Ingrid and Rey resume a magnificent mission

Ingrid Santamaria and Reynaldo Reyes, two of our country’s leading pianists, describe each of their tours a "Romantic Piano Concerto Journey" because it brings the romantic music of Beethoven, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saens, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and, more recently, Abelardo, Cayabyab, Buencamino and Santiago to live audiences throughout the archipelago. In performances, Ingrid takes on the solo part; Rey, the orchestral.

Under the chairmanship of Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Ingrid and Rey will resume their magnificent mission June 12 to 30, the tour to cover Subic, Bataan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan and Metro Manila universities for a record of 29 concerts in 18 days. Before then, the team will fulfill engagements in Los Angeles, California, for two concerts. Incidentally, it performed in Bangkok, Florida (twice) and Baltimore, US, last year.

For the "romantic journey" the eminent duo will be giving two concerts a day on June 14, 15 and 20 under typically arduous circumstances. For instance, after the evening gala in Subic, two successive afternoon engagements follow in Limay, Bataan. On June 19, after an afternoon concert in Cabanatuan, Ingrid and Rey head for San Miguel, Bulacan, for one performance in the morning, another in the evening.

If the foregoing schedule seems hectic, it is actually leisurely compared to the timetable of previous tours. When the "Romantic Journey" began in January of 2001, the pianists concertized in Cebu and Davao; the second national tour meant concerts in Tuguegarao, Cagayan Valley; Iligan, Isabela; Virac, Catanduanes. For the third tour, the pair traveled to Leyte, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Antique and Manila.

You might wonder why there are 23 members in the entourage. Yet each member is worth his/her weight in gold. For instance, the services two piano-tuners are indispensable for the two grand pianos. (Once, during a tour, a teklado flew off, and a pedal refused to function.) All 23 members have to be billeted in one place for lodgings and if this isn’t possible, arrangements become doubly difficult and complex. Indeed, one cannot even begin to convey the sacrifices entailed in any single trip. During overnight travel, members of the group, not the least Ingrid and Rey, have to content themselves with sleeping – or trying to – while riding over bumpy roads.

What gives these hardy, Spartan pianists the stamina, the spirit, the zest for their quixotic – some would call it foolhardy – mission? For one, its objective which is "to share the educational enjoyment of classical music through live performances on two pianos combined with the learning experience derived from the question-and-answer forum ensuing after each concert.

With two national tours a year – the fifth ended in January of 2003 – approximately 55,000 and millions more on television have listened to 58 concerts in 40 cities, towns and schools in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The forthcoming tour will offer 29 classical concerts of western and Pilipino music in 18 towns, cities and schools in Central Luzon and Metro Manila to an estimated live audience of 40,000 and again millions more on radio, TV and special community telecasts in Tarlac and Nueva Ecija on June 14 and 18, respectively.

Ingrid explains the raison d’etre of the "romantic concerto journey" thus: "Rey and I give not only time and effort to the mission but, indeed, our very lives." What a magnificent obsession!