30^th International Bamboo Organ Festival

Program

GALA - Laudete Dominum

Thursday, February 3, 2005

Born in Lower Austria, Josef M. Doeller studied church music and music pedagogy at the Vienna Music School, and was a member of the Altenburger Boys Choir and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir. From 1979 to 1983, he was conductor of the Vienna Boys’ Choir, leading them in performances worldwide, in famous centers like Carnegie Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. He later was at the Wiener Neustadt Cathedral, and professor at the Conservatory for Church music in the Archdiocese of Vienna. Since 1984 Doeller has been with the Cathedral of Graz directing its several choirs and cantors. He also teaches at the University of Graz, conducts choir seminars, and guest conducts all over Austria and other parts of Europe like Belarus, France, and Italy; also in the USA and Cuba. With the Domkantorei, he has in the last few years performed 70 cantatas, the B Minor Mass, the Passions, and the Christmas Oratorio of Bach. He aims to continue and perform all the rest of the approximately 200 sacred cantatas.

The Cathedral of Graz is home to many music ensembles: Grazer Cathedral Choir, Youth Ensemble, Children’s Choirs, and the chamber choir Domkantorei Graz. The Domkantorei specializes in vocal music of the 17^th ad 18^th centuries, as well as 20^th century works by Schoenberg, Martin, Heiller and Distler. Their notable performances to public acclaim include numerous works of J.S. Bach; the Marian Vespers of Monteverdi; and the Emperor Requiem of J.J Fux, their recording of which was the premier issue on CD. In 1996 they won the top prize at the Festival des Cathedrales in Amiens, France; with a special distinction for the interpretation of contemporary choral music. The ensemble is presently involved in a unique project called Bach XXI, wherein performances of the complete sacred cantatas are planned extending far into the 21^st century. In 2003, Graz was the cultural capital of Europe, and the Domkantorei participated in many new projects including the first performance of Michael Radulescu’s Passion and works of other contemporary composers. Josef M. Doeller is founder and director of the ensemble.

Bach devoted a great deal of attention to the Feast of the Ascension, which is liturgically a part of the Easter cycle, as borne out by 3 cantatas and one oratorio in the catalogue of his works. The Ascension Oratorio is the third and last of his oratorios, and is wrongly classified among the cantatas. It follows the structural principles of a narrative, wherein the text gives the tenor the role of the Evangelist, drawn from 3 biblical sources: Luke, Mark, and the Acts of the Apostles. Bach experts have ascertained that only the 4 interventions of the Evangelist, the middle chorale, and the 2 obbligato recitatives are original. The most significant and compelling parts are resurrected fragments from earlier cantatas that have been lost. The grandiose conclusion furthermore is confirmed to be a re-working of an earlier composition, and Aria no. 4 will later be found in abbreviated form in the Agnus Dei of the B Minor Mass.

In 1712, while serving a position with the Elector of Hanover, Handel traveled to England promising to return “after a reasonable delay”. As it turned out, he settled permanently in London, where he died 47 years later. His main activity centered on the opera house, but he was not one to miss any opportunity for bringing himself wider attention. Thus in 1713, he composed the magnificent Te Deum and Jubilate for a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral to celebrate the Peace of Utrecht, which put an end to the War of the Spanish Succession. This was his firs sacred work and also his first in the English language. It is composed of individual sections (with solos both for voice and instruments) forming an invisible whole – a mosaic of highly expressive sound images.

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GALA – Laudete Dominum

Tiento sobre la Batalla de Morales

Tiento de tiple

Tiento a modo de cancion F. Correa de Arauxo

Canciones Leonesas G. Bovet

Cantata no. 11 (Ascension Oratorio) J.S. Bach

Praise God in His Kingdom

The Lord Jesus lifted up His hands

Ah, Jesus, is Thy parting even at hand?

