GMA-7's Mav Gonzales as she reported on the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra. (01-14-14)

Abner Mercado's news report on the CKC-YSO

Sharing with you a news clip containing the report of ABS-CBN's Abner Mercado on the Christ the King College Youth Symphony Orchestra and other artists as they prepare for the Papal Visit.

Some CKC-YSO members in the news report of GMA-7 Reporter Dano Tingcungco

The CKC YSO at the Papal Mass

GMA news report on the CKC YSO

The CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra goes to Ormoc

more fan pix after the concert

I checked my files and I still got some more pix of the some members of the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra with Baritone Andrew Fernando and Pianist Mary Anne Espina. These pix were taken after the 2nd Concert of the 1st Samar International Music Festival which was held last December 5, 2011 at Cafe Elsa in Ciriaco Hotel.

images from the cebu concert of the CKC-YSO

As I have announced in my previous blog posts, the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra was in Cebu for a concert at the Cebu Grand Convention Center. That event was a fund-raiser for the Construction of the Franciscan Seminary / Novitiate House in Ormoc City and for the Franciscan Missionary endeavors.


Let me give you some pictures taken during the concert. I got these courtesy of Jay Anthony Yulo.

Meeting the Archbishop of Cebu

Cebu Archbishop and incoming CBCP President Jose Palma attended the gala concert of the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra at the Cebu Grand Convention Center. The celebrity hound in me made sure that I got my picture taken with the good Archbishop.

Archbishop Palma with Bishop Ranola, Fr. Pricillo Salomon, ofm, my sister Honey and me.

Archbishop Palma with Bishop Ranola, Fr. Marlowe Rosales, ofm and some members of the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra during the customary picture-taking after the gala concert.

Rehearsing for the Concert

As announced, the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra did a concert yesterday at the Cebu Grand Convention Center. There was a matinee at 4:00 pm while the gala was at 7:00 pm. Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma was among those who attended the gala performance.

I'll be posting some pictures of the concert as soon as I get hold of these. In the meantime, let me share the pix I took during the rehearsal.

(And for the night's repertoire, please check this link)

The CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra goes to Cebu

And here's the concert announcement from the Cebu Daily News.

Calbayog, Samar, as Waray music capital

I was surfing the net today and I got an article which Pablo Tariman wrote for the Philippine Daily Inquirer exactly two months ago. I believe it's never too late to feature any good news about Calbayog. I thought I'd like to share that article with you.


Calbayog, Samar, as Waray music capital
By Pablo A. Tariman
Philippine Daily Inquirer


It is easy to connect Calbayog City in western Samar with people in the seven arts.


Calbayog became a city on July 15, 1948, with a territory that included the former towns of Calbayog, Oquendo and Tinambacan by virtue of Republic Act 328 signed into law by President Manuel Roxas.


Show-biz personalities from Calbayog City include singer Nonoy Zuñiga, actress Tessie Tomas, entertainment writer Ricky Lo, TV host Boy Abunda (from Catbalogan and Borongan).


The most surprising thing is that, while Manila-based orchestras continue to struggle for financing, Calbayog City has managed to have a youth orchestra based in Christ the King College. (Read more . . . )

The CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra goes to Cebu

The CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra in Gandara

The CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra was in Gandara earlier tonight. It was their first outreach concert outside of Calbayog. The concert which featured a mixed selection of classical and pop pieces was held at the Gandara Covered Court. CKC President Fr. Marcelo Tubac, ofm led the Franciscan community in lending support to the group which performed under the baton of Rev. Fr. Marlowe Rosales, ofm.

The CKC YSO will be in Cebu for a series of concerts from November 17 - 20, 2011.

Images from the CKC Book Launching

As i have mentioned in an earlier blogpost, two new books by Fr. Tony Rosales, OFM were launched at Christ the King College last August 20, 2011. I'll be featuring in a future blogpost the book reviews presented during the event. In the meantime, here are some pictures I managed to take during the Book Launching event which was held at the Frs. David and Leopold Memorial Auditorium.

Fr. Tony delivering his message

The CKC Youth Chamber Orchestra performing during the boo-signing and cocktails.

Fr. Tony with City Librarian Sofring Delabajan and Mrs. Terry Lucero.

me with Fr. Tony

The CKC Orchestra pays Tribute to Mayor Reynaldo Uy

The CKC-Jose Gomez Orchestra paid a tribute to Mayor Reynaldo Uy last Wednesday, May 4, 2011.

