The Philippine Madrigal Singers was conferred the Guidoneum Award 2010 by the Fondazione Guido d’ Arezzo last Sept. 19. The awarding was held after the gala concert of the Madz at the closing of the 58th International Choral Competition held in Arezzo, Italy. The country’s premier singing group was honored for “the artistic and choral promotion activity that they carried out after they won the European Grand Prix in Choral Singing in 2007.”
The Madz’s choir director Mark Anthony Carpio received the award from Francesco Lusi, the president of the Fondazione Guido d’Arezzo. He said: “The Foundation has followed attentively and with great pleasure the fruitful activities of the Philippine Madrigal Singers and is grateful for all that they have done for the choral world.” The Madz was the only choir in the whole world to have won the Grand Prix during two consecutive years, 2006 and 2007 in one of the top choral competitions in the whole world. I guess being that good, sort of keeps them from competing again but they can always show why they won the contests in concerts and as in this case, receive other honors.
The Philippine Madrigal Singers was formed at the University of the Philippines nearly 50 years ago by National Artist Andrea O. Veneracion. The concept then was for the mixed group to specialize in the madrigal, a music form that originated in Italy during the Renaissance. The madrigal remains the Madz’ strong point but they are now also adept with church music, show tunes, Filipino songs and pop. In fact, the Madz latest CD release, Madz In Love is a collection of love songs in various pop forms.
Arezzo was the first leg of the Madz’s 2010 European tour. They will also do concerts in other cities in Europe like Rome, Milan, Vienna, Prague, Berlin and others. They also did two songs, I Will Sing Forever and I Can Tell The World during an audience with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.
Organization of Pinoy musicians in concert
The Asosasyon Ng Musikong Pilipino (AMP) will hold its first ever solo concert at the Music Museum tonight at 8. The AMP was formed some years ago to professionalize the participation of Filipino musicians and instrumentalists in the music industry. But the members are also all performers who up to this time have been playing for others. That is until tonight. And this time around, they are doing something very close to their hearts but which they do not get to do in their regular gigs hereabouts.
The music for this evening’s performance will be big band. It is this brassy, swinging type of music from the US, which members of the AMP Big Band enjoy doing. They have actually already been doing “shows” for friends just for their love of the music but this is the first time for them to do it before an audience. So check out the Music Museum tonight and join Tots Tolentino on sax, Nestor Gonzaga on trumpet, Ronnie Marqueses on trombone and musical director and conductor Mel Villena as they recapture the bygone era of big band tunes. Guesting will be Bituin Escalante, Skarlet and Baihana.
John Lennon song cover contest
I was reading the latest issue of Billboard Magazine when I came across this bit of news. I thought I’d mention this here because I know how talented Pinoys are musically and because of the number of big stars who were discovered via the Internet these past few months. Think Justin Bieber, Colbie Caillat, Charice and even Arnel Pineda. Who knows this might just be the break one Pinoy out there is looking for?
This is the search for the best original fan performance of a John Lennon song. You see, Oct. 9, would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday so Billboard.com decided to honor him with this, a search for a new working class hero. All you have to do is film yourself performing any John Lennon song and then upload the video on Facebook.com/Billboard. Finalists will be announced on Oct. 4, after which fans will be asked to vote for the best among them. The winner will be announced on Oct. 8. Win or lose the contest makes for great exposure. Besides, those who don’t make the grade can always put their video and still get, what else but, the exposure. Go to www.billboard.com to find out more about the rules.
This is great news. But it also brought me into a state of disbelief. A Beatle, in this case, Lennon, would have turned 70 on Oct. 9. Did you ever think that any of them would one day be 70 when you first saw them in 1964? I didn’t.