Ah, stay awhile

And was taken up

Now all lies beneath Thee

And while they looked steadfastly

Ah yes, make haste to return

But they worshipped him

Jesus, Thy looks of mercy

Oh, when will it come to pass

Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate G.F. Handel

Guy Bovet, organ

Barbarra Fink, soprano

Katrina Saporsantos, soprano

Margot Oitzinger, alto

Rudolf Brunnhuber, countertenor

Mark Anthony Carpio, countertenor

Marcus Ebner, tenor

Gerd Kenda, bass

Domkantorei Graz

Festival Choir

Festival Orchestra

Josef M. Doeller, conductor

Laudete Dominum

Friday, February 4, 2005

Soloists of Domkantorei Graz

Barbarra Fink earned her Teacher’s Certificate diploma in lied and oratorio with distinction from the Kunstuniversitat Graz. Her extensive repertoire includes nearly all major oratorio roles of Bach, Brahm’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Honegger, Mendelssohn, and Mozart; reaching stylistically from Monteverdi to Britten and Zebinger. She is active in festivals and concerts across Europe, does broadcasts and recordings, and teaches at the Hartburg concert tour with Gustav Leonhardt and his ensemble.

Born in Graz, Margot Oitzinger first trained as a flutist, and went on to voice studies at the Kunstuniversitat Graz. After earning her diploma with distinction and graduating as Magistra Artium, she studied in Lugano with Luisa Castellani, and took courses with Jill Feldman and Maruis von Altena as well. She has performed in the Haendelfestival in Halle, in the Styriarte, and in other festivals in Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. She is a co-founder of the Ensemble Contralti.

Rudolf Brunnhuber, altus, studied with K.E. Hoffman in Graz; at the University of Music in Graz from 1999 to 2003, and then in Cologne with P. Langshaw and K. Wessel. He has performed in many festivals, as soloist, and with ensembles such as the Haydn Biennale in Belguim, Styriarte, and in chamber operas of Vienna and Graz. He is a co-founder of the Ensemble Contralti.

Marcus Ebner, tenor, studied pedagogy and German literature in Innsbrusk and Salzburg, and singing in Munich with Adalbert Krauss. Since 2001 he has been a student of Hanser in Innsbruck. He also took master classes with Christoph Pregarien, Brigitte Fassbaender and Robert Hall, and was in a workshop with the King Singers. He performs as soloist in Austria, Germany and Switzerland; he also has done radiobroadcast and CD recordings.

Gerd Kenda, bass, studied singing at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. He earned his diploma with distinction in 1986, and took masterclasses with Josef Mertin, Andrew Parrot and Norman Shetler. He was a finalist in the 1988 Bach competition in Leipzig and the 1990 Schubert competition in Graz. A soloist in opera performances and many international festivals, he often works with ensembles specializing in early music. Since 1987 he has been on the faculty of the University of Music in Graz, and conducts many seminars for choirs in Austria, Slovenia and Denmark. He is the conductor of the choir Pro musica Graz.

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Laudete Dominum

Tiento sobre la Batalla de Morales

Tiento de tiple

Tiento a modo de cancion F. Correa de Arauxo

Canciones Leonesas G. Bovet

Cantata no. 11 (Ascension Oratorio) J.S. Bach

Praise God in His Kingdom

The Lord Jesus lifted up His hands

Ah, Jesus, is Thy parting even at hand?