As I mentioned in my introduction before the performance, the late City Mayor was one of the many patrons of the orchestra. He was especially supportive of the outreach concerts which they did in Barangay Pilar, Barangay Migara and Barangay San Joaquin.

After the orchestra won in the campus connect concert in Cebu, Fr. Mar Tubac, the CKC President called up to set an appointment for the orchestra to thank the City Mayor through a serenade. We tried to find the date and time to set that meeting, sadly grim repear intervened.

The orchestra played ten selection during their tribute.

Here are two videos I got from the YouTube account of Bro. Alvin De Guzman, ofm

this just in . . .

Congratulations to Fr. Marlowe Rosales, ofm and members of the the CKC-Jose Gomez Symphony Orchestra (Christ the King College Youth Symphony Orchestra). They won in the Visayas run of the Globe Campus Connect Super Showdown. The competition was held at past 7 tonight at the University of San Jose Recoletos campus in Cebu City

Vote for the CKC-Jose Gomez Symphony Orchestra

The CKC - Jose Gomez Symphony Orchestra is one of the finalists in the Globe Campus Connect Super Showdown. The Group will be in Cebu on March 31, 2011 for the Finals Night at the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJR)

Let us support the Orchestra. You may vote for them through text by typing:

CCSS (space) CKC and send to 2948 (for globe subscribers).

You may text as many votes as you want.

Text voting will end on march 31, 2011 at 7:00 pm.

You may also vote online. Here's how:

1. Check the Globe Telecom fan page on facebook
2. Search for the Visayas Finalists Photo Folder
3. "LIKE" the CKC Orchestra

Or better yet, check this link.

Online voting ends on Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The CKC-Jose Gomez Symphony Orchestra goes to San Joaquin

The CKC - Jose Gomez Orchestra is set to perform in Barangay San Joaquin. This will be held this coming Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 3:00 pm.

San Joaquin is the third and last Barangay to be visited by the said orchestra for this semester. The visit is part of the orchestra's outreach program. Their earlier barangay outreach performances were in Barangay Pilar and Barangay Migara.

Samar's Undiscovered Symphony Orchestra

By Junfil Olarte, SE Asia Travel Writer

Taken from the article "A Trip To Samar" at davestravelcorner.com

A soft breezy sunrise rouses me as my ship nears the coast and moors at the docks of Maguino-o, off the city of Calbayog Western Samar in the Central Philippine Islands.

Maguino-o seaport really looks like an isolated place. You can hardly notice houses dwelling nearby it. The scene still brings you back to the early years (undeveloped in other words), with meagerly built homes yet pacific, having fresh air and unblemished environment. Perhaps, unlike many travel writers in the country, such a place catches my attention most. Especially, that it does not see even a glimpse of foreign visitors. I know that a lot of exciting activities await me in this part of the island.

Franciscan Father Marlowe Rosales then receives us warmly when we get in at the Friary's refectory, situated right beside the secondary school premises of Christ the King College (a popular OFM run school in Calbayog City). With us in the dining room is Father Marcelo Tubac, the school's OIC President, whom I also ask for some information about the area, along with Father Rosales who has arranged my media visit in the city.

I say that this metropolis in Samar is not touristy: narrow streets as we've meandered through it, having only one or two (yet tiny) department stores with small number of celebrated refreshment centres. Seeing foreign travellers roaming around here is sporadic. However, it does have something very important. The splendour of the city's natural attractions, its colourful culture and arts, historical features and the ancient relics in its museum are simply remarkable, which interest me to even travel 22 hours by sea from my port of origin in Northwestern Mindanao Southern Philippines, with stopover in Cebu, sailing through the island straits of Leyte.

We do have natural spots here, Father Marlowe tells me, but still fairly developed. These are beaches and waterfalls; a hot spring that provides therapeutic waters; and a number of caves in its forests (part of Samar Island's vast labyrinth of caves) that hardly ever visited by domestic and foreign tourists. I can assist you going to these attractions if you choose to stay long, Father Marlowe convinces me. I just nod whilst still being seated at the dining room. But tomorrow, he continues, we're going to drive eleven kilometres off this city for the orchestra concert.

