The Vocalia Taldea female choir under Basilio Astulez, will be launching a new CD entitled Maria Mater on June 25 at the main hall of the Victoria-Gasteiz Conservatory in Spain.

The recording contains hymns to the Virgin Mary, including "Oremus" by John August Pamintuan which won the Prize for the Premiere of a New Work at the Florilege Vocal de Tours International Choir Competition in France 2009.

To order copies, send an email to basilioastulez@hotmail.com

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The PCDA national convention & masterclass is for YOU!

PCDA is inviting all choral directors and enthusiasts nationwide to its First National Convention and 3rd National Masterclass for Choral Conductors on 10-15 November 2010 in Davao City.


Great things happening at the National Convention...

• Movers and shakers of the choral arts in Luzon, Visayas & Mindanao will converge in the host community for the first-of-its-kind national gathering under the auspices of the PCDA to discuss current issues and trends.


• Big names in the Philippine music industry and the global choral circuit top the bill in masterclasses from the basic to the cutting-edge, some of which have never before been offered in the country, or probably even the world.


• Like angels descending from heaven, award-winning conductors and the most sought-after choral clinicians take time off from their intercontinental jet setting to meet choirs for one-on-one artistic assessment & consultation.


• World premieres… world beats… world-class artists! Only the winners plus the performance of an exciting new vocal ensemble and a series of concerts and collaborations with choirs of the host community.


• Choral practitioners and enthusiasts meet and connect to learn and exchange in a more casual environment at The Choral Plaza in between sessions where a wealth of licensed choral publications and recordings are on sale at special prices.
  

Congratulations to the six choirs from the Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto area for a very successful concert yesterday at the Biwako Hall in Otsu, Japan.  I was very delighted at the very high level of the performances, and impressed with the choice of songs for their individual programs. 

The concert not only made me realize that the KANKONREN member-choirs can prepare well, but also can fulfill the demands of study and performance of very challenging music.  The student conductors, even if they are not music majors from conservatories, proved that they have the knowledge and artistry to teach such pieces with a high requirement of vocal and choral technique.

Congratulations also to Iinuma-san for leading the six choirs in the joint performance of songs from the Maior Caritas suite Op. 5.  Needless to say, the beautiful acoustics of the hall also helped in heightening the overall mood of the festival choir numbers skillfully led by Ms. Iinuma.

Thank you also to Mr. Hattori of Pana musica for promoting the music and merchandise!  It was a truly enjoyable afternoon and the long travel to Otsu from Kobe was definitely worth it!

May 28 Osaka
May 29 Kyoto
May 30 Kobe
June 1 New York
June 2 North Carolina
June 9 Boston
June 15 New York
June 29 TCCA rehearsals Manila
July 16 Shaoxing, China
July 31 Manila
Aug 7 TCCA concert Baguio
Aug 10 L.A.
Aug 15 San Francisco
Sept 26 TCCA Grand Launching Concert

from The Jakarta Post
Harry Nazarudin, Contributor, Jakarta | Fri, 05/14/2010
link to original article on the web here

Although it is common for children to sing, youth choirs are comparatively rare in Indonesia. However, each of us can still remember a lullaby we learned when we were younger.

It is a pity then that although singing is a common activity for children, there are very few professional children choirs in Indonesia. This is what prompted Aida Swenson to establish the Indonesian Children and Youth Choir “Cordana” in 1992. The Cordana choir has two main goals: to be a center of excellence for professional children’s choirs in Indonesia and to represent traditional Indonesian music to the world.

Seeing a performance of the Cordana choir is always special because it is very easily enjoyed by all, especially children. One does not have to worry about sons or daughters falling asleep at this concert, because almost all children pay full attention to each performance.

This is because the music is transformed into a stunning singing and dance performance, with colorful costumes, brilliant choreography and last but not least, superb vocal skills.

This year, the Cordana choir is preparing to perform in Germany and Belgium to represent Indonesia at the 10th Musica Sacra Music Festival, from May 14 to May 31, 2010. Cordana has the honor of being invited to this festival, after their stunning performance at the 8th World Symposium of Choral Music in Copenhagen, Denmark (2008), and the Incheon International Choir Festival in Incheon, Korea (2009).

The theme of the Musica Sacra Festival is a celebration of sacred music from different religions in the world that promote peace and harmony.