Ah, stay awhile

And was taken up

Now all lies beneath Thee

And while they looked steadfastly

Ah yes, make haste to return

But they worshipped him

Jesus, Thy looks of mercy

Oh, when will it come to pass

Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate G.F. Handel

Guy Bovet, organ

Barbarra Fink, soprano

Katrina Saporsantos, soprano

Margot Oitzinger, alto

Rudolf Brunnhuber, countertenor

Mark Anthony Carpio, countertenor

Marcus Ebner, tenor

Gerd Kenda, bass

Domkantorei Graz

Festival Choir

Festival Orchestra

Josef M. Doeller, conductor

Concert Under The Trees: Kantapella at Las Piñas

February 5, 2005

The Company was formed in 1985 by alumniof the Ateneo College Glee Club, and initially worked as back-up singers for the country’s reigning pop stars before going out on their own. The group is now a sextet composed of Sweet Plantado, Annie Quintos, Cecile Bautista, Ruben Castillo, Andre Castillo, and Moy Ortiz. They resist categorization by delving into almost all musical genres that involve vocal harmony: classical, pop, jazz, and musical theater. Tangibe proof of the quality of their work are 3 music industry awards and 12 critically and commercially successful studio albums. The diversity of their talents include song writing, musical arrangement, set designing, acting, scriptwriting – all within the group. They are also known for their strong visual images, with a highly experimental approach to costumes, reflecting the group’s motto “Substance with style!”

Sushi, Cecile, Manlolo and Zeb. Their blended voices comprise The Opera. The group made their debut in 1986 with a series of concerts at Tavern on the Square, and went on to gain an enthusiastic following in venues like Music Museum, Birdland, and the Calsea Bar of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Individually they are accomplished performers capable of diverse styles with remarkable ease. They have performed with virtually every pop artist locally and with foreign artists like David Benoit and Kevyn Lettau. The Opera has released an album for Viva Recods entitled “Can We Just Stop and Talk a While”, and are all currently among the most sought-after session musicians for live shows, recordings, and commercial jingles, while also doing vocal arrangements and coaching.

In the eary 80s the local entertainment scene welcomed a new singing group of bright, personable young men who called themselves TUX, a contraction of “tuxedo”, the epitome of formal, elegant wear. They had a repertoire of old standards from the 40s to the 70s, delivered with a distinct contemporary feel. The group takes credit for daring to popularize a capella music in the local music industry. In 1984, TUX received the coveted Aliw Award for Most Promising Showband/Group; and eventually, after many standout performances, the Best Showband/Group award. Since then it has performed with the biggest names in the local music industry, and launched 2 albums in the early 90s. The group has brought honors to the country with an outstanding performance in the International A Capella Festival organized by the National Arts Council of Singapore; in 2002 they launched the “TUXapella Christmas” album under the Star Records label.

Ella Mae Saison, the Queen of Soul, started out as soloists of the Artstart Band. She began her recording career at age 19, won the Katha Award for Best Female Perfomer, and scored one gold and one platinum album. This led to international recording engagements where she worked with name producers, and got into the Billboard Chart under Powerpick Club Play category, hitting number 30. She is today recognized by her peers as one of the most distinctive and sophisticated voices in the music industry.

A sensational child actress with 3 Famas Awards to her name, Aiza Seguerra has grown into a compleat entertainer: she is TV Host, actress on stage, television and screen (27 movies), singer and recording artist. Her album Pagdating ng Panahon reached quintuple-platinum heights; Pinakamahal won a double-platinum award. In 2002, she was Awit awardee for Best Performance by a Female Recording Artist; in 2003 was one of the Top Ten Performers of Tinig Awards.

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 Concert Under The Trees: Kantapella at Las Piñas

Hibang sa Awit Interval

Smile

‘Di Ko na Kaya Limang Dipang Tao

Can’t Buy Me Love

Till My Heartache Ends

Dancing Queen

You’re the Biggest Part of Me

Don’t Know Nothin’

Love Dance Payapang Daigdig

Labis Kitang Minamahal Ikaw Ang Mahal Ko

Pagdating ng Panahon

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

Bulaklak Runaway

Imagination

Ang Huling El Bimbo O Sifuni Mungu

Kantapella (The CompanY, The Opera, TUX)

Special Guests: Miss Ella May Saison and Miss Aiza Seguerra

An Evening of Organ Music

Sunday, February 6, 2005

Guy Bovet is well-known in the musical world as a multi-faceted artist; original, cultivated, and active in many fields. His career as a concert organist takes him to al parts of the world where organs are played, and he keeps a concert schedule of about 60 recitals a year. His discography of about 50 records and CDs includes recordings done mostly on historical instruments of Switzerland, France, Spain, Latin America and Japan. Several of these have won awards like the French Laser d’or and several German Grammi prizes.

