The Rebirth Of An Orchestra

CEBU, Philippines -  Do you know what an orchestra is?

It is a group of performers who play various musical instruments together. Maybe you have listened to some of Mozart’s compositions. Can you hear the different sounds in the piece? Well, those sounds are produced by an orchestra. There are different instruments in an orchestra, and they are grouped into sections. There are four sections. The String Section probably has the famous instruments- the violins, which have two groups- Violin I and II, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses. These instruments have strings on them, and you have to strike all of them with a bow. The harp is also a string instrument. The Woodwind Section was named “woodwind” because the very first woodwind instruments were made of wood. This section consists of the flutes, the piccolos, the clarinets and bass clarinets (which has a lower range than the clarinet itself), the oboes, the English horns (neither English or a horn, though), the bassoons, and the contrabassoons (a much bigger and lower bassoon). The Brass Section have the trumpets, the French horns, the trombones, and the tuba. These instruments are supposed to be blown to produce a sound. The Percussion Section has instruments that you have to hit with the hand or a stick. Some of them can be also rubbed or shaken. The Percussion Section have the timpani (a drum with a calfskin head on top and which has a definite pitch), the bass drums, the snare drums, the cymbals, the triangles, the xylophones, and the glockenspiels (like a xylophone but with a light and silvery tone). Of course, there is the piano, too. It is a keyboard instrument.

Now you know what an orchestra is and what’s in it. You can actually see and hear one play live soon! Read further and you can know more about Cebu’s very own pride- the Cebu Symphony Orchestra.

Cebu Symphony Orchestra’s musicians come from four generations, amateurs and professionals alike- the 1st generation players are former members of the first orchestra in Cebu with the same name, 2nd generation are from the Cebu Youth Symphony Orchestra, 3rd generation are on-call members of Peace Philharmonic Philippines, and 4th generation players are advanced students with teachers from the 2nd and 3rd generation. I am one of the 4th generation players in CSO.

CSO dreams to promote Cebu into a popular destination for music lovers and enthusiasts not only in Asia, but even in other countries in Europe and the Americas.

It exists to maintain Cebu’s title as an ASEAN City of Culture. We CSO members not only want to make our hometown widely known but also want to lure people into loving music. We want to spread classical music to the younger people like you would spread peanut butter on bread.

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The CSO launching concert was held last December 10. It had two programs- the matinee and the gala. Both programs were under the baton of Prof. Roberto G. del Rosario. Madame Ingrid Sala-Santamaria was the featured soloist for the gala. Ms. Miracle D. Romano accompanied the orchestra on the piano during the matinee. The Toledo Children’s Choir and the CNU Children’s Choir had a special appearance. Also, there was also a special performance by three tenors: Engr. Jesus Alcordo, Mr. Dave Clark Sibonga, and Mr. Kelie Ko.