I consume the following time visiting the tourism office. Drenched in the 11:00am sunlight, Joel and I do photo shots on its still quaintly Spanish-looking facade. Just in front of it is Calbayog's very old cathedral the Franciscan Jose Gomez de Huerce had built during the late 1840s. In my appointment with Tourism Officer Erlinda Calesa she gives me a historical book about the city. And it appears that the year 1739 traces the records of Calbayog's earliest establishment.

I head back to the Friary for lunch and, a few hours after, set myself to visit its museum, situated just close to the High School grounds of Christ the King College. Oh, I should keep you in touch with Carl, says Father Marcelo, he can give you details about the museum. Calbayog's Samar Archeological and Cultural Museum is the only one in the Eastern Visayas Region open to the public that keeps some ancient burial jars, human craniums and bones, artifacts recovered in several towns of Samar five decades ago.

There are vintage brass musical instruments also kept inside the museum, said to be legacy of the late Jose Cinco Gomez, a great composer of Calbayog in the 1960s, otherwise known as the Music Man of Samar. Troves of different ancient relics, including old manuscripts in the 17th century, are put on display inside lined framed glasses positioned at the museum's centre walkway.

The following day finds us driving through a narrow road off the city to witness the said orchestra concert in Migara, situated at the upper vicinity of Calbayog, about eleven kilometres away from the city proper.

Jose Cinco Gomez, in fact, was the famous composer in Samar, who had had his "Colegio de San Vicente de Paul Orchestra" organised in 1930 (renamed the "Cecilian Orchestra" two years later).

Jose Gomez's organised orchestra five decades ago had enjoyed performing its original pieces to Calbayog and its neighbouring towns and even played classical symphony from immense European Legends as Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven. However, Samar's piece of music died right after the day Jose Gomez passed away in 1975. And no one, since then, has ever taken his place to revive such rare legacy he left.

Father Marlowe then embarked on a great task of reviving Calbayog's symphony, which has been dormant for three decades, and bringing music to young students of Christ the King College. Obtained his "Bachelor of Music in Conducting" and "Bachelor of Music in Music Education" in the University of Santo Tomas Manila in 1998-2001, he began teaching students at CKC such orchestral instruments, including piano, and the reading of its musical notes which is the most difficult and crucial of all. "I say it's tough, really," explains the 38-year-old priest. "I even thought trumpet was just a mere instrument where you simply blow on it in order to create harmonic tunes," Father Marlowe smiles. "In the case of strings," he adds, "I'd had assistance from already learnt students to do a help on others for fast learning."

The long months of difficult endeavours had turned into one great honour when Father Marlowe Rosales set up the "CKC Jose Gomez Orchestra" in 2007, signifying the renaissance of the island's long lost legacy for more than three decades. The symphony group then did its first performance at the Monastery of Saint Clare on March 9, 2008, followed by concerts at different venues in several towns of the province, and even spent successful performances at Philippine Capital sites as Manila's Century Park Hotel, Mall of Asia, and Forbes Park.

CKC Jose Gomez Orchestra members are composed of high school learners as young as 13 to 16. Many tried, but not all were selected, to become participants of the Orchestra's first chorale set. Persistent interest and discipline on the part of aspirants came to be the basis of the final selection.

The long months of difficult endeavours had turned into one great honour when Father Marlowe Rosales set up the "CKC Jose Gomez Orchestra" in 2007, signifying the renaissance of the island's long lost legacy for more than three decades. The symphony group then did its first performance at the Monastery of Saint Clare on March 9, 2008, followed by concerts at different venues in several towns of the province, and even spent successful performances at Philippine Capital sites as Manila's Century Park Hotel, Mall of Asia, and Forbes Park.

CKC Jose Gomez Orchestra members are composed of high school learners as young as 13 to 16. Many tried, but not all were selected, to become participants of the Orchestra's first chorale set. Persistent interest and discipline on the part of aspirants came to be the basis of the final selection.

Although some uninitiated people do criticise it, CKC Orchestra is the only orchestra existing in Samar provinces (or perhaps, in the entire Philippine Islands in terms of young school artists) that has successfully established itself and even obtained noteworthy publicity from famous Philippine media as ABS-CBN's "Umagang Kay Ganda" and GMA's "Mel & Joey" in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Because of this rare and great achievement (same as the Franciscan Father Cantius Kobak), the City Government Council passed an Official Resolution on October 11, 2010 declaring Father Marlowe Rosales (a native from Ozamiz City, Southern Philippines) as an "Adopted Son of Calbayog".