His activities in the preservation of historical instruments are famous world-wide, and he has advised organ builders and restorers in Europe, the Americans and the Far East, including the Philippines. He has also revived the organ of the Alain family for which Jehan Alain composed most of his music. This instrument is now restored and rebuilt in one of the former convent buildings in the beautiful Clunysian site and village of Romainmotier, Switzerland. A specialist in Hispanic organ music, he has carried out a complete survey of the historical organs in Mexico and Brazil in cooperation with UNESCO and the PRO HELVETIA foundation. He has taught courses on interpretation of Spanish music at the University of Salamanca, and given numerous masterclasses all over the world. He frequently functions as juror in many international organ competitions.

As composer, Bovet has done much work for theater and films, though his catalogue of over 160 opus number includes all kinds of music, mostly published by various companies the likes of Oxford University and Eulenberg. He has also published works for 4 organs by composers from the Einsiedeln Abbey, and is now working on a new edition of Francisco Correa de Arauxo’s Facultad organica 1626. A scholar and researcher, he has published over 1400 articles in music journals, and is publisher of the Swiss periodical La Tribune de l’Orgue.

He is Professor at the Musichochschule in Basel and organist of the Collegiate Church of Neuchatel.

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An Evening of Organ Music

On the Bamboo Organ:

Tiento por A la mi re J. Cabanilles

Canción para la cometa coneleco Anonymous

Cuatro versos de Regina Caeli A. Soler

Improvisation

On the Auditorium Organ:

Toccata, Adagio and Fugue J.S. Bach

Adagio in F major L. van Beethoven

Four sketches R. Schumann

Fantaisie et Fugue A.P.F. Boëly

Guy Bovet, organ

Fiesta Musika

Monday, February 7, 2005

Armando Salarza gave his first public performance on the Bamboo Organ at the age of eleven. Soon he became the youngest finalist ever in a Philippine music competition, and the accompanist of the Las Piñas Boys Choir. He studied in Graz and Vienna as the first Bamboo Organ Foundation scholar, taking highest honors at the Musikakaemie while training under Herbert Tachezi. He has played many important recitals here and abroad, traveling regularly to Europe for performances. He teaches at St. Scholastica’s College, and is conductor and trainor of the Boys Choir and the Festival Choir.

Gerardo Fajardo completed a degree in choral conducting with distinction in Graz as a Bamboo Organ Foundation scholar. Even while still a student, he taught at the Church Music Academy in Maribor, Slovenia. A native of Las Piñas, he is a member of the program committee and frequent performer at the Festival, and now teaches at the University of Perpetual Help Dalta System.

The Las Piñas Boys Choir was founded prior to the creation of the Bamboo Organ Festival by Leo Renier CICM as an essential part of the parish community and its liturgy. Its members are all enrolled in St. Joseph’s Academy where they enjoy scholarships earned through engagements and performances. In December 2004 they were invited to join “Amazing EU Christmas”, a concert at the Podium where they were the finale number as the Belgian participation, since Belgium has a tradition of boys’ choirs, and their founder is a Belgian national.

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Fiesta Musika

Variation from San Pedro’s Alamat ng Lahi A.D. Consolacion II

Cantate Domino
Dona Nobis Pacem
The Song of the Rainbow A.D Consolacion II

Malinak La’y Labi Traditional
Usahay N. Gonzales
Nahan E. Cuenco
Visayan Caprice N. Abelardo

Philippine Airs Medley no.3 E. Parungao
Kalesa E. Cuenco
Dahil sa Iyo M. Velarde

I will Magnify Thee, O God and My King A.D. Consolacion II

Awit ng Buhay L. San Pedro

Interval

Songs from Filipino Sarswelas

Ang Binhing Pilipina E. Ribaya
Kay Bango ng Umaga
Ang Sumpaan

Filipinas para los Filipinos J. Estella
Ang Maya

Ang Dakilang Punglo N. Abelardo
Bituing Marikit

Ang Mestisa N. Abelardo
Ako’y Abang Ibon
Ako ay Bulaklak

Dalagang Bukid L. Ignacio
Ang aking Bulaklak
Nabasag ang Banga

Walang Sugat A. Tolentino
Ako’y hindi Duwag
Wag Mong Silaban
Julia Nyaring Dibdib