To convey Indonesia’s religious diversity and culture of tolerance, the Cordana choir will feature music from different ethnic and religious backgrounds in Indonesia. Their masterpiece this time – which was performed at their pre-concert event held in Jakarta’s Goethe Haus on May 6 –  is Ummah, Sallih, a choral interpretation of the Al Araf, or sura (chapter) 7 from the Holy Koran by John A. Pamintuan. The performance opens with a muazzin (a person who performs the Muslim call to prayer in Arabic), chanting the holy verses of the Koran in the foreground. Then the choir, dressed in black with white veils and a tasbih (Muslim prayer beads) on their right hand, sings the majestic vocals, starting with a strong alto solo section in Arabic.

Then, some staccato acapella singing follows as a background for the solo. A choreography representing the movements of Islamic prayer (sholat) accompanies this piece. The movement stresses the majestic nature of the composition, beautiful yet full of respect, which represents the greatness of Allah.

The Cordana choir also performs a tribute to Javanese culture, as they sing Sinden and Ilir-ilir, both traditional Javanese folk songs. This time, a beautifully choreographed Javanese dance accompanies the choral music. The mood quickly changes into a more relaxed atmosphere, with a slow Javanese pentatonic melody. The singers appear in green and red kebayas, a traditional Javanese dress, complete with long scarves used to add to the graceful dance. The song Ilir-ilir is performed in a canonic style, as the parts of the choir start singing at different times, but then flow into a harmony.

As a native North Sumatran, Aida Swenson has prepared something from her hometown. The song Palti Raja, a Batak folk song by Tilhang Gultom, is performed alongside the flagging of the ulos, a scarf central to the culture of the Batak people. This performance is supported by a Batak flute and a gondang (a drum from wood). From the slow moving Javanese music, the mood jumps as the thumping gondang beat picks up. The vocal of Palti Raja involve a cheerful but very fast-paced pronunciation, which is not easy for the children, but the fortissimo volume is performed with perfection and keeps up with the vibrant dance.

The Cordana choir will also perform two of their favorite masterpieces: Rampai Aceh from the province of Aceh and Janger, a folk dance from Bali. Janger is performed using a beautiful geringsing Balinese dress, together with a Balinese gamelan and a male dancer. Rampai Aceh is a synchronized dance from Aceh, which demands not only a very strong alto and soprano solo performance, but also a challenging, ultra-fast dance movement. Seeing these children performing with a great vocal piece and keeping up with the demanding choreography will give the world a new perspective of Indonesia as a world of color and music, peacefully blend into a rainbow of cultures, yet together as one.

We hope that the Cordana choir will continue their mission to promote Indonesia’s harmony in diversity to the world.

— Photos by JP/Harry Nazarudin

This month is abound with choral workshops I am giving in Manila, Baguio, Jakarta, New York, Boston and to culminate in a workshop and concert in Osaka, by a choir of 300 singers from 6 universities. performing 5 songs from my Maior Caritas suite.. What more can one ask for?

When does one get to sleep, relax, unwind and have fun?  Surely in-between.  Am not one to slave myself over a fixed and stone-set schedule.  The beauty of life lies in the fact that you can always change your mind, that you are the master of your fate.

And if you feel that you are already too busy, it means you don't know how to manage your time well.  Busyness is a sign of inefficiency, that's what I always believe in.  You can always make time for something you love to do, or to make up a reason to escape.

So this month, in spite of on-goings, happy and sad, I am making time to go back, and enjoy, to explore, and reconnect with my past love... PALAWAN :)

Stephen Foster is a name we have come to know through his famous music.  Who have not heard of Camptown Races, Swanee River, and Oh Susanna?  As young children, we played, sang or heard his pieces in school and at home, and have never forgotten the simple, but striking melodies of his creations. 

Fosteriana is an homage to the genius of Foster.  And to add freshness to the titles, the piece is arranged by John August Pamintuan in a peculiarly cute fashion for an ensemble of equally cute children, containing only 6 notes from a whole tone scale.  Interspered with the ostinati are the melodies that spring forth with vitality like daisies (or rabbits!) in a prairie, because after all, Foster came from Lawrenceville Pennsylvania, and his music represents an almost forgotten Old America, where the deer and the antelope played.  But of course, that's another story...

The Chamber Choir of Asia is a professional ensemble of internationally-renowned and award-winning conductors, composers and singers coming together to perform contemporary choral music.

