Orchestras, bands to make some noise at CCP in July

Move over, foreign musicals. Filipino musicians will sizzle while showcasing symphonic sound sensations from across the country at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Orchestra and Band Festival from July 1 to 6.

Four orchestras, six school bands, five community bands, and five military bands, including the elite Presidential Security Group Band, have been selected by the festival organizers for a raucous music-making event.

According to CCP vice president and artistic director Chris Millado, the festival will be an occasion for musicians from many parts of the country to interact with each other.

“The festival is an opportunity for many deserving orchestras and bands to perform at the CCP and be given proper and appropriate exposure. And for the music-loving Filipinos to discover and appreciate them too,” said Millado in an interview.

“There is a lot of learning process that can happen when university-based orchestras and bands meet with community-based counterparts and with their military counterparts. Friendships are formed and feedback gathered,” he added.

For the participants themselves, Millado said, the July 2014 orchestra and band festival is a “rare opportunity” for musicians to be gathered in one big location to appreciate each other’s works.

The CCP Orchestra and Band Festival is a continuation of the CCP tradition of assembling local talents on one stage and giving them prominence they deserve.

In April 2012, the CCP mounted “Banda Rito, Banda Roon,” the National Symphonic Band Festival, and in September 2010 the “Magnitude 7 on the Orchestra Scale,” or the 1st National Orchestra Festival, which presented seven of the country’s notable conductors and top orchestras.

“Band composers play an important role in the musical and communal lives of Filipinos,” Millado said. Two of the country's great band composers, in fact, went on to become national artists: Lucio San Pedro and Antonino Buenaventura.

Festival schedule

Prof. Herminigildo Ranera, assistant festival director, said the PPO—with music director Olivier Ochanine conducting—will perform for the festival's grand opening concert on July 1 at 7 p.m. at the CCP Main Theater (Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo).

The ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra, with Gerard Salonga conducting, will also be featured on the opening night.

Rousing numbers from the Festival Orchestra—composed of the PPO, the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra, the UST Symphony Orchestra, and the UP Orchestra, under the batons of Ochanine and Salonga—will cap the grand opening night concert.

On July 2, the Banda 88 Sta. Maria, Bulacan (under conductor Arnel Jacinto), Banda Kabyaw (Benedicto De La Peret Jr.), Presidential Security Group Band (PCGA Major Xavier Celestial), and Malindig Institute Band (Ernani Pascual) will regale the audience.

Ranera said that on July 3 the UP Orchestra (Edna Marcil Martinez), the UST Wind Orchestra, the De La Salle Santiago Zobel Symphonic Band (Nena Chavez and Linwell Lalic), and the St. Louis University Band (Marivic Macaraeg) share music from the academe-based musicians.

Non-Metro Manila musicians take the spotlight on July 4 with the Cardona 5 (Ernani Pascual), the Kapisanan Banda 11 Pulong Buhangin Band (Federico Frayna), the Bukidnon State University Band (Jay Haze Sablayan), and the Bulacan State University Symphonic Band (Dr. Herminio Suarez).

The Manila Symphony Orchestra, under conductor Arturo Molina, goes on stage on July 5.

The performances from July 2 to 5 will be held at the CCP Little Theater (Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino).

The festival closes on July 6 with a concert by the Philbanda Wind Orchestra, with Ranera conducting.

A highlight of the closing concert will be the performance by the Festival Band, with members from the Philippine Army Band, the Philippine Air Force Band, the Philippine Navy Band, the Philippine Coast Guard Band and the Presidential Security Group Band, to be conducted by Ranera, Celestial, and PA 1Lt. Ron Michael Soriao.

Public enthusiasm for bands

In a separate interview, Salonga said he observed that residents of towns with existing marching bands “know more” about classical music than their urban counterparts.

“Non-urban followers and supporters of bands are very enthusiastic discussing classical music. When we start playing, people gather around us to listen and afterwards tell us what was good and bad in our rendition. This is very much unlike in Metro Manila, where people have to be cajoled to go to CCP to watch classical music performances,” Salonga said.

PSG Band conductor Celestial said that in non-urban areas, being in the band can be a family affair, handed from one generation to another.

Music scholars have noted that Eliodoro Chico, a Tagalog priest, organized the first local band in the Philippines when he set up a band in Gapan, Nueva Ecija on Nov. 22, 1820.

“In the provinces, band membership confers certain status in the community. It is like coming from a family of doctors or lawyers,” Celestial said.

He added that friends of band members often request them to teach their children. “They see band membership as a pathway to getting good education up to college. Band membership is a great way to make something out of their children.”

Banda Kabyaw’s De la Peret added that his experience in Nueva Ecija supports Salonga and Celestial’s observations.

“Exposing children at a very young age to band music is a good way to introduce them to music, notably among students. Musicians coming from elementary and high schools are some of the most disciplined talents that we can find,” said De la Peret.

Banda 88 Sta. Maria, Bulacan’s Jacinto said some educational institutions in his town have started offering tuition discounts if their students in primary and secondary levels are band members.

“Our performances around Sta. Maria, especially when we march around communities, are the best recruitment vehicles. Interested students approach us to inquire how to become band members. Initially, we teach them how to read notes,’ Jacinto said in a separate interview. — BM, GMA News

For more information about the CCP Concert and Band Festival schedule and participants, visit the CCP website.