Rachelle Gerodias, soprano
Ronan Ferrer, tenor
Las Piñas Boys Choir
Festival Choir
Diego Cera Trio
BSJ Woodwind Quintet
Mary Anne Espina, piano
Armando Salarza, organ
Gerardo Fajardo, conductor

Stabat Mater

Tuesday, February 8, 2005

Miles Morgan was a member of the Festival family for many of its first twenty years. He was trained as a conductor in New York and Rome and has held posts in Europe and America. He now collaborates with festivals in Boston, Miami and Venice, Italy where he lives as much of the year as he can manage.

Jonathan Velasco, a mainstay of the Bamboo Organ Festival, plays a double role this year as bass soloist and choir conductor. With degrees from the UP College of Music and the Berliner Kirchenmusikchule, he has become an internationally recognized authority on choral music – teaching, conducting seminars and workshops in Asia, and adjudicating a competitions; all the while also performing as soloist or as a conductor of his choirs. He was the first Asian conductor of the World Youth choir, a 100-voice assembly of select singers from over fifity countries, and is often invited back.

This program is dedicated to the Virgin, music written in three very different ages of Marian worship. The Monteverdi Gloria is generally believed to have been written for the November Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin as part of a thanksgiving mass celebrating the end of the terrible Venetian plague of 1630-1631. It was only published ten years later as part of a collection of religious works, but in 1631 Monteverdi was Maestro di Capella in San Marco, and this early baroque work reflects the expert singers and players he had at his disposal as well as the spirit and official importance of the great Basilica.
The Scarlatti Stabat Mater was surely written during Scarlatti’s time in Rome when he was Maestro de Capella at the Capella Giulia where he would have had the expert singers work in ten vocices. He was also in the land of Palestrina. Palestrina had been dead for nearly one hundred years when Domenico Sacarlatti was born, but Palestrina’s response to the reforms of the Counter Reformation governed Roman church music for a long time and was also almost diametrically different from, Monteverdi’s in Venice. While Venice pursued exaltation and drama, Rome was redefining the vocal polifony of the previous century in the new terms of musical reform. Domenico’s Stabat Mater looks on the surface to be very much in the strict contrapuntal style of Palestrina but quickly reveals a different and powerful dramatic sense. The Stabat Mater was a favorite text for composers in the early 18^th Century; his father Alessandro wrote a fine one, Handel, Steffani and finally Pergolesi, whose familiar work traveled across Europe and pretty much wiped all the others off the map. That may not be really fair; Domenico’s is certainly the finest of his choral works and a monument of choral writing.
The text of Schubert’s Stabat Mater owes very little to the medieval poem once ascribed to Jacopone da Todi but more probably a later sequence connected to the growing liturgy devoted to the Virgin. The German text which Schubert set was the work of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, an eighteenth century poet with one foot already in the romantic movement. It preserves the three-line verses of the medieval sequence but leaves the sorrowing, meditative mood of the original after the first two verses to recount the story of Mary and Joseph at the foot of the cross. Christ’s bestowing of his friend on his mother as a son leads to thoughts of redemption and the next world, finishing in a pean of hope.
It is hard not to see in his choice of this poem Schubert’s own personal convictions. Although a devout and practicing Catholic, he viewed the wordly organization of the Church with some skepticism, even to the point of never setting words “et unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam” in any of his masses, a tiny omission which however could not have passed unnoticed. His was probably a gentler, more personal faith, deeply influenced by the concept of brotherhood so central to the thinking of his contemporaries. The last verses must have been especially congenial: hoping in the next life to meet againhis brothers and that they should not be separated by the Last Judgement.
The music seconds the text in an unusually intimate manner, the somber and dramatic mood of the first verses giving way gradually to the sentiment of the story of Joseph and finally to serenity in the hope of eternal life. All later settings of the Stabat live somewhat in the shadow of the famous Pergolesi composition which really opened the way to the familiar version of Rossini, totally disconnected from the text in both mood and manner. Schubert seems to have preferred to go in another direction in choosing to set a different poem, one much more in tune with his own most intimate religious sense.

