GMA singers top 'Talent Olympics' in Hollywood

On August 12, two young singers, who belong to the GMA Artist Center, led a Filipino contingent that bagged 50 awards at the 10th World Championship of Performing Arts (WCOPA) at the Hollywood Palladium in the world's entertainment capital — no mean feat, considering that they had to outdo 4,000 other performers from 40 countries in a competition tagged as the "Olympics of the Performing Arts." If you watched last Sunday's SOP, you know who singers are — 16-year-old Jonalyn Viray, the first Pinoy Pop Superstar Grand Champion, and 20-year-old Brenan Espartinez, first runnerup in the same TV singing contest. The invitational contest, which staged its opening ceremonies at the Burbank Hilton, was hosted by Fil-Am actor Michael Copon (the Blue Power Ranger, if the name doesn't ring a bell), and among the judges was Jed Madela, who was last year's WCOPA Senior Grand Champion Performer of the World. He won that title by singing Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing." And this year, he reallly didn't miss a thing, as he was inducted, along with other past winners, into the WCOPA Hall of Fame, and he also did the opening and closing song at this year's finals. His "Impossible Dream" finale got him a long standing ovation. Meanwhile, this Viray and Espartinez proved that breaking into the international scene isn't impossible, each of them bringing home 12 gold medals. Viray got five gold medals for the following categories: Broadway, Original, Pop, R&B/Jazz, and Variety. Her winning piece for the Original Competition event was "Close To Where You Are," the carrier single from her debut album On My Own under GMA Records. The young belter also brought home the Female Vocal Solo Industry Award and the Overall Champion Female Vocal Solo Awards for the Broadway, Original, and Pop categories. Espartinez got five gold medals for the following categories: Gospel, Original, Pop, R&B/Jazz, and Variety. He was also named Overall Champion Male Vocal Solo for Gospel, Original, Pop and Variety. And he got the Male Vocal Solo Industry Award. Both shared two gold medals for winning the Vocal Duet/Trio categoies in Pop and R&B/Jazz. They were also got the Vocal Duet/Trio Industry Award and were named Overall Champion Vocal Duet/Trio for the Pop, Gospel, and Broadway categories. Leading the delegation was Ida R. Henares, appointed national director for WCOPA Philippines and assistant vice President/Head of the GMA Artist Center. Joining the team were GMA Network talents Jon Joven, QTV's Fam Jam Champion, The Siblings, and the Cercado Sisters (runnerup). Completing the team were Rachel Alejandro, Jeremie Antiporda, Faith Cuneta, Jennifer Bautista, Angelo Ortiz, Kim Flores, Bim Mangubat, Glenn Cadampog, Juaquin Garcia, and Rommel Luna. The Philippine contingent was a multi-awarded team with the Cercado Sisters winning the Grand Champion Vocal Group Award, and Jon Joven bringing home the Overall Champion Male Vocal for Broadway Award among many other awards brought home by Team Philippines. To celebrate their victory, Viray and Espartinez led a grand homecoming concert last Sunday in GMA's SOP. - GMANews.TV, with a report from iGMA.TV