CEBU, Philippines - The University of the Visayas Chorale opened the Symposium on Choral Music-2009 with a back-to-back concert with the Manado State University Choir at the Alamanda Resort Amphitheatre of Tomohon, North Sulawesi in Indonesia.
Each choir featured folk/ethnic numbers in their repertoire with the Manado State University singing the choral favorite East Java folk song Janger. The UV Chorale, for its part, sang the love song Usahay and the folk song Kampupot Sagol.
The concert, which was held last June 19, was attended by the Mayor of Tomohon, Jefferson S.M. Rumajar. He said, “Indonesia’s role in international choral music development [has earned respect] thanks to the achievements of its choirs in various international competitions. Many of these choirs come from North Sulawesi. The number of active choirs in North Sulawesi is so abundant that the choirs count thousands in members. Local choir competitions are in fact held almost every week. Therefore, we saw it necessary to finally organize an international choir competition in Tomohon City.”
The artistic director, Prof. Andre de Cuadros, also noted the conduciveness of the city for such an event. “Tomohon is a place for music and natural beauty; its unique location makes it an irresistible place for a vocal and choral event. Holding a competition here also recognizes the hundreds of excellent choirs in Sulawesi and throughout Indonesia.”
Prof. de Cuadros also thanked the organizing group, the Bandung Choral Society under the leadership of Mr. Tommyanto Kandisaputra, an award-winning choral director who has been one of the main forces of the booming choral scene in Indonesia.
Over a hundred Indonesian choir conductors attended the four-day symposium which featured talks and workshops on conducting, voice, choral artistry, among others. The speakers/lecturers were Prof. Andre de Cuadros (US), director of the School of Music of Boston University; Thomas Caplin (Norway), conductor, author, music educator at the College of Education in Hamar, Norway; Anne-Charlotte Lundell (Sweden), director of operations for the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and main director for the Stockholm Academic Choir; Dr. Miguel Felipe, music director of the Boston Choral Ensemble and faculty member of the Boston Conservatory; Chatarina Leimena (Indonesia), founder of Gita Svara-Center for Vocal Music Education in Jakarta as well as Susvara Opera Company; Mr. Tommyanto Kandisaputra, founder of Bandung Choral Society and chair of Interkultur Indonesia, and UV Chorale choir director Anna Tabita Piquero (Philippines), artistic board member of the Philippine Choral Directors Association, the Philippine Madrigal Singers and the Andrea Veneracion Sing Philippines Foundation. Other symposium activities were open singing and opera concerts.
The symposium ended Monday with the presentation of Handel’s Messiah Concert at the Aula Kantor Sinode GMIM. Under the baton of Prof. Andre de Cuadros, it featured selected choirs—the UV Chorale included—and was accompanied by the Art Institute of Indonesia orchestra. The Messiah concert also formally kicked off the Tomohon International Choir Competition, which is participated in by 55 different choirs.
The UV Chorale is participating in the Mixed Voice Choir, Pop/Jazz and Musica Sacra categories. As of press time, the UV Chorale already competed in the Mixed Voice Choir category last Tuesday, generating a standing ovation from the audience members for the group’s performance of the alternately subdued and soaring Lux Aeterna, a piece that also fittingly built up the mood for the spirited and high-energy Rock Me Amadeus. “I’m happy with their performance for this category. The choir showed fighting spirit,” Piquero said.
The winners of all categories as well as the grand prize winner will be announced today, June 25, the last day of the competition.