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Stabat Mater

Gloria a 7 voci C. Monteverdi
from Selva morale e spirituale (Venice 1641)

Canto llano de la Inmaculada Concepcion
De la Virgen Maria F. Correa de Arauxo
Tres glosas sobre el Canto llano de la
Inmaculado Concepcion F. Correa de Arauxo
Tres diferencias sobre Ave Maris Stella A. de Cabezon

Stabat Mater a 10 voci D. Scarlatti
Stabat Mater
Cujus animam gementem
Quis non posset
Eja Mater, fons amoris
Sancta Mater, istud agas
Fac me vere tecum flere
Juxta crucem
Inflammatus
Fac ut animae
Amen
Interval

Stabat Mater F. Schubert
German poem by F. G. Klopstock
Jesus Christus schwebt am Kreuze chorus
Bei des Mittlers Kreuze soprano
Liebend neiget er sein Antlitz chorus
Engel freuten sich der Wonne soprano & tenor
Wer wird Zähren nicht mit diesen chorus
Ach, was hätten wir empfunden tenor
Erben sollen sie am Throne chorus – fugue
Sohn des Vaters, bass
O du herrlicher Vollender chorus
Erden freuden soprano, tenor & bass
Dass dereinst wir, wenn im Tode chorus & soloists
Amen chorus – fugue

Katrina Saporsantos, soprano
Ronan Ferrer, tenor
Jonathan Velasco, bass
Gerardo Fajardo, organ
Ateneo Chamber Singers
Philippine Chamber Choir
Festival Orchestra
Jonathan Velasco, conductor
Miles Morgan, conductor

Duo

Wednesday, February 9, 2005

Belgian organist Luc Ponet made an international reputation with successful performances in many illustrious organ festivals; in Paris, Warsaw, Tokyo, Mexico, Chicago, and Flanders. He received the Diplome Superieur at the College of Music Lemmensininstitut in Leuven, and undertook further studies at Vienna’s Hochschule fur Musik under Dr. Hans Haselbock. In 1982 he was appointed professor in Leuven, and later Organist Titular of the Basilica of Tongeren; in 1999 he became organist-in-residence of Alden Biessen. In 2000 Mr. Ponet was appointed inspector for art education in state academies, all the while concretizing and conducting workshops and masterclasses. His discography includes several CDs recorded on famous organs all over Belgium.

Manu Mellaerts is a soloist at the Royal Munt Theatre in Brussels. He is a much respected trumpet player in the circles of classical music and he played as a soloist in the VRT Philharmonic Orchestra, the Beethoven Academy, I Fiaminghi, the Collegium Instrumetale Brugense, the Orchestra of Walloon, the Belgian Brass Soloists and others. As a conductor he also won several national and international championships. Up to 1987 he was teaching at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven and since 1986 he has been teaching at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. Mellaerts also regularly gives master classes in his own country and abroad.

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Duo

Allemande grave pour l’orgue H. Du Mont
Fuga Suavissima K. Luython
Batalla de 5. tono Anonyme

Suite in D G.F. Handel
Ouverture – Gigue – Mennuetto
Bourreé – March

Ouverture T. Babou
Prelude “Cornet séparé” H. Renotte
Fugue à 3 L. Chaumont
Echo in Fa G. Scronx
Marche des Chausseurs H. Renotte

Sonata in D H. Purcell
Allegro pomposo – Adagio – Presto

La Hesbaye L. Ponet
Prelude – Duo – Morceau fugué
Flûte de la Campine – La Chasse
Menuet – Fanfare

