The CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra goes to Ormoc

Cecile Licad in Calbayog

International Concert Pianist Cecile Licad will have a concert in Calbayog. This will be on March 24, 2012 at the Ballroom of Ciriaco Hotel.

My video clips from concert 1 of the First Samar International Music Festival

As I have featured in an earlier blogpost, pianist Mary Ann Espina and violinist Gina Medina performed during "Concert 1" the the First Samar International Music Festival. This was held at the Cafe Elsa of Ciriaco Hotel. Here are some of the clips which I took during the performance. My apologies for the quality, I used my tab to take these videos.

Foreign nationals flock to Calbayog City for classical-music concert

By: Pablo A. Tariman
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:59 pm | Sunday, December 11th, 2011

The second concert of the Samar International Music Festival lived up to its name, with some foreign nationals attending the concert of baritone Andrew Fernando, flutist Christopher Oracion and pianist Mary Anne Espina at Ciriaco Hotel in Calbayog City, Western Samar.


After a long drought of live opera music, Calbayog got to hear arias from Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro,” Verdi’s “La Traviata” and Bellini’s “Il Puritani” sung with fervor by Fernando. (read more. . .)

Music Notes: An International Audience in Samar Music Fest

The second concert of the Samar International Music Festival lived up to its name with some foreign nationals attending the concert of baritone Andrew Fernando, flutist Christopher Oracion and pianist Mary Anne Espina at the Ciriaco Hotel in Calbayog City, Western Samar.


After a long drought of live opera music, Calbayog got to hear arias from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Verdi's La Traviata and Bellini's Il Puritani sang with intense fervor by Fernando.


The Broadway section had not a few in the audience singing with Fernando in his rendition of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Some Enchanted Evening from "South pacific."


Flutist Oracion’s rendition of Czardas got a heavy applause and the audience realized the flute was just in the same level of the piano and violin.


Pianist Espina -- laboring through an upright piano that came all the way from Catarman -- tried to make the instrument sing (the first upright from Christ the King College was far better-sounding) but her technique and solid sound made up for the inferior instrument. (read more . . . )

The Artists at tonight's concert

Me with (l-r) Pablo Tariman, Pianist Mary Anne Espina and Baritone Andrew Fernando.

Andrew Fernando, baritone. U.S.-based Filipino Baritone Andrew Fernando was a former member of the Opera Pacific Resident Artist Program where he was seen in more than fifteen productions, notably as Doctor Bartolo in Barber of Seville, Professor Bhaer in Little Women, Marullo in Rigoletto and Kommissarius in Der rosenkavalier. The Los Angeles Times hailed him as the "Young singer to watch!"


Mr. Fernando is the 2003 First prize Winner in the prestigious Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition in the United States. He was also granted the Grand Prize in the 2004 Pasadena Opera Guild Vocal Competition.


During his time in the Philippines, Mr. Fernando sang Marcello in the Cultural Center of the Philippines production of La Boheme, and a Dr. Lavander Gas in Mennoti's Help! Help! The Globolinks! Also an alumnus of the Hongkong Academy for Performing Arts and the University of Santo Tomas, Mr. Fernando has performed in the Hongkong Festival as Zweiter Soldat in their 1998 production of Salome.


In Hongkong, Mr. Fernando was featured as Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus), Slook (La Cambiale di Matrimonio), Baron de Gondremark (La Vie Parisienne), Dr. Malatesta (Don Pasquale) and title role in Gianni Schicchi under the baton of Maestro Georg Tintner.


He just appeared in a Shostakovich operetta in Long Beach, California and a revival of Pocahontas in Minnesota, USA.


Mary Anne Espina, pianist. This is the second time that Ms. Espina performed in Calbayog. I have featured her portfolio in an earlier blogpost. Please check this link.

Flutist Christopher Oracion with some members of the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra

Christopher Oracion, flutist. A two-time first prize winner of the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA), Christopher Oracion has shared the stage with Camille Lopez Molina and Tenor Otoniel Gonzaga at the Philamlife Theater and Cecille Licad in Paoay, Ilocos Norte.

It's a date tomorrow night.

December 5, 2011
7:00 pm
Cafe Elsa (Ciriaco Hotel)

Concert 2 of the First Samar International Music Festival

Baritone Andrew Fernando is the first Filipino first-prize winner of the prestigious Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition in the United States. He is the next attraction of the First Samar International Music Festival on Monday, Dec. 5, at Café Elsa of Ciriaco Hotel in Calbayog City, Western Samar.


The festival sponsored by Calbayog City Mayor Ronald P. Aquino, Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento, and Ciriaco Hotel and Resort opened last Oct. 29 with a standing ovation for violinist Gina Medina and pianist Mary Anne Espina. (check this link)

Samar classical music fest opens to thunderous applause

My pix of violinist Gina Medina with some members of the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra

Here's an article by Pablo Tariman which appeared in today's edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.


