUR. Mariano Jiménez. Navarra 1970 AVE JESU. Xabier Sarasola. Euskadi 1960 GIZON ON BAT. Javi Busto. Euskadi 1949 ITSASOA LAINO DAGO. Tone Bianca Dahl. Noruega 1965 HODIE CHRISTUS NATUS EST. Ko Matsushita. Japón 1962 CANÇÓ DE BRESSOL. Xavier Pastrana. Cataluña 1977 ANGELUS. Josu Elberdin. Euskadi 1976 MAGNIFICAT. Josu Elberdin. Euskadi 1976 EN ESTA NOCHE LOS PASTORCITOS. Marcelo Beltrán. Murcia 1967 HIRU ERREGE KANTA. David Azurza. Euskadi, 1968 GAUDETE!/PUER NATUS. Pelle Olofson. Suecia, 1961 PATER NOSTER. Julio Domínguez. Galicia, 1965 TU ES. Vytautas Mishkinis. Lituania, 1954 NOEL/EN BELÉN. Alejandro Yagüe. Burgos, 1947 VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. Kentaro Sato. Japón, 1981 SANCTUS. Michael McGlynn. Irlanda, 1964 GABON DUT ANUNTZIO! Fernando Velázquez. Euskadi, 1976 LUX AETERNA. John Pamintuan. Filipinas, 1972 DIES IRAE. John Pamintuan. Filipinas, 1972 Sumi JO - Only Love 01/03/2010
 I was looking for a nice rendition of Wildhorn-Bricuse's Someone Like You (from Jekyll and Hyde) on youtube and found out that Sumi Jo has a recording of the song from her album Only Love. Sumi Jo is a Korean coloratura soprano who rose to international superstardom with her dazzling portrayal of the Queen of the Night from Mozart's Magic Flute. There is even a video where Sumi Jo and Cecilia Bartoli audition for Maestro Herbert von Karajan. What's astounding about Sumi Jo's rendition is that her classical training is very apparent. You do not only hear the talent, but also the technique in her interpretation. She sings as if the voice is part of the orchestra, if you can actually do that with the human voice, and as if she is the conductor, shaping the sound of a whole ensemble inside her voice. I find most broadway singers belting the songs when they perform, singing boldly, soulfully, but not in the right amounts. TELENOVELIC. Sumi Jo's employment of vocal and tonal colors in the recording is limitless: she can summon the deepest of emotions with a wide, big, broad, open sound, and the subtlest of turns and phrasing with a strong breath technique holding the voice back in a gradual and painful decrescendo. The result is a very affective and effective marriage between text and music, music and performer, performer and listener. Winter Schedule 01/01/2010
Winter Schedule: January 6 Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe 12 Beijing 17 Baguio 25 Frankfurt Feb 1 Norway (tentative) 5 Berlin 10 Manila 13 Baguio Mar 1 New York 12 Pennsylvania Academy of Music 21 CD Launching Maria Gratia Plena (Baguio Cathedral) 25 World Premiere Recording Missa for UEC's 10th anniversary, Montserrat Abbey, San Beda Missing Hamburg 12/26/2009
 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! Christmas is for kids 12/22/2009
 How many parties have we attended this year, and how many have we turned down? 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, 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! Maria, Gratia Plena 12/10/2009
 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.   Yiruma's Kiss the Rain 12/03/2009
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 PCDA Masterclass in Cebu City 11/23/2009
 L-R: Alicia and Thomas Schuele, Ed Manguiat, John P., Eudy Palaruan, Anna Piquero 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! You Were There by Takatsugu Muramatsu 11/13/2009
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! 
| |||
RSS Feed