Concerto in D G. Torelli
Allegro – Adagio – Presto
Adagio - Allegro

Luc Ponet, organ
Manu Mellaerts, trumpet

In Gloria Dei

Thursday & Friday, February 10 – 11, 2005

Music in the Liturgy

The question of what music is and what music is not suitable to be used during the liturgy has troubled Church leaders for centuries. All of the music on this evening’s program was written specifically to be used during the celebration of the Mass. Jospeh Haydn’s Organ Concertos were all written while he was a young church organist to be played, usually by himself, during the Offertory or perhaps during Communion. Although these compositions are all short as concertos, it is clear that a significant interval was established in the Mass for meditation or more probably for the pure enjoyment of music. This was only a few years before instrumental music was once again banned from the liturgy by the Emperor Joseph II, restoring the congregational hymn to its principal position in the liturgy.

Charles Ives was a twenty-year old church organist when he wrote this setting of the 90^th psalm, although he revised it considerably later in life. It was written for his church choir to sing as an anthem and reveals his deep attachment to the Psalms as a corner stone of Protestant Liturgy. Many of us view Ives as the father of American music. Well schooled in the rules of the European tradition by his father and by Horatio Parker at Yale, he however turned in every direction for his materials: band music, hymn tunes, even street sounds, effectively opening the road for all his contemporaries. This setting is quite literal in the sense of word by word correspondence of music to text, but the very individual rhythms and a raucous sense of dissonance along with a background of Sunday church bells make this an ear-opening milestone. A maverick always, Ives throughout a long composing career, achieved mostly at night, made his living as a very successful insurance executive.

Of all of Rossini’s sacred music, this Messa di Gloria is the only major score clearly composed for liturgical use. It was customary in Naples at the beginning of the nineteenth Century to insert into Festive Masses a large scale setting of the Kyrie and Gloria, the rest of the Mass being chanted. In this case, it amounted to a major one hour-long concert piece close to the beginning of the celebration. This Gloria Mass was written for March 24^th 1820 in the Church of S. Fernando in Naples. At the time Rossini was both director and principal composer for San Carlo, the opera house of the city. For seven years he worked with the same company of virtuoso singers, one of whom he eventually married, and brilliant instrumentalists. It is the period of his greatest serious operas and most florid vocal writing. There was no reason that he should change his style to satisfy a church commission, and one suspects that no one would have expected it of him. He did, in deference to tradition, supply a final fugue, although some musicologists suspect that he farmed that out to a more academic composer.

In these days when the guitar has come and largely gone from our liturgy and remembering that at times in history even the dance has found its place, it is interesting to contemplate the shifting but always lively discussion of what liturgical music should be.

Rachelle Gerodias earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Voice from the UST Conservatory of Music, and went on to a professional Diploma in Opera from the Hongkong Academy of the Performing Arts on full scholarship. She was a scholar as well at the Eastman School of Music where she got a Master’s Degree in Voice Performance and Literature with a Performer’s Certificate, managing to win several competitions besides. She has distinguished herself in recitals and full operas here and abroad, and collaborated with eminent artists, orchestras and conductors; she has sung many first performances of works by Filipino composers. In 2003 she was named Best Female Classical Artist by the Aliw Awards, and is on the faculty of the UST Conservatory of Music.

Maria Katrina Saporsantos, soprano, currently studies voice with Dean Ramon Acoymo of the UP College of Music, and is also coached by renowned Filipina soprano Evelyn Mandac. A NAMCYA prizewinner in the Solo Voice Category, she has been soloist of the Ateneo Chamber Singers, the Philippine Madrigal Singers, and the San Miguel Master chorale, among many other groups; sang the role of Bizen no Kata in the premiere performance of Lord Takayama Ukon in Japan and in its Manila performances; and has worked with some of the country’s top conductors like Ruggero, Barbieri, Eugene Castillo, Julian Quirit, and Chino Toledo.