We got a fairly good idea of the audience for classical music in Calbayog City in Western Samar with the opening of the First Samar International Festival on Oct. 29 with violinist Gina Medina and pianist Mary Anne Espina.


A movement from a Mozart sonata set the tone for the evening, and here you saw the best of Espina and Medina as chamber musicians. With the excellent acoustics of Café Elsa of Ciriaco Hotel, the performance was one of the finest of Medina and Espina and the audience absorbed the intensity of the moment with relish. (read more . . .)

International artists in town

That's me with Congressman Mel Senen Sarmiento, Pianist Mary Anne Espina and Violinist Gina Medina

As I have mentioned in my earlier blog post, two internationally-renowned artists were in Calbayog for a concert. They were Violinist Gina Medina and Pianist Mary Anne Espina.


Violinist Gina Medina was an attraction of the Filipino Artists Series of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2001 and has performed as soloist of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the Manila Symphony Orchestra, PREDIS Chamber Orchestra, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Orchestra, among others. A two-time first prize winner of the National Music Competition for Young Artists, Medina was awarded a French government scholarship which gave her the opportunity to participate in several music festivals in France and to study with Oliver Charlier, Dong Suk-Kang, Philippe Bride and the Amadeus Quartet. After her stint in France, she received a full scholarship to study at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts where she trained under Professor Pavel Prantl and Barry Wilde, the concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. n 1994, Ms. Medina was chosen concertmaster of the Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO) under the baton of Maestro Sergui Commissiona which toured Taiwan, Japan and the United States in 1995. As a member of the AYO chamber Orchestra, she had the opportunity to perform at the White House, the United Nations during its 50th Anniversary celebration and the APEC Conference in Osaka, Japan as concertmaster.


Pianist Mary Anne Espina is known for her excellence in both chamber and opera music. She is one of the country's most sought after collaborating artists. She continues to team up with outstanding artists in all the major concerts and recital venues in the country. A few of her excellent collaborations include those with renowned Filipino pianist Nena Del Rosario - Villanueva at the Filipino-Chinese Exchange Program held in the People's Republic of China; French violinist Frederic Pellasy; Israeli violinist Hagai Shaham; Russian violinist Anastacia Chebotareva (winner of the Tchaikovsky and Paganini competitions); soprano Joan Gibbons; American cellist Stephen Framil; German violinist angelo Bard; Romanian violinist Alexandru Tomescu and recently, with the new exciting Filipino cellist Victor Michael Coo. She was likewise the assisting artist for the full-length staging of Mozart's "Le Nozze Di Figaro", "Great Moments in Grand Opera" and for "Puccini: A Retrospect" which featured Japanese Soprano Kaori Sato.

My pix from the concert

As I have announced in an earlier blogpost, Concert 1 of the First Samar International Music Festival was held at the Ciriaco Hotel earlier tonight. According to Mr. Pablo Tariman, the perfect acoustics of Cafe Elsa was the primary reason for the choice of venue.

In the audience was Congressman Mel Sarmiento, also present among others were Engr. Oscar and Mrs. Esther Hugo, Mr. Nicolas Chan and Mrs. Agueda Chan. Worth noting was the presence of some members of the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Here are some pictures I managed to take after tonights concert. 

Some members of the strings section of the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Congressman Mel Sarmiento

Congressman Mel Sarmiento with Pianist Mary Anne Espina, Violinist Gina Medina and Writer Pablo Tariman.

Samar int'l music fest opens Oct. 29 in Calbayog City

MANILA, Philippines - The first in a series of chamber music events will unfold in Samar island when the First International Music Festival opens in Ciriaco Hotel in Calbayog City, tomorrow night at 7. (read more . . . )

(Fiesta 2011) Let's Dance: Dansaficionados in Calbayog

Dansaficionado is a group of professional ballroom dancers that aims to showcase exceptional dancers representative of the international style of ballroom dancing as well as promote awareness and appreciation of the unique dance form.

Mga "kodak" tikang sa concert san CKC Jose Gomez Symphony Orchestra

As announced in this blog, the CKC-Jose Gomez Symphony Orchestra had a concert last September 3, 2010. It was held at the Nijaga Park and was one of the cultural events during the Calbayog Culture and Tourism Week celebration dubbed as Hadang Festival 2010.

That event was some sort of an "re-introduction" of the orchestra to the people of Calbayog after their successful stints at the Mall of Asia, Sanctuario de San Antonio (Forbes Park), Saint Anthony Shrine (Sampaloc), Paco Catholic School (for Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales' Pondong Pinoy), Betis (Pampanga), Century Park Hotel, among others.

