Ryan’s protégé now music director in US school

A Filipino virtuoso, who was a chorister for a parish in Marikina City and later became an accomplished baritone singer and assistant to Maestro Ryan Cayabyab, is now the head of the music department of one of America’s most prestigious Jesuit universities located in Jersey City, New Jersey, just a few miles away from New York City.

“Dr. Joseph David Legaspi has been the director of liturgical music for campus ministry at Saint Peter’s University, where he is also a music instructor in the Department of Fine Arts since 2013,” wrote Big Apple correspondent Edmund Silvestre in an exclusive report to Funfare. “He manages two major university choirs — the Saint Peter’s University Schola (liturgical choir), which Legaspi founded; and the Aidan C. McMullen Chorale (concert choir) — and is at the helm of the university’s music programming, which was also designed to bring enriching musical experiences throughout the second most populous city across the state of New Jersey.”

Legaspi, 39, told Edmund that his main responsibility is to nurture and bring music to the students, the Saint Peter’s community and the surrounding community. “The faculty and staff can come to me if they need music for events. I also teach voice and piano,” added Legaspi.

A UP music graduate who obtained his doctorate from Indiana University, Legaspi is actually the first to hold the position at Saint Peter’s University, a post offered to him when he was still a pianist for student Mass.

“The music program in the university is growing and it didn’t have a music department and someone who will oversee its program,” he recalled. “The provost and the vice president for campus ministry wanted to bolster the music program and asked me to steer its growth.”

Legaspi’s department holds a regular free concert series called Arts on Bergen, his own brainchild featuring a diverse line-up of celebrated concert artists, among them (recently featured) Ryan with his award-winning Ryan Cayabyab Singers, who gave a two-hour, first-rate performance which was received with a standing ovation by a packed crowd at the historic St. Aedan’s Church, the official university church, located on the city’s busy Bergen Avenue. 

“I hope to bring in more brilliant Filipino performers, like Lea Salonga and the Philippine Madrigal Singers, to showcase internationally-acclaimed Filipino talents,” said Legaspi.

…and with his mentor, Maestro Ryan Cayabyab.

An altar boy who eventually became a chorister at age 15 at Our Lady of the Abandoned Parish Church in Marikina City, he pursued his dream by taking up Music. It was at UP where he met Ryan who was his professor in music theory and eventually became his boss.

“One time I showed a work to him, a choral arrangement, and asked him to check it out,” Legaspi related to Edmund. “Maestro Ryan took me under his wing from 1995 to 1998. He simply asked me if I wanted to work for him as an assistant. That’s how it started. My job was to do everything, including copying his handwritten scores which I just cleaned up since digital printing was not available at the time. He wrote musical notation fast so that I had to decipher that. I also went with him in his gigs so I met a lot of musicians and singers he worked with.”

Edmund noted that it took Legaspi nine years to earn his diploma in creative and performing musical arts as he led a hectic life with a dynamic mix of academic pursuits, responsibilities at work and church, and moments of leisure with friends and colleagues.

“While an undergrad,” continued Edmund, “he won top honors in vocal competitions, including the 1999 National Competition for Young Artists, and the 2002 Y’s Men International Classical Singer of the Year. He also made his solo debut with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra in 2002, having previously toured the US in 2000 and Europe in 2001 as a featured soloist of the Music Theater Foundation of the Philippines, and the award-winning Ateneo de Manila College Glee Club. He even played Dr. Jose Rizal in the musical adaptation of Noli Me Tangere at the CCP.”

Along the way, he served as music director for choirs of large companies like Merck and the Philippine Dental Association, and also worked as a pianist for the Makati Medical Center Choir and vocal coach for Viva Records. He also taught at Ryan’s Music School that specialized in developing outstanding performance artists.

At the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Legaspi retook his undergraduate studies and completed his degrees in Bachelor of Music in 2005, his Master of Music in 2008, and his Doctor of Musical Arts (Vocal Performance) in 2014. 

While at Indiana University, he was a featured soloist for the university’s Motet Choir, the Indiana University Chorale and the Indiana University Contemporary Vocal Ensemble. With his renowned mentors such as baritone Andreas Poulimenos and the late operatic bass Giorgio Tozzi, he has received a number of awards including two scholarship grants.

No doubt that his extensive background had prepared Legaspi for the “daunting task” his current position demands.

“It’s scary, yes, but I love what I’m doing now,” Legaspi admitted. “I never thought I would be in this position. Training young voices and mentoring kids is a very daunting task. A lot of the students come to me without any music training so you have to teach them from scratch. You have to teach them everything from music theory or how to read notes. Almost all of them never had voice lessons. But once you work with the students and talk to them, it’s very inspiring talaga. I’m very happy where I am right now.”

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