Ronan Ferrer obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Music from UST under the tutelage of Irma Potenciano, and his Master’s degree from the Elizabeth University of Music in Hiroshima, Japan. A recipient of various scholarship grants, he was named best recitalist in the Master’s program for 2002. He has made a name for himself in successful recitals, musicals, sarswelas, operas, and as soloist for various orchestras. He was featured in the Filipino Artists Series of 2003 to critical acclaim, and described as “a new star in the classical musical firmament” by the Philippine Star. He teaches in the voice departments of St. Paul’s University, St. Scholastica’s College, PWU, and UST.

Mark Anthony Carpio is one of the country’s few trained countertenors, and is a sought-after performer for concerts and recitals. He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Piano from the University of the Philippines, and is the current choirmaster of the world-renowned Philippine Madrigal Singers. At present he is a faculty member of the Choral Conducting Department at the UP, and conducts his own boys choir, the Kilyawan Boys Choir. He continues to study voice under Prof. Ramon Acoymo, Dean of the UP College of Music.

Pianist Mary Anne Espina,a graduate of St. Scholastica’s College, is much in demand as collaborating artist by singers and instrumentalists. She has worked with an impressive roster of international and local artsists, the likes of violinists Alexander Tomescu and Fredeic Pellay; singers Joan Gibbons, Rachelle Gerodias and Andion Fernandez; and cellists Chino Bolipata and Willie Pasamba. She is an impressive solo performer as well, and is finishing her Master’s degree at the UST Conservatory where she is also a faculty member.

The Ateneo Chamber Singers is composed of former members of the Ateneo College Glee Club and Ateneo de Manila University alumni. The group was born out of a desire to continue the legacy of musical excellence enjoyed by its founding members, who were with the Glee Club when it won the gRand Prix de la Ville Tours in 2000, thus qualifying for participation in the 2001 European Grand Prix. Directed by Jonathan Velasco, the Ateneo Chamber Singers chooses to perform sacred choral music as a means for musical growth, and for continuous service to God and people through their art.

The Philippine Chamber Choir was organized by Jonathan Veasco in 1998, on one hand to afford a group of professional singers and choir directors the pleasure of singing together, and on another, to take on the challenge of tackling music that requires professional skills. In deference to their individual schedules, the group meets only once a week, but its success is confirmed by the quality of their performances, as well as by the number of invitations that come their way. The Bamboo Organ Festival is pleased to be a regular showcase for their talent, expertise, and dedication.

The BSJ Woodwind Quintet, formed in 2002, is composed of Gianpaolo Rivera, flute; Jayson Pagtakhan, oboe; Randy Lopez, clarinet; Dick Tolentino, French Horn; and Nylrone Bendo, bassoon. Its members are music scholars of St. Scholastica’s College and the UST Conservatory of Music who started as members of Banda San Jose of Las Piñas, and gone on to prevail in the National Music Competition for Young Artists and Asian symphonic band competitions. They now perform with different orchestras, and as a group have a wide repertoire that encompasses classical and contemporary pieces in various genres.

The Festival Choir was founded in 2002 specially for the 27^th Bamboo Organ Festival, which commemorated the 25^th year of the special relationship between the cities of Las Piñas and Graz, Austria. The choir sang with the Domkantorei Graz conducted by Josef Doeller who were guests then and who return this year to mark the festival’s 30^th year. Members of the group are mostly former members of the St. Joseph boys and girls choirs.

The Festival Orchestra is made up of the best of Manila’s younger players who are mostly members of the Manila Symphony Orchestra II based in St. Scholastica’s College, where they are taught and conducted by Arturo Molina. It plays in varied formations and so has filled many functions for the Festival, of which it has become a vital element. It also frequently participates in the musical life of the Las Piñas parish.

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra is the country’s national orchestra, and is widely regarded as one of the top musical ensembles in the Asia Pacific region. It was founded in 1973 and was initially intended to assist artists performing at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Its first Music Director was Prof. Luis Valencia, with Julian Quirit as concert master. Reorganized in 1979, it became the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, which has since performed with many renowned conductors and some of the best foreign and local artists. It is now under the directorship of Maestro Eugene Castillo.

- International Bamboo Organ Festival -

2005