A Celebration of Music in Ateneo de Manila
The Church of the Gesu was overflowing with people on the evening of December 6, 2009. Institutions of the university such as the University President, Fr. Ben Nebres, and the Ateneo College Glee Club’s moderator, Fr. Adolfo Dacanay, were present within the premises.
The event was a concert entitled “Tale and Receive II: The Sesquicentennial Festival of Ateneo’s Music,” a celebration of Ateneo de Manila’s musical groups that catered more to art music (hence the notable absence of more contemporary groups such as Ateneo Musician’s Pool and Ateneo Blue Reportory), such as the Ateneo College Glee Club and the Ateneo Chamber Singers. It was also the second year the Ateneo Blue Symphony participated in the event. This group is quite significant for it is the first attempt of Ateneo de Manila to establish an instrumental group akin to an orchestra.
The program was arranged in a chronological order such that the youngest members of the Ateneo art music community opened the concert. The Ateneo Boys’ Choir, with Ms. Daisy Marasigan as the conductor, had the charm of young children with their light voices and shy faces. They sang to instrumental recordings of original songs written from their grade school events. The older members of the Ateneo community were beaming because of the children’s performance. Despite a rather embarrassing technical problem which caused the entire audience to wait for a while, the young choir kept their composure and resumed with gusto.
They were followed by the Ateneo High School Glee Club with Vonn Lomarda at the helm. As with all high school boys hitting puberty, I found their performance to be the most awkward. They performed the ever popular Ryan Cayabyab version of Prayer of St. Francis: I found the soloist quite problematic for he insisted on imposing a pop style of singing when it evidently sounded awkward, or was awkwardly executed. Either way, it took away from Cayabyab’s composition. As a whole, this segment wasn’t abysmal, but they were very much in the characteristic of a high school choir in a high school that does not seem to be very interested in choirs, taking into consideration the stigma attached to being part of a singing group during high school realistically speaking.
This low point was followed by what was clearly the highlight of the evening: the Ateneo Blue Symphony. The instrumental group was heavily composed of strings and wind instruments, specifically violins and flutes. A few brass instruments such as the trumpet and the saxophone were present. The piano supplied the bass. Blue Symphony performed a ten-minute medley of popular Christmas songs such as Hark the Herald and What Child is This. The arrangement was done by a member of the organization and it sounded very akin to a film score. It was large, grand, and thick. I believe such an arrangement may have benefited a more balanced orchestra, but the organization made do with what they had. The group was conducted by a student member who seemed to conduct in a strange manner; his movements were rather square and stiff. It may possibly be style, but it may have affected the delivery. The instruments were not quite in sync with each other. Also, some carols which may have benefited with a lighter touch on songs such as O Holy Night; instead they sounded pounding.
But despite that, Blue Symphony provided grandeur to the evening. They set the tone and the mood for the rest of the evening: rich. During the intermission that followed, people could not stop talking about them and how wonderful it was for Ateneo to have such a group.
I found it a bit off-putting for performers to practice publicly during intermission. But I suppose it was due to unfortunate circumstances that the flutist Ray Sison had to practice with his pianist during that time. His performance no longer came as a surprise. Immediately after the intermission was his number. Ray Sison, the principal flutist of the Manila Symphony Orchestra and an alumnus of Ateneo de Manila, played two popular carols. Mr. Sison showcased his mastery of the flute with his improvisations around popular melodies. In retrospect, however, after recovering from Blue Symphony’s already rich with flute music, Mr. Sison’s skilful sound felt a bit lost on my tired ears. Still, it was a solid performance. Perhaps the program could have been better thought of. He was followed by the Ateneo College Glee Club, a glee club that has gained a solid reputation in the Philippines and around the world. They were impressive and their moderator, Fr. Dacanay, practically glowed with pride. (I was seated behind him.) They were conducted by Malou Hermo. Their rendition of Javier Busto’s “O Magnum Mysterium” was noteworthy as well as their strong performance of “Jehovah Rock.”
The final choir to cap off the evening was the Ateneo Chamber Singers conducted by Jonathan Velasco. What I found most attention-grabbing in this group is they seemed so happy to be performing for the concert. They were pleasant to listen to, no doubt the most polished of the bunch. Unfortunately, none of their song choices left a lasting impression. Still, nevertheless, they were a good way to tie all the performances together.
The grand finale, however, was a combination of all the choirs along with some school personalities such as Fr. Nemesio Que and even Fr. Ben Nebres performing a song composed by Arnel de Pano. Most memorable perhaps was an entire stanza of the song sung by Fr. Ben Nebres who surprisingly is not so terrible a singer. By virtue of his position in school and his affable manner, he had a lot of charm. The song itself, however, was only memorable because of the mood already created in the evening as well as the sheer number brought by the combination of the choirs. Aside from that, the rather sentimental tone of the song, not to mention lyrics, in praise of Ateneo de Manila was greeted with more amusement than reverence. It was not a bad song; it will just not replace the Ateneo school song.
“Take and Receive II” was a pleasant way to spend a Sunday evening. Aside from appreciating a free concert full of music and exciting new talent, notably that of Ateneo Blue Symphony, it was a partaking with the one hundred fifty years of Ateneo interaction with the Philippine society.
*This article was originally featured in the 2010 edition of the Blue Sound magazine.