Fr. Marlowe Rosales, ofm conducted the orchestra through its 18-piece repertoire for the night. The evening's performance commenced with a prayer and welcome speeches by Dr. Francisca Santos and Mr. Jonas Lim of the City Arts and Culture Office (CACO). CKC President Fr. Mar Tubac, ofm delivered a speech before the final number

It was night of Classical-Pop music (pardon the term), something akin to classical-rock (you know rock music performed by a symphony orchestra). There were only two classical pieces in the repertoire: Ave Maria (by Schubert) and the Allegro Movement from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

All the rest was "pop set into fine music". Adding more elan to performance were the members of the CKC High School Dance Troop who did choreographed numbers to go with the musical pieces which included Dancing Queen, Bad Romance, Insomnia, Poker Face, I Gotta Feeling, among others.

Surely, it was a good choice of (popular) songs, it made the crowd stay despite the rain. And on a personal note, they gave me the best birthday gift (so far). Well, being serenaded with a birthday song during the second encore made me excited about celebrating my next birthday :-)

Fr. Marcelo Tubac, ofm delivering his message

Dr. Francisca Santos (photo by Silver Image)

CACO Head Jonas Lim (photo by Silver Image)

Fr. Marlowe Rosales, ofm (photo by Silver Image)

Ariel and Bigboy

me as program host

Santacruzan sa Tabuk

Sugad san nababatasan (kada pag-abut san katapusan nga semana san bulan san Mayo), guinbuhat an Santacruzan de Obrero kanina nga kulop.

A good number of Calbayognons refer to the activity as the one which started the (colorful) Santacruzan traditon in Calbayog. Ini nahimugso tungod san paningkamot san nawara nga si Carlos "Laling" Baculando, nira Nieves "Bebing" Ason, Charlie Coñejos sugan man san mga opisyales ug iba pa nga mga lumlupyo san Obrero o san Tabuk.

An Santacruzan kanina nagtikang mga alas 5:00 san kulop katapus san usa nga santos nga misa nga guin buhat didto sa kapilya ni San Isidro Labrador, an patrono san Barangay Obrero. An hermana mayor yana nga tu-ig mao si Simplicia "Tisia" Cabrillas.

Adi an pipira nga mga litrato an akun nakuha pag-agi san Santacruzan sa amon dapit sa may pandayan sa purok uno.

An unahan san Santacruzan pag-agi sa pandayan.

An pipira nga mga Reynas: Fe, Emperatriz, De Las Alas, Del Rosario, Martirez ug Caridad.

An mga Reginas.

An Carroza san Birhen

An mga angheles. Where there are kids, expect the (stage) parents to be there :-)

An pirmi parte san prusisyun: an mga mamaratbat.

As expected, vehicles had to wait as the Santacruzan made it's way from the city proper back to the Obrero Chapel.

Centennial Events

Events slated tomorrow April 9, 2010:

8:00 am: Congress of the Clergy with Archbishop Soc Villegas at the NwSSU Socio-Cultural Center

4:00 pm: 9th Day Novena Mass and Episcopal Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral

5:00 pm: Grand Centennial Procession

7:00 pm: Diocesan Centannial Awards at the Calbayog City Sports Center

7:30 pm: The musical play "Calbayog: An Pag-Ilawod" (The Journey) at the Calbayog City Sports Center

The Santo Niño De Hibatang Festival

The Santo Niño de Hibatang Festival officially opens tomorrow. The event, the first in Oquendo is being held to highlight the 125th commemoration of the feast of the Holy Infant Jesus as patron saint of Oquendo; and to undercore the importance that Oquendo - particularly Caybago and the Hibatang River - in Calbayog's history.

The 12-day event will include various socio-civic, cultural and religious activities, to be highlighted by the feast day on January 15, 2010.

Opening day events include the following:

• Ribbon-cutting at the arch in Oquendo bridge.
• The Session of the Sangguniang Panlungsod
• The State of the City Address of the City Mayor
• Opening of the Agro-Industrial Fair
• Opening of the Art Exhibit (Bato De Color)

A Fiesta Concert by the CKC-Jose Gomez Orchestra

In celebration of its 317th Fiesta
The Parish of Our Lady's Nativity presents

The CKC-Jose Gomez Orchestra

In Concert

September 5, 2009
6:30 pm
Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral

Santacruzan sa Tabuk

Sugad san nababatasan, ginbuhat kakukop an tradisyunal nga Santacruzan sa Tabuk. Here are some pix that I managed to take during yesterday's activity.

The CKC-Jose Gomez Orchestra goes to Catarman

The CKC - Jose Gomez Orchestra will have a concert in Catarman, Northern Samar. The event will be held at the Northern Samar Capitol Building on May 23, 2009, Saturday at 5:00 pm.