I do not know if she is aware of it. But it was Cristina Ponce-Enrile who in a way created the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) 20 years ago. Behind this is a story that MPO founder and music director Rodel Colmenar enjoys telling.
“Cristina, who used to sing, was then putting up a concert and she needed an orchestra fast,” recounts Colmenar. “There were orchestras like the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) and the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) but she had no time to go through writing the requests and waiting for the reply and meeting with them, etc. She needed an orchestra and she asked me if I could put up one for her concert.
“I said I could,” continues Colmenar. “And I did. So I called her and she was glad about it. Then she asked me for the name of the orchestra. I didn’t have a name ready so I just said, it is the Festival Orchestra which was a generic name for orchestras everywhere. But she said no, because it sounded like a fiesta orchestra. So, I thought again and I could not think of anything until I got the idea to call it the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra. I put together Manila from Manila Symphony and Philharmonic from Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. She approved the name. That was how the MPO was born.”
This year, the MPO is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Colmenar himself is surprised that the orchestra lasted this long. “It is not easy maintaining an orchestra in the Philippines. You need funding which only the government or schools and sometimes big corporations can provide. Otherwise, you try to survive on gigs. This is what we do at the MPO. I am always looking for gigs for my musicians. This is very hard for us. We do not earn much and we have families to support.”
Although times have improved for Colmenar and the MPO since then, he remains very aware of how hard it is to be a musician in this country. Truth to tell, the concert for Ponce-Enrile was one of those “illegal” gigs he used to accept to earn extra money.
MPO founder and musical director Rodel Colmenar
“I was then the lead horn player of the PPO which is the resident orchestra of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). We had a regular salary and we were not allowed to accept outside bookings. But I was young and had a family. I needed the extra cash. So, I used to accept those extra bookings outside. Eventually, I was found out and suspended for six months without pay.”
That dealt a hard blow on Colmenar. But he has since recovered and even the CCP has forgiven him. In fact, the MPO with him as conductor has performed there lots of times and is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a grand concert at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo of the CCP on the evening of Sept. 1.
Titled MPO Opus 20: Trailblazing Music Excellence, the concert will chronicle MPO’s history of achievements through highlights from past performances. Says Colmenar, “There is a wealth of memorable repertoire attached to every milestone in our colorful career and that is what we hope to bring to our audience during the night’s performance. We promise to give them a grand time as they walk down memory lane with us.”
They will help bring back the truly trailblazing and memorable times in the past when the MPO performed with the aim in view of bringing symphonic music to the masses or better yet, marrying the classical with pop. Think of the Guess Philharmonic in Jeans concert series; the Concert Under the Trees of the 27th Bamboo Organ Festival at the Las Piñas Church, the MPO with the rock band Wolfgang or the pop band Freestyle and many others.
Joining the MPO on the CCP stage will be a number of acclaimed entertainers, singer Lani Misalucha, pianist Raul Sunico, the University of Santo Tomas Singers and other guests.
Colmenar will be conducting. Maybe in an instance or two, he will pick up his French horn and play some passage. Until the MPO turned him into a conductor, Colmenar who majored in the French Horn at the Conservatory of Music of the University of Santo Tomas, held the post of principal position of the horn section of the PPO.
That has changed and all the better for Filipino music fans who now have the accessible Manila Philharmonic Orchestra to turn to for beautiful symphonic sounds.