Towards its vision of promoting the ever-changing paradigm of Filipino and Asian compositions which are setting trends in the international stage, the group will have its premiere performance on 11 April 2010, Sunday at 6pm.

The group will be performing the world premiere of Robert Delgado's Asiana Vol 1 and John Pamintuan's Florilegium Op 6.

There will be 50 seats available to the public in this "by invitation only" concert at the Convent of the Sisters of Mary in Biga, Silang, Cavite. (around 15min from Tagaytay).  The proceeds of this charitable launching concert will be donated to the Sisters of Mary and the children of Boys' town.

Kindly contact John Cas at 0917 821 0916 for details.

The John Cage Prepared Piano Project
reposted from the John Cage Trust blogspot
written by Laura Kuhn, Executive Director


One of the very real pleasures of running the John Cage Trust is learning early on about interesting, under-the-radar projects going on around the world involving John Cage's work. This one was brought to my attention late last year by its producer, Ju-Ping Song.

Ms. Song is a pianist at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music in Lancaster. In August 2008 she was charged with creating a new music department, and to "...come up with a first project that would bring new sounds to [students'] ears without alienating them. The works to be performed needed to be interesting enough without being too stylistically or technically difficult. And the end result -- the performance -- had to make a statement, not be just another student recital.

"The Academy is responsible for more than 300 pre-college level students, and as her first project, Ms. Song prepared 16 children aged 6 to 18, along with two adults, for a tag-team performance of Cage's Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared Piano.

This was reportedly the children's first exposure to Cage's music. They learned first about preparing a piano, Ms. Song recounts, along the way being exposed to a kind of music that does not necessarily have a classical tonal center or regular meters. While skeptical at first, the participants were soon won over, and ended up revealing themselves to be children with "open minds and dedicated hearts".

The John Cage Prepared Piano Project was testing ground for a New Sounds Concert Series at Penn Academy, its mission "to create and nurture a need for contemporary art music in our daily lives." With its success came the formation of two new ensembles, both with flexible instrumentation, and a three-concert series planned for this coming spring. The second, performed by NakedEye Ensemble (faculty-based), slated for March 26, will include works by David Lang, Kengo Tokusashi, Luciano Berio, Louis Andriessen, and Kim Helweg. On April 18, the third concert will feature Barefoot Ensemble (student-based) in its first-ever concert of works by Charles Ives, Frederic Rzewski, Peter Hatch, Steve Reich, and John Pamintuan, this last a New Sounds commission for children's choir and ensemble.

But the first concert of the Series, scheduled for February 26, will be given by none other than Ju-Ping Song herself, Founder-Director of the Series, performing works by Cage, Stephen Montague, George Crumb, Peter Hatch, and Rzewski. In addition to her work at the Penn Academy, Ms. Song is a founding member of FLAMEnsemble, an eclectic and flexible group that organizes and performs in a yearly contemporary music festival in Florence. This year FLAMEnsemble's "Musica Esposta" at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello plans to include a non-stop "John Cage Day" on June 24, which, at last count, will feature nearly 50 works!

In addition to its regular concert series, future projects at the Academy include a biannual "Composer Portrait Series", commencing Spring 2010 with a live performance of Philip Glass's music to accompany a rare screening of Godfrey Reggio's complete "Qatsi Trilogy": Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Nagoyqatsi. In the Spring of 2012, we'll feast upon an ambitious three-day John Cage Centennial Festival, featuring not only Cage's music, but also writings, artworks, and films.

It's going to be a wet and chilly whole week here in Seoul, while I write of a summer activity in Japan this coming May 2010.

Title: the 41st Regular Concert of KANKONREN*
Date : May 30th, 2010 (Sun) pm16:30
Place: Biwako Hall (Shiga prefecture, Japan)
Programme:
1st part: 6 works sung by each of the six choirs
2nd part: festival group of six choirs
PAMINTUAN: from Maior Caritas Op. 5
Nr. 1 Pater Noster
Nr. 3 Memorare
Nr. 4 Crucifixus
Nr. 6 Alma de Cristo
Nr. 14 Maior caritas

*KANKONREN is the abbreviation of KANsai gakusei, KONsei gasshou RENmei (The Choral Association of University Mixed Choruses), composed of choirs from six universities: Kansai University, Kansei Gakuin University, Doshisha University, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka University and Kobe University.

Special thanks to Masahiro Kishimoto for the details