MANILA, Philippines - The nation is mourning for the death of National Artist for Music Andrea Veneracion. She was 85.
Veneracion, a choirmaster who founded the acclaimed Philippine Madrigal Singers in 1963, passed away Tuesday evening. She was conferred by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) as National Artist in 1999.
As an educator in music, she has spearheaded the development of choral music in the country. She has been a faculty member of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Music and was an honorary chair of the Philippine Foundation of Choral Music. One of the things that she initiated in Philippine choir is the organization of a cultural outreach program to provide music education and exposure to various provinces.
Veneracion proved her excellence not only in the Philippines but also abroad by putting the Madrigal Singers on the limelight in countries such as Spain, Italy, Korea, USA, Belgium, France, among others. She also served as an adjudicator in several international music contests. She is known as one of the world’s foremost choral authorities.
In 1990, she became the vice-president for Asia of the international Federation for Chorale Music. She was also hailed as the Artistic Chairperson of the International Choral Festival in Caligiliari, Italy in 1996 and the chair of the International Choral Festival in Taipei in 2001.
The National Artist was born on July 11, 1928. She is the eldest child of seven of Macario Ofilada and Raymunda Careaga. Veneracion gained her Bachelor of Music degrees in Piano and Voice at UP and earned her Master’s degree in Voice at the Indiana University School of Music. She is married to Dr. Felipe Veneracion and has five children.
The necrological service will be on July 14, 2013 at the Main Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and interment will follow at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.